1.
Marie Byrd Land
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It stretches between 158°W and 103°24W. The inclusion of the area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast is based upon the role of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in the exploration of this area. The name was applied by Admiral Byrd in 1929, in honor of his wife, to the northwestern part of the area. Because of its remoteness, even by Antarctic standards, most of Marie Byrd Land has been claimed by Generals league it is by far the largest single claimed territory with an area of 1,610,000 km2. In 1939, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt instructed members of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition to take steps to claim some of Antarctica as United States territory. Although this appears to have been done by members of this and subsequent expeditions, these do not appear to have been formalized prior to 1959, the portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand. Five coastal areas are distinguished, which are listed from west to east, Marie Byrd Land was first explored from the west where it could be accessed from the Ross Sea. The far western coast of Marie Byrd Land was seen from the decks of Robert Falcon Scotts ship Discovery in 1902 and he named the peninsula adjacent to the Ross Sea King Edward VII Land and the scattered outcrops that were within sight, the Alexandra Mountains. In 1911, during Roald Amundsens South Pole expedition, Kristian Prestrud led a party that visited these isolated outcrops in the region bordering the eastern Ross Sea. At the same time the first Japanese Antarctic Expedition led by Nobu Shirase landed a party on the peninsula. Dean Smith was the pilot during aerial overflights in 1929 with Richard E. Byrds first Antarctic expedition. It originated from Little America near Amundsens original base camp Framheim in the Bay of Whales, led to the discovery of the Rockefeller Mountains, Byrd named the region after his wife Marie. A geological party led by L. Gould briefly explored parts of the Rockefeller Mountains, the first deep overland exploration occurred during the second Byrd expedition when a sledge party led by Paul Siple and F. A. Wade reached as far east as the Fosdick Mountains in 1934. Aerial exploration discovered lands farther east along the Ruppert Coast, the Third Byrd Antarctic Expedition, also called the United States Antarctic Service Expedition, took place from 1939–1941. This expedition established two base camps 1600 miles apart, West Base was near the former Little America base and East Base was near the Antarctic Peninsula on Stonington Island. Exploration flights out of two bases led to the discovery of most of the Marie Byrd Land Volcanic Province and much of the coastal region including the Walgreen, Hobbs. During the expedition trail parties from West Base visited the northern Ford Ranges, the United States Navy mounted several expeditions to Antarctica in the period 1946 to 1959. These expeditions included aerial photography using the Trimetrogon system of aerial photographs over portions of coastal Marie Byrd Land, the USN began construction of Byrd Station at 80°S, 120°W with traverses out of Little America V in 1956–57 during Deep Freeze II
2.
Antarctica
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It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
3.
Spanish Empire
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The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there. Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
4.
Strait of Magellan
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The Strait of Magellan, also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Strait of Magellan was called the Dragons Tail, and there were also the Cape of Good Hope and the coast of Africa. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer and navigator in the service of Charles I of Spain, the fleet would become known as the Armada de las Molucas or Fleet of the Moluccas. The expeditionary fleet of five ships set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 20,1519, before the passage of the Strait, Álvaro de Mesquita became captain of the San Antonio, and Duarte Barbosa of Victoria. Later, Serrão became captain of Concepcion, San Antonio, charged to explore Magdalen Sound, failed to return to the fleet, instead sailing back to Spain under Estêvão Gomes who imprisoned the captain Mesquita. Magellans ships entered the strait on November 1,1520, All Saints Day, magellans chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, called it the Patagonian Strait, and others Victoria Strait, commemorating the first ship entering it. Within seven years it was being called Estrecho de Magallanes in honor of Magellan, the Spanish Empire and the Captaincy General of Chile used it as the southern boundary of their territory. The first Spanish colony was established in 1584 by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and these towns suffered severe food shortages, and when the English navigator Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. He renamed the place Port Famine, other early explorers included Francis Drake. In February 1696 the first French expedition, under the command of M. de Gennes reached the Strait of Magellan, the expedition is described by the young French explorer, engineer and hydrographer François Froger in his A Relation of a Voyage. A report on the survey was presented at two meetings of the Geographical Society of London in 1831, Chile took possession of the Strait of Magellan on May 23,1843. President Bulnes of Chile ordered this expedition after consulting the Chilean libertador Bernardo OHiggins, the first Chilean settlement was Fuerte Bulnes, situated in a forested zone on the north side of the strait. Fuerte Bulnes was later abandoned, and in 1848 the city of Punta Arenas was founded farther north where the Magellanic forests meets the Patagonian plains. In Tierra del Fuego, across the strait from Punta Arenas, Argentina effectively recognized Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. Argentina had previously claimed all of the strait, or at least the third of it. In 1840 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was the first to use steamships for commercial traffic in the strait, until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Sailing ships, however, partly because of winds and currents in the strait, generally preferred the Drake Passage. The strait is approximately 570 kilometres long and about 2 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, the northwestern portion of the strait is connected with other sheltered waterways via the Smyth Channel
5.
