This paper is a summary of the geological and geophysical information available today on the tecton-ics of the Arctic continental structures in the Late Precambrian-Paleozoic. We propose a new outlookon the history of Arctida - a continental mass that combined sialic blocks of the current Eurasian shelfof the Arctic Ocean. Based on new materials including paleomagnetic data we present a series of pale-otectonic reconstructions that reflect the main evolutionary stages and mechanisms of the structureof Arctida from the Early Neoproterozoic to the Mesozoic. We demonstrate the role of the continentalblocks of the Arctic in the global drift of lithospheric plates from the breakup of Rodinia to the assemblyof Pangea. From the presented model we propose the existence of two (!) Arctic subcontinents in theNeoproterozoic-Paleozoic history of the Earth. Arctida-I was a collage of ancient blocks of Arctic sialiccrust within Rodinia in the junction zone between the Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica cratons. During thebreakup of Rodinia this subcontinent was destroyed with the formation of a series of small continentalplates such as Kara, Svalbard and, probably, the New Siberian Islands (NSI), which is usually regardedas part of the Chukchi-Alaska composite terrane. By the time of its breakup Arctida-I was in a subequa-torial position. The post-rifting tectonics of the newly formed small plates was closely associated withstrike-slips that played a defining role both at the stages of opening and closure of the Paleozoic oceans.The rebirth of Arctida was due to the assembly of Pangea at the Paleozoic-Mesozoic limit. We considerArctida-II a newly formed subcontinent that composed the shelf margin of Pangea in the temperate lati-tudes of the northern hemisphere, and again connected the margins of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia.
