Editing Subarctic (section)

==Economy==
[[File:Fagerfjeliet.jpg|thumb|right|320px|In [[Fennoscandia]] and northwestern [[Russia]], oceanic influences soften winter temperatures; the lack of permafrost allow agriculture and infrastructure. [[Senja Municipality]], Norway, at 69°N.]]
[[File:Iditarod National Historic Trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet.jpg|thumb|right|320px|Images taken near [[Unalakleet, Alaska|Unalakleet]] show very few trees, reflecting the subarctic and polar boundaries.]]
Except for a few parts of [[Europe]] where the winters are relatively mild due to prevailing wind and ocean current patterns, subarctic regions were not explored until the 18th and 19th centuries. Even then, the difficulty of transportation ensured that few settlements (most of them are created for [[mining]]) lasted long—such as the abandoned, once-thriving cities of the [[Yukon]], [[Northwest Territories]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fort Yukon {{!}} historical settlement, North America {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Fort-Yukon |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> and increasingly Siberia illustrate this.

The [[Trans-Siberian Railway]], which skirts the edge of the region, provided a major boost to Russian settlement in the subarctic, as did the intensive industrialization under [[Joseph Stalin]] that relied on the enormous mineral resources of the [[Central Siberian Plateau]]. Today, many towns in subarctic Russia are declining precipitously as mines close. In Canada, after the early minerals ran out, development stalled until [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] development occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. [[Hydro-Quebec]] in particular has carried out many engineering works in regions of near-continuous permafrost, but these have never supported a significant population and have only mainly served densely populated southern [[Quebec]].

[[Tourism]] in recent years has become a major source of revenue for most countries of the subarctic due to the beautiful, generally glacial landscapes so characteristic of the region. Most areas in the subarctic are among the most expensive places in the world to visit, due to both high costs of living and transportation inaccessibility. Nonetheless, the great opportunities for [[outdoor recreation]] lure an ever-increasing number of travelers. At the same time, the older industries of the subarctic (fishing, mining, hydroelectric power) are being threatened by both [[Environmentalism|environmental opposition]] and [[overfishing]] leading to depleted stocks of commercially important species living in this region.