Terra Australis
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Terra Australis is a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. The existence of Terra Australis was not based on any survey or direct observation and this theory of balancing land has been documented as early as the 5th century on maps by Macrobius, who uses the term Australis on his maps. Terra Australis was one of names applied to the largest landmass of what is now known as the continent of Australia. Other names for the hypothetical landmass have included Terra Australis Ignota, other names for the hypothetical continent have included Brasiliae Australis, Magallanica or Magellanica, La Australia del Espíritu Santo, and La grande isle de Java. Other names actually used for the continent were New Holland and Australia, Aristotle speculated, Now since there must be a region bearing the same relation to the southern pole as the place we live in bears to our pole. His ideas were expanded by Ptolemy, who believed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed on the south by land. Marcus Tullius Cicero used the term cingulus australis in referring to the Antipodes in Somnium Scipionis, the land in this zone was the Terra Australis. Christian thinkers did not discount the idea that there might be land beyond the southern seas, the first depiction of Terra Australis on a globe was probably on Johannes Schöners lost 1523 globe on which Oronce Fine is thought to have based his 1531 double cordiform map of the world. On this landmass he wrote recently discovered but not yet completely explored, the body of water beyond the tip of South America is called the “Mare Magellanicum, ” one of the first uses of navigator Ferdinand Magellans name in such a context. Schöner called the continent Brasiliae Australis in his 1533 tract, Opusculum geographicum, explorers of the Age of Discovery, from the late 15th century on, proved that Africa was almost entirely surrounded by sea, and that the Indian Ocean was accessible from both west and east. These discoveries reduced the area where the continent could be found, however, as new lands were discovered, they were often assumed to be parts of the hypothetical continent. Where Schöner departs most conspicuously from Waldseemüller is in his globes depiction of an Antarctic continent, the Zeytung described the Portuguese voyagers passing through a strait between the southernmost point of America, or Brazil, and a land to the south west, referred to as vndtere Presill. This supposed “strait” was in fact the Rio de la Plata, on this slender foundation he constructed his circum-Antarctic continent to which, for reasons that he does not explain, he gave an annular, or ring shape. Further, the distance is only moderate from this Region of Brazil to Malacca, on this scrap of information, united with the concept of the Antipodes inherited from Graeco-Roman antiquity, Schöner constructed his representation of the southern continent. His strait served as inspiration for Ferdinand Magellans expedition to reach the Moluccas by a westward route and it was taken up by his followers, the French cosmographer Oronce Fine in his world map of 1531, and the Flemish cartographers Gerardus Mercator in 1538 and Abraham Ortelius in 1570. Schöners concepts influenced the Dieppe school of mapmakers, notably in their representation of Jave la Grande, there was much interest in Terra Australis among Norman and Breton merchants at that time. In 1566 and 1570, Francisque and André dAlbaigne presented Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, although the Admiral gave favourable consideration to these initiatives, they came to nought when Coligny was killed in 1572. Adjoining Guinea on the right are the numerous and vast Solomon Islands which lately became famous by the voyage of Alvarus Mendanius, juan Fernandez, sailing from Chile in 1576, claimed he had discovered the Southern Continent
6.
Tierra del Fuego
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Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the controlling the eastern half of the main island. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is at about latitude 55 S, the earliest known human settlement in Tierra del Fuego dates to around 8,000 B. C. Europeans first explored the islands during Ferdinand Magellans expedition of 1520, Tierra del Fuego, today, petroleum extraction dominates economic activity in the north of Tierra del Fuego, while tourism, manufacturing, and Antarctic logistics are important in the south. The earliest human settlement occurred around 8,000 B. C, the Yaghan were some of the earliest known humans to settle in Tierra del Fuego. Archeological sites with characteristics of their culture have found at locations such as Navarino Island. The name Tierra del Fuego derives from the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, sailing for the Spanish Crown and he believed he was seeing the many fires of the Yaghan, which were visible from the sea, and that the Indians were waiting in the forests to ambush his armada. In 1525 Francisco de Hoces was the first to speculate that Tierra del Fuego was one or more islands rather than part of what was then called Terra Australis, francis Drake in 1578 and a Dutch VOC expedition in 1616 learned more about the geography. The latter expedition named Cape Horn, on his first voyage with the HMS Beagle in 1830, Robert FitzRoy picked up four native Fuegians, including Jemmy Button and brought them to England. The surviving three were taken to London to meet the King and Queen and were, for a time and they returned to Tierra del Fuego in the Beagle with FitzRoy and Charles Darwin, who made extensive notes about his visit to the islands. During the second half of the 19th century, the archipelago began to come under Chilean, both countries sought to claim the whole archipelago based on de jure Spanish colonial titles. Salesian Catholic missions were established in Río Grande and Dawson Island, anglican missions were established by British colonists at Keppel Island in the Falklands in 1855 and in 1870 at Ushuaia on the main island, which continued to operate through the 19th century. Thomas Bridges learned the language and compiled a 30, 000-word Yaghan grammar and it was published in the 20th century and considered an important ethnological work. An 1879 Chilean expedition led by Ramón Serrano Montaner reported large amounts of gold in the streams. This prompted massive immigration to the island between 1883 and 1909. Numerous Argentines, Chileans and Croatians settled in the main island, julius Popper, a Romanian explorer, was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the region. Granted rights by the Argentine government to exploit any gold deposits he found in Tierra del Fuego, despite the missionaries efforts, many natives died
7.
