History
France 1840–present
United Kingdom 1908–present
New Zealand 1923–present
Norway 1931–present
Australia 1933–present
Nazi Germany 1939–1945
Chile 1940–present
Argentina 1943–present
According to Argentina and Chile, the Spanish Empire had claims on Antarctica. The capitulación governorship granted to the conquistador Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz explicitly sent all lands south of the Straits of Magellan Terra Australis, and Tierra del Fuego and by reference potentially the entire continent of Antarctica. This grant established, according to Argentina and Chile, that an animus occupandi existed on the part of Spain in Antarctica. Spain's sovereignty claim over parts of Antarctica was, according to Chile and Argentina, internationally recognized with the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was at that time a recognized arbiter in such(a) matters. regarded and identified separately. country currently has claimed a sector of the Antarctic continent that is more or less directly south of its national antarctic-facing lands.
Modern Spain has not claimed any Antarctic territory. It operates two summer research stations Gabriel de Castilla Base and Juan Carlos I Base in the South Shetland Islands.
The United Kingdom reasserted sovereignty over the ] Commercial operators would hunt whales in areas external the official boundaries of the ]
In 1917, the wording of the claim was modified, so as unambiguously to include all the territory in the sector stretching to the South Pole thus encompassing all the proposed British Antarctic Territory. The new claim noted "all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th measure of west longitude and the 50th measure of west longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all islands and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south latitude".
It was the ambition of Commander-in Chief of New Zealand as the Governor of the territory.
In 1930, the United Kingdom claimed Enderby Land. In 1933, a British imperial profile transferred territory south of 60° S and between meridians 160° E and 45° E to Australia as the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the government of the United Kingdom relinquished all advice over the government of New Zealand and Australia. This however had no bearing on the obligations of the governors-general of both countries in their capacity as Governors of the Antarctic territories.
The basis for the claim to Jules Dumont d'Urville, who named it after his wife, Adèle. He erected the French flag and took possession of the land for France, on January 21, 1840 at 5:30 pm.
The British eventually decided to recognize this claim, and the border between Adélie Land and the Australian Antarctic Territory was fixed definitively in 1938.
These developments also concerned Norwegian whaling interests which wished to avoid British taxation of whaling stations in the Antarctic and felt concern that they would be commercially excluded from the continent. The whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic with the opinion to claiming land for Norway and to establishing stations on Norwegian territory to gain better privileges. The first expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad, landed on Peter I Island in 1929 and claimed the island for Norway. On 6 March 1931 a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty and on 23 March 1933 the island was declared a dependency.
The 1929 expedition led by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn Lützow-Holm named the continental landmass nearly the island as Queen Maud Land after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales. The territory was explored further during the Norvegia expedition of 1930–31. Negotiations with the British government in 1938 resulted in established the western border of Queen Maud Land at 20°W.
The United States, Chile, the Soviet Union and Germany disputed Norway's claim. In 1938 swastikas every 26 kilometres 16 mi. However, despite intensively surveying the land, Germany never filed any formal claim or constructed any lasting bases. Hence, the German Antarctic claim, known as New Swabia, was disputed at the time, and currently is not considered.
On 14 January 1939, five days previously the German arrival, Norway annexed Queen Maud Land after a royal decree announced that the land bordering the Falkland Islands Dependencies in the west and the Australian Antarctic Dependency in the east was to be brought under Norwegian sovereignty. The primary purpose of the annexation was to secure the Norwegian whaling industry's access to the region. In 1948 Norway and the United Kingdom agreed to limit Norway's longitudinal claims of Queen Maud Land to 20°W to 45°E, and to incorporate the Bruce wing and Coats Land into Norwegian territory.
Upon independence in the early 19th century South American nations based their boundaries upon the uti possidetis iuris principle. This meant there was no land without a sovereign. Chile and Argentina applied this to Antarctica citing the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was in that time a recognized arbiter in these matters.
This encroachment of foreign powers was a matter of immense disquiet to the nearby South American countries, Argentina and Chile. Taking improvement of a European continent plunged into turmoil with the onset of the Second World War, Chile's president, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, declared the instituting of a Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain.
Argentina has a long history in the area. In 1904 the Argentine government began a permanent occupation of one of the Antarctic islands with the purchase of a meteorological station on Laurie Island established in 1903 by Dr William S. Bruce's Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Bruce offered to transfer the station and instruments for the or done as a reaction to a impeach of 5.000 pesos, on the assumption that the government committed itself to the continuation of the scientific mission. The Envoy at the British Legation in Argentina, William Haggard, also sent a note to the Argentine Foreign Minister, José A. Terry, ratifying the terms of Bruce's proposition.
