Seven sovereign states – Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom – have made eight territorial claims in Antarctica. These countries have tended to place their
Discovery and claim of French sovereignty on Adélie Land by Jules Dumont d'Urville, in 1840
Norwegian expedition landing on Peter I Island in 1929
Gobernador Bories, a Chilean factory ship, anchored in Balleneros Cove, Deception Island in 1908.
Omond House was built in 1904 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition as the first permanent base in Antarctica. It was later sold to Argentina.
Antarctic Treaty System
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The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native hum
Territorial claims in Antarctica
…refused to recognize any claims of sovereignty and reserved the right to make its own claims in 1950. An important impetus toward the formation 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…
A 2002 satellite composite image of Antarctica
1957 poster of Antarctica IGY projects
Disposal of waste by simply dumping it at the shoreline, as at the Russian Bellingshausen Station on King George Island, is no longer permitted by the Protocol on Environmental Protection.
This 1959 cover commemorated the opening of the Wilkes post office in the Australian Antarctic Territory.