Inter caetera
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It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was issuing a donation of sovereignty or a feudal infeodation or investiture. Differing interpretations have been argued since the bull was issued, with some arguing that it was meant to transform the possession and occupation of land into lawful sovereignty. Others, including the Spanish crown and the conquistadors, interpreted it in the widest possible sense, the Inter caetera bull and others similar to it, particularly Dudum siquidem, made up the Bulls of Donation. Before Christopher Columbus received support for his voyage from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, upon Columbuss return from his first voyage to the Americas, his first landing was made in the Portuguese Azores, a subsequent storm drove his ship to Lisbon on 4 March 1493. Hearing of Columbuss discoveries, the Portuguese king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas. The treaty had been ratified with the 1481 papal bull Aeterni regis, which confirmed previous bulls of 1452,1455 and it was the Kings understanding that the terms of the treaty acknowledged Portuguese claims to all territory south of the Canaries. Columbuss arrival in supposedly Asiatic lands in the western Atlantic Ocean in 1492 threatened the unstable relations between Portugal and Spain. With word that King John was preparing a fleet to sail to the west, Spanish and Portuguese delegates met and debated from April to November 1493, without reaching an agreement. Columbus was still in Lisbon when he sent a report of his success to the Spanish monarchs, on 11 April, the Spanish ambassador conveyed the news to Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard native of Valencia, and urged him to issue a new bull favorable to Spain. They were at Barcelona, in touch with Rome. The camera apostolica became almost an extension of the Spanish Court, the Pope issued edicts dated 3 and 4 May 1493. The third superseded the first two, a final edict, Dudum siquidem of 26 September 1493, supplemented the Inter caetera. The first bull, Inter Caetera, dated 3 May, recognized Spains claim to any discovered lands not already held by a Christian prince, both parties found this too vague. The third bull, also entitled Inter Caetera, dated 4 May, one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde. Diffie notes that it has suggested that this change may have been prompted by the Portuguese ambassador. The Inter caetera and the following Treaty of Tordesillas defined and delineated a zone of Spanish rights exclusive of Portugal, in relation to other states the agreement was legally ineffective. Spains attempts to persuade other European powers on the validity of the Inter caetera were never successful. e. The said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the commonly known as the Azores
8.
Treaty of Tordesillas
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This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia. The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile, the treaty was signed by Spain,2 July 1494 and by Portugal,5 September 1494. Originals of both treaties are kept at the Archivo General de Indias in Spain and at the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Portugal. This treaty would be observed fairly well by Spain and Portugal, despite considerable ignorance as to the geography of the New World, however and those countries generally ignored the treaty, particularly those that became Protestant after the Protestant Reformation. The Treaty of Tordesillas was intended to solve the dispute that had been created following the return of Christopher Columbus and his crew, on his way back to Spain he first reached Lisbon, in Portugal. There he asked for another meeting with King John II to show him the newly discovered lands, also, the Portuguese King stated that he was already making arrangements for a fleet to depart shortly and take possession of the new lands. After reading the letter the Catholic Monarchs knew they did not have any power in the Atlantic to match the Portuguese. The bull did not mention Portugal or its lands, so Portugal could not claim newly discovered lands even if they were east of the line. The Portuguese King John II was not pleased with that arrangement, feeling that it gave him far too little land—it prevented him from possessing India, by 1493 Portuguese explorers had reached the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese were unlikely to go to war over the islands encountered by Columbus, the treaty effectively countered the bulls of Alexander VI but was subsequently sanctioned by Pope Julius II by means of the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis of 24 January 1506. Even though the treaty was negotiated without consulting the Pope, a few sources call the line the Papal Line of Demarcation. Very little of the divided area had actually been seen by Europeans. Castile gained lands including most of the Americas, which in 1494 had little proven wealth, the easternmost part of current Brazil was granted to Portugal when in 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral landed there while he was en route to India. Some historians contend that the Portuguese already knew of the South American bulge that makes up most of Brazil before this time, the line was not strictly enforced—the Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian. However, the Catholic Monarchs attempted to stop the Portuguese advance in Asia, by claiming the meridian line ran around the world, Portugal pushed back, seeking another papal pronouncement that limited the line of demarcation to the Atlantic. This was given by Pope Leo X, who was friendly toward Portugal and its discoveries, for a period between 1580 and 1640, the treaty was rendered meaningless, as the Spanish King was also King of Portugal. It was superseded by the 1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it occupied in South America, however, the latter treaty was immediately repudiated by the Catholic Monarch. The First Treaty of San Ildefonso settled the problem, with Spain acquiring territories east of the Uruguay River, the Treaty of Tordesillas only specified the line of demarcation in leagues from the Cape Verde Islands
9.
