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Totem pole from Kitwancool Creek, B.C., Can.
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Track-and-field event consisting of a vault for height over a crossbar with the aid of a long pole. It became a competitive sport in the mid-19th century and was included in the first modern Olympic Games. In competition, each vaulter is given three chances to clear a specific height. The bar is raised progressively until a winner emerges.
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Carved wooden pole used in the religious rites of the South Pacific islands. The poles, 12–26 ft (4–8 m) tall, resemble an upended canoe with an exaggerated prow; they consist of carved figures placed one atop the other (thought to represent deceased ancestors) and terminate in a flat projection of ornate, openwork ornament. They are intended to harbour the souls of the dead, keeping them away from the village, and are also used to transmit magical powers. Seealso totem pole.
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Southern extremity of the Earth's axis, located at latitude 90° S. It is the southern point from which all meridians of longitude start. The area around it is a lofty plateau in west-central Antarctica, with ice as much as 8,850 ft (2,700 m) thick. It has six months of complete daylight and six months of total darkness each year. It was first reached by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1911, one month before the expedition led by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott; U.S. explorer Richard E. Byrd flew to the pole in 1929. The geographic pole does not coincide with the magnetic South Pole, which in the early 21st century was located on the Adélie Coast about 64°30' S, 137°50' E; it moves about 8 mi (13 km) to the northwest each year. The geomagnetic South Pole also moves; during the early 1990s it was located about 79°13' S, 108°44' E, in 2000 it was 65°39' S, 140° 01' E, and by 2005 it was back to about 79°45' S, 108°13' E.
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(born March 3, 1500, Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, Eng.—died Nov. 17, 1558, London) English Catholic prelate. A cousin of Henry VII, Pole was sent by Henry VIII to study in Italy (1521–27) and given minor offices in the church. Critical of Henry's antipapal policies, he wrote In Defense of Ecclesiastical Unity (1536) to defend the pope's spiritual authority. As cardinal, he was sent by Pope Paul III on missions to persuade Catholic monarchs to depose Henry. These efforts angered Henry, who executed Pole's brother, Lord Montague (1538), and his mother, Margaret, countess of Salisbury (1541). Pole was named papal governor of the Patrimony of St. Peter and later was presiding legate at the Council of Trent. When the Catholic Mary Tudor became queen as Mary I in 1553, he was appointed legate for England; there he instituted church reforms and was a strong influence on the queen. He was appointed archbishop of Canterbury (1556), but a conflict between the papacy and England's ally Spain caused the pope to cancel Pole's authority and declare him a heretic. Demoralized, he died 12 hours after the death of Queen Mary.
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(born March 3, 1500, Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, Eng.—died Nov. 17, 1558, London) English Catholic prelate. A cousin of Henry VII, Pole was sent by Henry VIII to study in Italy (1521–27) and given minor offices in the church. Critical of Henry's antipapal policies, he wrote In Defense of Ecclesiastical Unity (1536) to defend the pope's spiritual authority. As cardinal, he was sent by Pope Paul III on missions to persuade Catholic monarchs to depose Henry. These efforts angered Henry, who executed Pole's brother, Lord Montague (1538), and his mother, Margaret, countess of Salisbury (1541). Pole was named papal governor of the Patrimony of St. Peter and later was presiding legate at the Council of Trent. When the Catholic Mary Tudor became queen as Mary I in 1553, he was appointed legate for England; there he instituted church reforms and was a strong influence on the queen. He was appointed archbishop of Canterbury (1556), but a conflict between the papacy and England's ally Spain caused the pope to cancel Pole's authority and declare him a heretic. Demoralized, he died 12 hours after the death of Queen Mary.
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Northern end of the Earth's geographic axis, located at latitude 90° N. It is the northern point from which all meridians of longitude start. Lying in the Arctic Ocean and covered with drifting pack ice, it has six months of constant sunlight and six months of total darkness each year. Robert E. Peary claimed to have reached the pole by dogsled in 1909, but that is now in dispute; Roald Amundsen and Richard E. Byrd claimed to have reached it by air in 1926. The geographic pole does not coincide with the magnetic North Pole, which in the early 21st century lay at about 82°45' N, 114°25' W, or with the geomagnetic North Pole, which is at about 79°45' N, 71°45' W.
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Pole may refer to: