Seven sovereign nations retain territorial claims in eight regions of Antarctica. These countries tend to place their scientific observations and Antarctic study facilities in their respective claims territory, but such facilities are not located near their country sector and many countries such as Russia and the US have no claims anywhere in Antarctica but have research facilities in foreign sector.
Video Territorial claims in Antarctica
History
Spanish Claim
According to Argentina and Chile, the Spanish Empire has claims in Antarctica. The capitulaciÃÆ'³n (governor) awarded to conqueror Pedro SÃÆ'¡nchez de la Hoz explicitly includes all the land south of the Strait of Magellan (Terra Australis, and Tierra del Fuego and with the extension of the entire Antarctic continent). The grant was established, according to Argentina and Chile, that an animus occupant was on the Spanish side in Antarctica. The claims of Spanish sovereignty over parts of Antarctica are, according to Chile and Argentina, which are internationally recognized with the bull Watermark of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as official international treaties which is mediated by the Catholic Church which at that time was a recognized referee in such matters. Every country today has claimed the Antarctic continent sector more or less just south of its national polar land.
English Claim
The British Empire reaffirmed its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic in 1833 and maintained its continuing presence there. In 1908, the British government expanded its territorial claims by declaring sovereignty over "South Georgia, South Orkney, South Shetlands, and Sandwich Islands (South), and Land Graham, located in the South Atlantic Ocean and on the Antarctic continent for the 50th parallel southern part of south latitude, and lies between 20 and 80 degrees west longitude ". All of these areas are managed as the Falkland Islands Dependencies of Stanley by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. The motivation for this declaration lies in the need to regulate and attract taxes of the fishing industry effectively. Commercial operators will pursue whales in areas outside the official boundaries of the Falkland Islands and its dependence, and there is a need to close this gap.
In 1917, the claiming of the claim was modified, so it was not ambiguous to include all the territories in the sector that stretched to the South Pole (covering all the Antarctic Territories of Britain today). New claims include "any islands and territories between the 20 west longitude and 50 degrees west longitude lying south of parallel 50 of the southern latitudes, and all islands and territories between 50 degrees west longitude and 80 degrees west longitude located to the south of the 58th parallel of the southern latitudes ".
It was the ambition of Leopold Amery, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, that England combined the entire continent into the Empire. In a memorandum to the governor-general for Australia and New Zealand, he writes that 'with the exception of Chile and Argentina and some barren islands of France... it is expected that the whole of Antarctica should be incorporated into the British Empire.' The first step was taken on July 30, 1923, when the British government issued an Ordinance under the British Settlement Act of 1887, defining a new frontier for Ross's Addiction - "part of His Holiness in the Antarctic Sea, which consists of all islands and territories between 160 East Longitude and 150 degrees West Longitude located south of the 60th degree from the South Latitude will be named Ross Dependency. "The Order in Council then proceeded to appoint the Governor-General and Supreme Commander of New Zealand as Governor of the region.
In 1930, Great Britain claimed Land Enderby. In 1933, a British imperial order transferred the southern region 60 Â ° S and between meridians 160 Â ° E and 45 Â ° east to Australia as the Australian Antarctic Region.
Following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the Royal United Kingdom government relinquished all control over the governments of New Zealand and Australia. But this has nothing to do with the obligations of the governors of the two countries in their capacity as Antarctic Governors.
Other European claims
Meanwhile, worried by this unilateral declaration, the French government claimed the strip on the continent in 1924. The basis of their claim to Adà ©  © Lie Land relied on the discovery of a coastline in 1840 by French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, who named it after his wife , AdÃÆ'¨le. Britain finally decided to recognize this claim, and the border between Adà ©  © Lie Land and Australian Antarctic Territory was defined definitively in 1938.
This development is also concerned about Norwegian whaling interests, which want to evade the British tax horse whaling station in Antarctica and feel the concern that they will be commercially excluded from the continent. Whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to Antarctica with views to claim land for Norway and to build stations in the Norwegian region to gain better rights. The first expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad, landed on Peter I Island in 1929 and claimed the island for Norway. On March 6, 1931 the proclamation of the Norwegian kingdom declared the island to be under Norwegian sovereignty and on March 23, 1933 the island was declared dependent.
The 1929 expedition led by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn LÃÆ'¼tzow-Holm named the continental continent near the island as Queen Maud Land after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales. The area was explored further during the Norvegia expedition 1930-31. Negotiations with the British government in 1938 resulted in the setting up of the western border of Queen Maud Land at 20 ° W.
The United States, Chile, the Soviet Union and Germany denied Norwegian claims. In 1938, Nazi Germany sent the German Antarctic Expedition, led by Alfred Ritscher, to fly as much as possible. The Schwabenland ship reached an ice pack outside Antarctica on January 19, 1939. During the expedition, Ritscher photographed an area of ​​about 350,000 sq km (140,000 sq. mi) from the air and dropped a swastika-written arrow every 26 kilometers ( 16 mi). However, despite intensively surveying the land, Germany has never made official claims or built a lasting base.
On January 14, 1939, five days before the arrival of Germany, Norway annexed Queen Maud Land after a royal decree announced that the land bordering the Falkland Islands in the west and Australia's Antarctic Dependency in the east would be brought under Norwegian sovereignty. The main purpose of annexation is to secure access to the Norwegian whaling industry to the region. In 1948, Norway and the United Kingdom agreed to limit Queen Maud Land from 20 ° to 45 ° E, and to enter the Bruce Coast and Coats Land into the territory of Norway.
South American engagement
After independence in the early nineteenth-century South American countries based on their limits on the principle of iii possidetis iuris . This means there is no land without sovereignty. Chile and Argentina applied this to the Antarctic by quoting the bull Watermelon of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Argentina and Chile treat this treaty as an international agreement of law mediated by the Catholic Church which at that time was a recognized arbitrator in this case.
The encroachment of this foreign power is a matter of great anxiety for nearby South American countries, Argentina and Chile. Taking advantage of a European continent plunged into turmoil with the start of the Second World War, Chilean president Pedro Aguirre Cerda announced the creation of Chilean Antarctic Territory in an area that has been claimed by Britain.
Argentina has a long history in the area. In 1904 the Argentine government began a permanent occupation on one of the Antarctic islands by purchasing a meteorological station on Laurie Island that was founded in 1903 by the William Antarctic National Antarctic Expedition in Scotland. Bruce offers to transfer stations and instruments for the amount of 5,000 pesos, provided that the government is committed to continuing its scientific mission. British officer William Haggard also sent a letter to Argentine Foreign Minister Jose Terry ratifying the terms of Bruce's proposition.
In 1906, Argentina communicated with the international community about the establishment of a permanent base in the South Orkney Islands, Orcadas Base. However, Haggard responded by reminding Argentina that South Orkney was an Englishman. The British position is that Argentine personnel are granted permission only for a period of one year. The Argentine government held negotiations with Britain in 1913 about the possibility of the transfer of the island. Although this talk was unsuccessful, Argentina sought to unilaterally establish their sovereignty with the establishment of markers, national flags and other symbols. Finally, with England's attention elsewhere, Argentina declared Argentina's Antarctic establishment in 1943, claiming territory on the continent itself, and not just the island, and it overlaps with Britain (20 Â ° W to 80 Â ° W) and Chile before (53 Â ° W to 90 Â ° W) claims.
In response to this and previous German explorations, the Admiralty and British Colonial Office launched Operation Tabarin in 1943 to reaffirm British territorial claims against the Argentine and Chilean invasions and establish a permanent British presence in Antarctica. The move was also motivated by concerns at the Foreign Office about the direction of US postwar activity in the region.
A suitable cover story is the need to deny the use of the area to the enemy. The Kriegsmarine is known for using remote islands as a meeting point and as a shelter for trading looters, U-boats and supply vessels. Also, in 1941, there was a fear that Japan might seek to seize the Falkland Islands either as a base or hand it over to Argentina, thus gaining political advantage for the Axis and refusing its use for Britain.
In 1943, the British personnel of HMS Carnarvon Castle removed the Argentine flag from Deception Island. The expedition was led by Lieutenant James Marr and left the Falklands Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby (ship minesweeper) and Fitzroy , on Saturday 29 January 1944.
The base was established during February near the Norwegian whaling station abandoned on Deception Island, where Union Flag was hoisted at the flag of Argentina, and at Port Lockroy (on 11 February) on the shores of Graham Land. A further base was established at Hope Bay on February 13, 1945, after unsuccessful attempts to dismantle the store on February 7, 1944. Symbols of British sovereignty, including post offices, signs and placards were also built and stamps were published.
Operation Tabarin provoked Chile to organize the First Chilean Antarctic Expedition in 1947-48, where Chilean President Gabriel GonzÃÆ'¡lez Videla personally inaugurated one of its bases.
After the end of the war in 1945, British bases were handed over to civilian members of the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (hereafter British Antartic Survey) which was the first national scientific body established in Antarctica.
Postwar development
Friction between Britain and Latin American countries continues into the postwar period. The Royal Navy's warship was delivered in 1948 to prevent a naval raid. The only example of a shot fired in Antarctica occurred in 1952 at Hope Bay, when the staff at British Base "D" (founded 1945) came against the Argentine team at the Esperanza Base (est. 1952), which fired the machine gun upwards. head of the British Antarctic Survey team dismantled supplies from John Biscoe . The Argentines later extended diplomatic apologies, saying that there was 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 World War II. The United States Space Expedition, from 1939-1941, was sponsored by the government with additional support from donations and gifts by civilians, corporations and institutions. The purpose of the Expedition, outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is to establish two bases: the East Base, around Charcot Island, and West Base, around King Edward VII Land. After operating successfully for two years, but with increasing international tensions, it is considered wise to evacuate the two bases. However, soon after the war, American interests revived with geopolitical motives explicitly. Operation Highjump, from 1946-1947 organized by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Jr. and includes 4,700 men, 13 ships, and several aircraft. The main mission of Operation Highjump is to build the Antarctic Research base of Little America IV, for the purpose of training personnel and testing equipment in cold conditions and strengthening existing stores of knowledge of hydrographic, geography, geological, meteorological and electromagnetic propagation conditions in the area.. The mission also aims to consolidate and expand US sovereignty over the largest practical region on the Antarctic continent, although it is openly denied as a destination even before the expedition ends.
Go to international agreement
Meanwhile, in an attempt to end the impasse, Britain filed an appeal to the International Court of Justice in 1955 to adjudicate between the British, Argentinean and Chilean territorial claims. This proposal failed, as both Latin American countries refused to submit to international arbitration procedures.
Negotiations towards the creation of international condominiums on the first continent began in 1948, involving 8 claiming countries: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the US, France, Norway, Chile and Argentina. This effort aimed to exclude the Soviet Union from continental affairs and quickly collapse when the Soviet Union expressed interest in the region, refused to recognize the claim of sovereignty and reserve the right to make its own claim in 1950.
An important thrust toward the establishment of the Antarctic Agreement System in 1959 was the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958. This year international scientific cooperation sparked an intense 18-month period of Antarctic science. More than 70 existing national scientific organizations form the IGY committee, and participate in cooperative efforts. The British founded Halley Research Station in 1956 by an expedition from the Royal Society. Sir Vivian Fuchs led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which completed the first Antarctic crossroads in 1958. In Japan, Japan's Maritime Safety Board offers the S'ya ice breaker as the South Pole observation vessel and Showa Station built as the first Japanese Observation Base in Antarctica.
France contributed with Dumont d'Urville Station and Charcot Station in AdÃÆ' Â © lie Land. The Commandant Charcot ship of the French Navy spent nine months 1949/50 on the Adelie Land coast, performing ionospheric measurements. The US established the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station as the first permanent structure directly above the South Pole in January 1957.