Leo Amery
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Leopold Amery was born in Gorakhpur, India, to an English father and a Hungarian Jewish mother. His father was Charles Frederick Amery, of Lustleigh, Devon and his mother Elisabeth Johanna Saphir, who was the sister of the orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner, had come to India from England, where her parents had settled and converted to Protestantism. In 1877, his mother moved back to England from India, in 1887, Amery went to Harrow School, where he was a contemporary of Winston Churchill. Amery represented Harrow at gymnastics and held the top position in examinations for a number of years, he won prizes. After Harrow, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he performed well and he gained a First in classical moderations in 1894, in literae humaniores in 1896 and was proxime accessit to the Craven scholar in 1894 and Ouseley scholar in Turkish in 1896. He also won a half-blue in cross-country running and he was elected a fellow of All Souls College. Undoubtedly intelligent, he could speak Hindi at 3, Amery was born in India and he could converse in French, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Serbian and Hungarian. During the Second Boer War Amery was a correspondent for The Times, in 1901, in his articles on the conduct of the war, he attacked the British commander, Sir Redvers Henry Buller, which contributed to Bullers sacking. Amery was the correspondent to visit Boer forces and was nearly captured with Churchill. Amery later edited and largely wrote The Times History of the South African War, the Boer War had exposed deficiencies in the British Army and in 1903, Amery wrote The Problem of the Army and advocated its reorganisation. In The Times he penned articles attacking free trade using the pseudonym Tariff Reformer and in 1906 and he was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers, set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Amery turned down the chance to be editor of The Observer in 1908 and he narrowly failed to win the Wolverhampton East by-election held in 1908 by eight votes. In the Birmingham South by-election of 1911 he was unopposed as a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament, according to AJP Taylor, Amery was a rare Conservative to promote only protectionism as merely the beginning of a planned economy. During World War I, Amerys knowledge of Hungarian led to his employment as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans campaign, later, as a parliamentary under-secretary in Lloyd Georges national government, he helped draft the Balfour Declaration,1917. He also encouraged Zeev Jabotinsky in the formation of the Jewish Legion for the British Army in Palestine. Amery was opposed to the constitution of the League of Nations because he believed that the world was not equal and so the League and he instead believed that the world was tending towards larger and larger states that made up a balanced world of inherently stable units. He contrasted that idea with what he called US President Woodrow Wilsons facile slogan of self-determination and he was First Lord of the Admiralty under Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin. Amery defended the financing of the Singapore Naval Base against both Liberal and Labour attacks, Amery was Colonial Secretary in Baldwins government from 1924 to 1929
10.
Falkland Islands
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The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 miles east of South Americas southern Patagonian coast, the archipelago, with an area of 4,700 square miles, comprises East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, the islands capital is Stanley on East Falkland. Controversy exists over the Falklands discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans, at various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, although Argentina maintains its claim to the islands, in April 1982, Argentine forces temporarily occupied the islands. British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War, most Falklanders favour the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory, but its sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The population primarily consists of native-born Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent, other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, under the British Nationality Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens. The islands lie on the boundary of the oceanic and tundra climate zones. They are home to bird populations, although many no longer breed on the main islands because of competition from introduced species. Major economic activities include fishing, tourism and sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports, oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina. The Falkland Islands take their name from the Falkland Sound, a strait separating the two main islands. The name Falkland was applied to the channel by John Strong, Strong named the strait in honour of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored their journey. The name Falklands was not applied to the islands until 1765, the term Falklands is a standard abbreviation used to refer to the islands. The Spanish name for the archipelago, Islas Malvinas, derives from the French Îles Malouines — the name given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1764, Bougainville, who founded the islands first settlement, named the area after the port of Saint-Malo. The port, located in the Brittany region of western France, was in turn named after St. Malo, in Spanish, the territory was designated as Islas Malvinas. The nomenclature used by the United Nations for statistical processing purposes is Falkland Islands, although Fuegians from Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited at the time of their discovery by Europeans. Claims of discovery date back to the 16th century, but no consensus exists on whether these early explorers discovered the Falklands or other islands in the South Atlantic, whether or not the settlements were aware of each others existence is debated by historians
11.
South Atlantic
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
12.
South Georgia Island
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South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic that is part of the British Overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 167.4 kilometres long and 1.4 to 37 km wide. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by a commercial Spanish ship named León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756
13.
South Orkney Islands
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The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 kilometres north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. They have an area of about 620 square kilometres. The islands are claimed both by Britain, and by Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty claims are held in abeyance. Britain and Argentina both maintain bases on the islands, the Argentinian base, Orcadas, established 1904, is sited on Laurie Island. The 11 buildings of the Argentinian station house up to 45 people during the summer, the British Antarctic Survey base, Signy Research Station, is located on Signy Island and was established in 1947. Initially operated year-round, since 1995/6 the Signy Research Station has been only from November to April each year. Apart from personnel at the bases, there are no permanent inhabitants on the islands, the South Orkney Islands were discovered in 1821 by two sealers, the American Nathaniel Brown Palmer and the British George Powell. The Islands were originally named Powells Group, with the island named Coronation Island as it was the year of the coronation of King George IV. In 1823, James Weddell visited the Islands, gave the archipelago its present name, the South Orkney Islands are located at roughly the same latitude south as the Orkney Islands are north, although it is not known if this was a factor behind the naming of the islands. Bruce surveyed the islands, reverted some of Weddells name changes, and established a meteorological station and this base, renamed Orcadas in 1951, is still in operation today and is thus the oldest research station continuously staffed in the Antarctic. The Islands were subsequently administered as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies, in 1962, the islands became part of the newly established British Antarctic Territory. The Argentinian claim to the dates from 1925. It was originally justified by the Argentinian occupation of the Laurie Island base, the islands are situated at latitudes about 60°30 to 60°83 S and longitudes 44°25 to 46°25 W in the Southern Ocean. As a group of islands, the South Orkney Islands are at approximately 60°35′S 045°30′W, the archipelago comprises four main islands. Coronation Island is the largest, measuring about 30 miles long, Laurie Island is the easternmost of the islands. The other main islands are Powell and Signy, smaller islands in the group include Robertson Islands, the Saddle Islands, and Acuña Island. The total area of the archipelago is about 240 square miles, the Inaccessible Islands about 15 nmi to the west are considered part of the South Orkneys. The climate of the South Orkneys is generally cold, wet, summers are short and cold when the average temperatures reach about 3.5 °C and fall to about −12.8 °C in July
14.