In 1906, Argentina communicated to the international community the establishment of a permanent base in the South Orkney Islands, the Orcadas Base. However, Haggard responded by reminding Argentina that the South Orkneys were British. The British position was that Argentine personnel were granted permission only for the period of one year. The Argentine government entered into negotiations with the British in 1913 over the possible transfer of the island. Although these talks were unsuccessful, Argentina attempted to unilaterally establish its sovereignty with the erection of markers, national flags and other symbols.
In response to this and earlier German explorations, the British Admiralty and Colonial Office launched Operation Tabarin in 1943 to reassert British territorial claims against Argentinian and Chilean incursion and establish a permanent British presence in the Antarctic. The proceed was also motivated by concerns within the Foreign Office approximately the rule of United States post-war activity in the region.
A suitable advance story was the need to deny ownership of the area to the enemy. The Kriegsmarine was requested to usage remote islands as rendezvous points and as shelters for commerce raiders, U-boats and render ships. Also, in 1941, there existed a fear that Japan might try to seize the Falkland Islands, either as a base or to hand them over to Argentina, thus gaining political return for the Axis and denying their use to Britain.
In 1943, British personnel from HMS Carnarvon Castle removed Argentine flags from Deception Island. The expedition was led by Lieutenant James Marr and left the Falkland Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby a minesweeping trawler and Fitzroy, on Saturday January 29, 1944.
Bases were established during February most the abandoned Norwegian whaling station on Deception Island, where the Union Flag was hoisted in place of Argentine flags, and at Port Lockroy on February 11 on the flee of Graham Land. A further base was founded at Hope Bay on February 13, 1945, after a failed try to unload stores on February 7, 1944. Symbols of British sovereignty, including post offices, signposts and plaques were also constructed and postage stamps were issued.
Operation Tabarin provoked Chile to organise its First Chilean Antarctic Expedition in 1947–48, where the Chilean president Gabriel González Videla personally inaugurated one of its bases.
Following the end of the war in 1945, the British bases were handed over to civilian members of the newly created Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey subsequently the British Antarctic Survey, the first such national scientific body to be established in Antarctica.
Friction between Britain and Argentina continued into the postwar period. Royal Navy warships were dispatched in 1948 to prevent naval incursions. The only spokesperson of shots fired in anger on Antarctica occurred in 1952 at Hope Bay, when staff at British Base "D" established 1945 came up against the Argentine team at Esperanza Base est. 1952, who fired a machine gun over the heads of a British Antarctic Survey team unloading supplies from the John Biscoe. The Argentines later extended a diplomatic apology, saying that there had been a misunderstanding and that the Argentine military commander on the ground had exceeded his authority.
The United States became politically interested in the Antarctic continent before and during WWII. The Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Jr. and included 4,700 men, 13 ships, and combine aircraft. The primary mission of Operation Highjump was to establish the Antarctic research base Little America IV, for the intention of training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions and amplifying existing stores of cognition of hydrographic, geographic, geological, meteorological and electromagnetic propagation conditions in the area. The mission was also aimed at consolidating and extending United States sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent, although this was publicly denied as a goal even before the expedition ended.
Meanwhile, in an attempt at ending the impasse, Britain submitted an a formal request to be considered for a position or to be helps to do or have something. to the International Court of Justice in 1955 to adjudicate between the territorial claims of Britain, Argentina, and Chile. This proposal failed, as both Latin American countries rejected submitting to an international arbitration procedure.
Negotiations towards the establishment of an international condominium over the continent first began in 1948, involving the 8 claimant countries: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, US, France, Norway, Chile and Argentina. This attempt was aimed at excluding the Soviet Union from the affairs of the continent and rapidly fell apart when the USSR declared an interest in the region, refused to recognize any claims of sovereignty and reserved the modification to make its own claims in 1950.
An important impetus toward the positioning of the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959 was the International Geophysical Year IGY, 1957–1958. This year of international scientific cooperation triggered an 18-month period of intense Antarctic science. More than 70 existing national scientific organisations then formed IGY committees, and participated in the cooperative effort. The British established Halley Research Station in 1956 by an expedition from the Royal Society. Sir Vivian Fuchs headed the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958. In Japan, the Japan Maritime Safety Agency offered ice breaker Sōya as the South Pole observation ship and Showa Station was built as the first Japanese observation base on Antarctica.
France contributed with Dumont d'Urville Station and Charcot Station in Adélie Land. The ship Commandant Charcot of the French Navy spent nine months of 1949/50 at the coast of Adélie Land, performing ionospheric soundings. The US erected the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station as the first permanent structure directly over the South Pole in January 1957.
Finally, to prevent the opportunity of military clash in the region, the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and 9 other countries with significant interests negotiated and signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The treaty entered into force in 1961 and sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific investigation, and banned military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.