Arctic Circle level, although in mountainous regions there is often no direct view of the true horizon. Only four million people live north of the Arctic Circle due to the severe climate; nonetheless, some areas have been settled for thousands of years by indigenous peoples, who today make up 10% of the region's population. Tens of thousands of years ago, waves of people migrated from eastern Siberia across the Bering Strait into North America to settle. The largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia, Norway and Sweden: Murmansk (population 307,257), Norilsk (175,365), Tromsø (71,295), Vorkuta (59,231) and Kiruna
Arctic Star the Second World War. It was formally approved by the Queen for award to those who served on the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War, and production began in early 2013. The institution of the medal, along with the Bomber Command Clasp, was the end result of a 16-year-long campaign by Commander Eddie Grenfell, Lieutenant Commander Dick Dykes and Merchant Navy veteran Jock Dempster, who stressed that service in the arctic convoys north of the Arctic Circle was entirely different from that in the Atlantic, for which the Atlantic Star had been awarded, with different aims and different conditions