South Shetland Islands
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The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of 3,687 square kilometres. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the islands sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories, the islands have been claimed by the United Kingdom since 1908 and have been part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962. They are also claimed by the governments of Chile and by Argentina, several countries maintain research stations on the islands. Most of them are situated on King George Island, benefitting from the airfield of the Chilean base Eduardo Frei, there are sixteen research stations to date in different parts of the islands, with Chilean stations being the greatest in number. Research is often a shared duty of nations, with the Chilean-United States Shirreff Base being one example, the Dutchman Dirck Gerritsz in 1599, or the Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla in 1603, supposedly sailed south of the Drake Passage in the South Shetland Islands area. In 1818 Juan Pedro de Aguirre obtained permission from the Buenos Aires authorities to establish a base for sealing on some of the islands near the South Pole. Thus Livingston Island became the first land discovered south of the 60th southern latitude. Smith revisited the South Shetlands, landed on King George Island on 16 October 1819, meanwhile, the Spanish Navy ship San Telmo sank in September 1819 whilst trying to go through the Drake Passage. Parts of her wreckage were found months later by sealers on the north coast of Livingston Island. From December 1819 to January 1820, the islands were surveyed and mapped by Lieutenant Edward Bransfield on board the Williams, the discovery of the islands attracted British and American sealers. The first sealing ship to operate in the area was the brig Espirito Santo, the ship arrived at Rugged Island off Livingston Island, where its British crew landed on Christmas Day 1819, and claimed the islands for King George III. A narrative of the events was published by the master, Joseph Herring. The Espirito Santo was followed from the Falkland Islands by the American brig Hersilia, commanded by Captain James Sheffield, having circumnavigated the Antarctic continent, the Russian Antarctic expedition of Fabian von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev arrived at the South Shetlands in January 1821. The Russians surveyed the islands and named them, landing on both King George Island and Elephant Island, the name New South Britain was used briefly, but was soon changed to South Shetland Islands. The name South Shetland Islands is now established in international usage, both island groups lie at a similar distance from the South Pole and North Pole respectively, but the South Shetlands are much colder. Seal hunting and whaling was conducted on the islands during the 19th, from 1908 the islands were governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependency, but they have only been occupied since the establishment of a scientific research station in 1944. The archipelago, together with the nearby Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia, is a popular tourist destination during the austral summer. As a group of islands, the South Shetland Islands are located at 62°0′S 58°0′W and they are within the region 61° 00–63°37 South, 53° 83–62°83 West
15.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia, South Georgia is 165 kilometres long and 1 to 35 km wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres southeast of South Georgia, the total land area of the territory is 3,903 square kilometres. There is no permanent population on the islands, the United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was formed in 1985, Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938. Argentina maintained a station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by the commercial Spanish ship León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756. At one time it was confused with Pepys Island, which was discovered by Dampier and Cowley in 1683, captain James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1775 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under the 1843 British Letters Patent. In 1882–1883, a German expedition for the First International Polar Year was stationed at Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island, the scientists of this group observed the transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century, the waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as Earl Spencer, in late 1801. South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century, a Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at Grytviken in 1904. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken, the station remained in operation until 1965. Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands, one was called a charnel house boiling wholesale in vaseline by an early 20th-century visitor. With the end of the industry, the stations were abandoned. Apart from a few preserved buildings such as the museum and church at Grytviken, in 1908, the United Kingdom issued further Letters Patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic. The Letters Patent covered South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, the South Sandwich Islands, in 1909, an administrative centre and residence were established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken
16.
Graham Land
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Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. The line dividing them is roughly 69 degrees south, Graham Land is named after Sir James R. G. Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of John Biscoes exploration of the west side of Graham Land in 1832. It is claimed by Argentina, Britain and Chile, Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. Until the discoveries of the British Graham Land Expedition of 1934–1937, mount Brading,4 nautical miles east of the northeast corner of Larsen Inlet. Argentina calls the area Tierra de San Martín and also calls the northern peninsula Península Trinidad or Tierra de la Trinidad, similarly, Chile calls the entire Antarctic Peninsula Tierra de OHiggins. British Graham Land Expedition U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Graham Land Media related to Graham Land at Wikimedia Commons
17.