Finally, in order to prevent possible military conflicts in the region, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and nine other countries with significant interest in negotiating and signing the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. The treaty came into force in 1961 and excluded Antarctica as a science reserve, established freedom of scientific inquiry, and military activity banned on the continent. The treaty was the first arms control treaty set up during the Cold War.
Maps Territorial claims in Antarctica
Antarctic territorial claims
Seven sovereign states have made eight territorial claims on land in southern Antarctica parallel 60 Â ° S before 1961. These claims are only recognized among the countries that make claims in the region. All claim areas are sectors, with the exception of Peter Island I. None of these claims have indigenous populations. The South Orkney Islands are in territory claimed by Argentina and the United Kingdom, and the South Shetland Islands are in territory claimed by Argentina, Chile and the UK. Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand and Norway all recognize each other's claims. None of these claims overlap. Prior to 1962, the British Antarctic Territory was an archipelago of Falkland and also included South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Antarctic Region becomes a separate territory abroad after the ratification of the Antarctic Treaty. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands remained dependent on the Falkland Islands until 1985 when they also became separate regions abroad.
Official claim
Overlapping claims
Unclaimed
Possible future claims
There is speculation about possible claims in the future. The United States and Russia (as the successor states of the Soviet Union) maintain that they have reserved the right to file claims and there is also speculation in Brazil making claims limited by 53 Â ° W and 28 Â ° W, which overlap thereby with Argentina and British Claims but not with Chile. Peru makes reservations of its territorial rights under the Antarctic pollution principle and influences on climate, ecology and marine biology, adding, in addition, geological continuity and historical relationships.
The Uruguayan adhesion to the Antarctic Treaty System includes a declaration in that it has its rights in Antarctica in accordance with international law.
In 1967 Ecuador declared its rights to an area bordered by 84 Â ° 30 'W and 95 Â ° 30' W. The claim was ratified in 1987.
The four areas of the island on the Antarctic Plate located to the north of the southern latitudes 60 Â ° C are attributed to the Antarctic continent. None of these areas have natives.
- Bouvet Island (Norwegian dependency)
- Southern Southern France
- Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Australia's external dependent region)
- Prince Edward Islands (South Africa region)
Other territories, divided between South American Plates and Scotia Plates, are sometimes linked to the Antarctic continent.
Antarctic Agreement
Antarctic treaties and related agreements regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, the only continent on Earth without the original human population. The treaty has now been signed by 48 countries, including Britain, the United States and the now defunct Soviet Union. The treaty put aside the Antarctic as a science reserve, establishing the freedom of scientific inquiry and banning military activity on the continent. This was the first arms control agreement set up during the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States both objected to the restrictions on new claims, and the United States and Russia asserted their right to make future claims if they so chose. Brazil maintains Comandante Ferraz (Brazilian Antarctic Base) and has proposed a theory for limiting territories using meridians, which will give it and other state claims. In general, territorial claims below 60 Â ° S parallel are only recognized among the countries that make claims in the region. However, although claims are often indicated on the Antarctic map, this does not necessarily mean de jure recognition.
All claims areas, except Peter I Island, are sectors, whose limits are determined by degrees of longitude. In terms of latitude, the northern boundary of all sectors is a parallel 60 ° S that does not cut off the land, continent or island, as well as the northern boundary of the Antarctic Treaty. The southern borders of all sectors collapse at one point, the South Pole. Only the Norwegian sector is an exception: the initial claim of 1930 does not mention the northern or southern boundaries, so its territory is only determined by the east and west borders.
Antarctic agreement states that contracting an agreement:
- is not a rejection of previous territorial claims.
- does not affect the basis of claims made as a result of the activities of signatory countries within the Antarctic.
- does not affect the rights of a State under customary international law to recognize (or refuse to acknowledge) other territorial claims.
What affects the agreement is new claims :
- No activity occurring after 1961 can be the basis of a territorial claim.
- No new claims can be created.
- Claims can not be enlarged.
See also
- Territorial claims in the Arctic
Note
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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