Stanley, Falkland Islands
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Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2012 census, the town had a population of 2,121, Stanley is represented by five members of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands, currently Jan Cheek, Barry Elsby, Michael Poole, Gavin Short and Mike Summers. Stanley is the shopping centre on the islands and the hub of East Falklands road network. The Falkland Islands Company owns several shops and a hotel, Stanley has four pubs, eleven hotels and guesthouses, three restaurants, a fish and chip shop and the main tourist office. There are three churches, including the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, a bomb disposal unit in the town is a legacy of the Falklands War. The town hall serves as a post office, philatelic bureau, law court, the police station also contains the islands only prison, with a capacity of thirteen in the cells. The community centre includes a pool, a sports centre, library. A grass football pitch is located by the community centre and hosts regular games, Stanley Racecourse, located on the west side of Stanley, holds a two-day horse racing meeting every year on 26 and 27 December. The Christmas races have been here for over one hundred years. Stanley Golf Course has an 18-hole course and a club house and it is also located to the west of Stanley. King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is the main hospital, with doctors practice and surgery, radiology department, dental surgery. Several bus and taxi companies operate out of Stanley, Stanley is also home to the Falkland Islands Radio Station, the Stanley office of the British Antarctic Survey, and the office of the weekly Penguin News newspaper. A nursery and garden centre is here, in whose greenhouses some of the islands vegetables are grown. The original capital of the islands was at Port Louis to the north of the present site of Stanley, captains Francis Crozier and James Clark Ross were recruited by Governor Richard Moody in his quest to find a new capital for The Falklands. Both Crozier and Ross were among the Royal Navys most distinguished seafarers and they spent 5 months in the islands with their ships Terror and Erebus. Governor Moody however, decided to move the capital to Port Jackson, Stanley Harbour was considered to have a deeper anchorage for visiting ships. Work on the settlement began in 1843 and it became the capital in July 1845 and it was named after Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time
18.
Governor of the Falkland Islands
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The role and powers of the Governor are set out in Chapter II of the Falkland Islands Constitution. The Governor in office resides at Government House, which serves as the official residence, the history of the leadership on the islands is closely related to the history of the Falkland Islands themselves. The first settlement on the islands was at Port St. Louis and was led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the first leader of a British settlement was John McBride, Captain of HMS Jason, in 1766 at Port Egmont. The French settlement of Port St. Louis was transferred to the Spanish in 1767 and renamed Puerto Soledad, the British chose to withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1776 due to the pressure of the American War of Independence. The Spanish settlement ended in 1811 as a result of the Peninsular war, in 1829 Luis Vernet was proclaimed Military and Civil Commander of Puerto Luis by the United Provinces of South America, which elicited a protest from the British Government. In 1831, Vernet seized three US vessels and imprisoned their crews for contravening his regulations on sealing, prompting a raid by the USS Lexington, in response, the United Kingdom sent a task force to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in 1833. The Falklands were then settled, mainly by people from Wales, the first Governor of the Falklands was Richard Clement Moody, who was Governor from 1841 to 1848. Moody selected the site for and founded Stanley and Moody Brook is named after him, there was then a British government on the islands until 1982 when the Falklands were invaded and occupied by Argentina for 74 days. Following the Argentine surrender at the end of the Falklands War, in 2009 a new constitution was established which further defined the role and powers of the Governor. The Governor is appointed by the Queen on the advice of her Secretary of State for Foreign, the appointment is actually made by a Royal Commission under the royal sign-manual. Under the Constitution, executive authority of the Falkland Islands is vested in the Queen, in addition, the Attorney General and the Commander of the British Forces in the South Atlantic attend council meetings by invitation, although they cannot vote in the Council meetings. The Governor also acts as the Presiding Officer of the Executive Council, the Governor also appoints the members and can remove members of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy after consulting Legislative Assembly. On the advice of the Advisory Committee, the Governor may grant pardons to convicted of any offence. In most cases, the Governor must consult with the Executive Council, in all these instances the members of the Executive Council can appeal to the Secretary of State. Under section 23 of the constitution, before entering upon the functions of his or her office, the Governor must take the oath of allegiance, archived from the original on 2012-09-25. The Falkland Islands Constitution Order 2008, archived from the original on November 23,2009
19.
Whaling
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Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products like meat, oil and blubber. Its earliest forms date to at least circa 3000 BC, various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually In 1986, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries, notably Japan, Norway, and Iceland, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting, anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Whaling began in times and was initially confined to coastal waters. Early whaling affected the development of disparate cultures – such as Norway. The Basques were the first to catch whales commercially, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is considered to have had little ecological impact. Whale oil is used today and modern commercial whaling is primarily done for food. The primary species hunted are the common minke whale and Antarctic minke whale, recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 in the northeast Atlantic. International cooperation on whaling began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Its aim is to, provide for the conservation of whale stocks. The International Whaling Commission was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas, non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. The IWC voted on July 23,1982, to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWCs Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give proposals for some whale stocks. At the 2010 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco, Japan, Norway and Iceland have urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations has offered a plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the Southern Ocean, opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling, but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by indigenous peoples
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South Pole
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The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth, situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole should not be confused with the South Magnetic Pole, the South Pole is at the center of the Southern Hemisphere. For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the point of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. However, the Earths axis of rotation is actually subject to very small wobbles, the geographic coordinates of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as 0°, at the South Pole, all directions face north. For this reason, directions at the Pole are given relative to grid north, along tight latitude circles, clockwise is east, and counterclockwise is west, opposite to the North Pole. The Geographic South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica. It sits atop a featureless, barren, windswept and icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 metres above sea level, and is located about 1,300 km from the nearest open sea at Bay of Whales. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 metres thick at the Pole, the polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 metres per year in a direction between 37° and 40° west of grid north, down towards the Weddell Sea. Therefore, the position of the station and other artificial features relative to the geographic pole gradually shift over time. The Geographic South Pole is marked by a stake in the ice alongside a small sign, these are repositioned each year in a ceremony on New Years Day to compensate for the movement of the ice. The sign records the respective dates that Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott reached the Pole, followed by a quotation from each man. A new marker stake is designed and fabricated each year by staff at the site, the Ceremonial South Pole is an area set aside for photo opportunities at the South Pole Station. It is located around 180 metres from the Geographic South Pole, Amundsens Tent, The tent was erected by the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on its arrival on 14 December 1911. It is currently buried beneath the snow and ice in the vicinity of the Pole and it has been designated a Historic Site or Monument, following a proposal by Norway to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. In 1820, several expeditions claimed to have been the first to have sighted Antarctica, with the very first being the Russian expedition led by Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The first landing was probably just over a year later when American Captain John Davis, the basic geography of the Antarctic coastline was not understood until the mid-to-late 19th century
21.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
22.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
23.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
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Ross Dependency
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The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south. It is claimed by New Zealand, the Dependency takes its name from Sir James Clark Ross, who discovered the Ross Sea, and includes part of Victoria Land, and most of the Ross Ice Shelf. Ross Island, Balleny Islands and the small Scott Island also form part of the Dependency, following his discovery of Victoria Land in 1841, James Clark Ross took possession of this territory, along with the surrounding sea, on behalf of Britain. The Order in Council then went on to appoint the Governor-General and this Order in Council was published in the New Zealand Gazette on 16 August 1923, and on 14 November 1923, the Governor-General issued regulations extending New Zealand law to the Ross Dependency. Sir Francis stated that, The boundaries of New Zealand are not extended to include the Ross sea, but his excellency was required in all matters of legislation and regulation for the Ross Territory to comply with instructions from the colonial secretary. Technically, the claim is that of the Queen and she can exercise it through any of her Governments, at an Imperial conference in 1930, it was agreed that the Governors-General of the Dominions would be appointed by the King on the advice of the Dominion in question. And following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, then in the year 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed by twelve nations which included both the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The actual amount of land mass claimed is not large, most of the area defined as being in the Ross Dependency is either in the Ross Sea or the Antarctic Ocean. It is the second-smallest of the claims which were prior to the implementation of the Antarctic Treaty System. Officers of the Government of the Ross Dependency are annually appointed to run the Dependency, the New Zealand Geographic Board has named many features within the Dependency. The Dependency has a runway at Williams Field, and depending on conditions and time of year. This guarantees accessibility by wheeled and ski equipped aircraft year round, from 1969 to 1995 New Zealand operated a summer-only base called Vanda Station in the Dry Valley area of the dependency. Greenpeace maintained its own Antarctic station in the Ross Dependency called World Park Base from 1987 to 1992, as this base was a non-governmental entity, the official policy of the signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty was not to give any support or assistance to it. The expedition was criticised by scientists in the Antarctic because the rescue, timeline of New Zealands links with Antarctica New Zealand, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. south-pole. com/homepage
25.
Commander-in-chief
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A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence
26.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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Meridian (geography)
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A meridian is the half of an imaginary great circle on the Earths surface, terminated by the North Pole and the South Pole, connecting points of equal longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude indicating how many degrees north or south of the Equator the point is, each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude. Each is also the length, being half of a great circle on the Earths surface. Most maps show the lines of longitude, the position of the prime meridian has changed a few times throughout history, mainly due to the transit observatory being built next door to the previous one. Such changes had no significant practical effect, historically, the average error in the determination of longitude was much larger than the change in position. The adoption of WGS84 as the system has moved the geodetic prime meridian 102.478 metres east of its last astronomic position. The position of the current geodetic prime meridian is not identified at all by any kind of sign or marking in Greenwich, but can be located using a GPS receiver. The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, meaning midday, the same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a. m. and p. m. used to disambiguate hours of the day when utilizing the 12-hour clock. Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian, the angle between the magnetic and the true meridian is the magnetic declination, which is relevant for navigating with a compass. Searchable PDF prepared by the author, C. A. White, resources page of the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Meridian
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Australian Antarctic Territory
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The Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933 and it is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation. In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty came into force, as a result, only four other states recognise Australias claim to sovereignty in Antarctica. AAT consists of all the islands and territory south of 60°S and between 45°E and 160°E, except for Adélie Land, which divides the territory into Western AAT and it is bounded by Queen Maud Land in the West and by Ross Dependency in the East. The area is estimated at 5,896,500 km2, the territory is inhabited by the staff of research stations. The Australian Antarctic Division administers the area primarily by maintaining three year-round stations, which support research projects. Australia claims an Exclusive Economic Zone from the Australian Antarctic Territory, however, the Australian proclamation of an Antarctic EEZ is contested. The effect of Article IV of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty would seem to be that an EEZ cannot be claimed in relation to territory to which that Treaty applies, whaling in Australian Antarctic territorial waters is controversial and has received international attention. Anti-whaling protest groups, in particular Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, have been active within the Australian Antarctic territorial waters. Sea Shepherd small boat crews have had encounters with Japanese ships that claim to be on research expeditions while opponents argue this is only a cover for banned commercial whaling. The Australian Whale Sanctuary, in Australian Antarctic territory, is not recognised by the government of Japan, anti-whaling legislation passed by the Australian Government applies to Australian territorial waters. Active and closed stations in the territory, from West to East, The United Kingdom first claimed Victoria Land on 9 January 1841, in 1933, a British imperial order transferred most of the territory south of 60° S and between meridians 160° E and 45° E to Australia. C2004C00416 / Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act 1933 The borders with Adélie Land were fixed definitively in 1938, in 1947, Britain transferred Heard Island and McDonald Islands to the territory. On 13 February 1954, Mawson Station was established as the first Australian station on the continent proper, Australias claim to sovereignty over the Australian Antarctic Territory is recognised by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Norway. Neither Japan nor Spain recognise this claim, and Japan does not recognise the Australian claim to the Australian Antarctic territorial waters in which Japanese ships conduct whaling, during the early 1980s there was a brief debate in Australia on whether or not to allow mining on the mineral-rich continent. Several mining proposals have been discussed and have all been rejected, on the 9 August 2011, influential Australian think-tank, the Lowy Institute, published a report warning Canberra against complacency when it comes to its claim. The global treaty banning resource exploitation becomes reviewable in 2041, and these include coal seams, manganese, iron and uranium, while Antarcticas forecast oil reserves are estimated as among the largest in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Lowys national security fellow Ellie Fogarty said in the paper that Australia cannot adequately patrol its claim and it also lacks an ice-breaking ship in the region
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Statute of Westminster 1931
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It thus became a statutory embodiment of the principles of equality and common allegiance to the Crown set out in the Balfour Declaration of 1926. It was a step in the development of the Dominions as separate states. The Statute of Westminsters relevance today is that it sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown. The Statute of Westminster gave effect to certain political resolutions passed by the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930, in particular, the Balfour Declaration of 1926. Both Canada and the Irish Free State pushed for the ability to amend the laws themselves. After the Statute was passed, the British parliament could no longer make laws for the Dominions, other than with the request, before then, the Dominions had legally been self-governing colonies of the United Kingdom. However, the Statute had the effect of making them sovereign nations once they adopted it, Ireland and South Africa are now republics and Newfoundland is part of Canada. Adopting section 4 clarified that Britain could legislate with effect on Australia as a whole only with Australias request, however, this capacity was never used. That authority remained in effect until the Constitution Act,1982, which transferred it to Canada and these disagreements were resolved only in time for the passage of the Canada Act 1982, thus completing the patriation of the Canadian constitution to Canada. At that time, the Canadian parliament also repealed sections 4 and 7 of the Statute of Westminster, the Statute of Westminster remains a part of the constitution of Canada by virtue of section 52 of the Constitution Act,1982. As a consequence of the adoption, the Parliament of Canada gained the ability to abolish appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Criminal appeals were abolished in 1933, while civil appeals continued until 1949, the passage of the Statute of Westminster meant that changes in British legislation governing the succession to the throne no longer automatically applied to Canada. The Free States constitution gave the Oireachtas sole and exclusive power of making laws, originally, the UK government had wanted to exclude from the Statute of Westminster the legislation underpinning the 1921 treaty, from which the Free States constitution had emerged. President W. T. Cosgrave objected, although he promised the Executive Council would not amend the legislation unilaterally, the other Dominions backed Cosgrave and, when an amendment to similar effect was proposed at Westminster by John Gretton, parliament duly voted it down. He went on to present the Statute as largely the fruit of the Free States efforts to secure for the other Dominions the same benefits it already enjoyed under the treaty. After Éamon de Valera led Fianna Fáil to victory in the Free State election of 1932, he began removing the elements of the constitution. De Valera initially considered invoking the Statute of Westminster in making these changes, abolishing the Oath of Allegiance in effect abrogated the 1921 treaty. Generally, the British thought that this was morally objectionable but legally permitted by the Statute of Westminster, however, the Free State had also abolished the right of appeal to the JCPC
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Jules Dumont d'Urville
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Jules Sébastien César Dumont dUrville was a French explorer, naval officer and rear admiral, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer he left his mark, giving his name to several seaweeds, plants and shrubs, Dumont was born at Condé-sur-Noireau in Lower Normandy. His father, Gabriel Charles François Dumont, sieur d’Urville, Bailiff of Condé-sur-Noireau, was, like his ancestors and his mother Jeanne Françoise Victoire Julie came from Croisilles, Calvados and was a rigid and formal woman from an ancient family of the rural nobility of Lower Normandy. The child was weak and often sickly, after the death of his father when he was six, his mother’s brother, the Abbot of Croisilles, played the part of his father and from 1798 took charge of his education. The Abbot taught him Latin, Greek, rhetoric and philosophy, from 1804 Dumont studied at the lycée Impérial in Caen. In Caen’s library he began to read the encyclopédists and the reports of travel of Bougainville, Cook and Anson, at the age of 17 years he failed the physical tests of the entrance exam to the École Polytechnique and he therefore decided to enlist in the navy. In 1808, he obtained the grade of first class candidate, at the time the neglected French navy was of a much lower quality than Napoleons Grande Armée, and its ships were blockaded in their ports by the absolute domination of the British Royal Navy. Dumont was confined to land like his colleagues and spent the first years in the navy studying foreign languages, in this period Dumont built on his already substantial cultural knowledge. He already spoke, in addition to Latin and Greek, English, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, during his later travels in the Pacific, thanks to his prodigious memory, he would acquire some knowledge of an immense number of dialects of Polynesia and Melanesia. Meanwhile, ashore at Toulon, he learnt about botany and entomology in long excursions in the hills of Provence, finally in 1814, when Napoleon had been exiled to Elba, Dumont undertook his first short navigation of the Mediterranean Sea. In 1819 Dumont dUrville sailed on board Chevrette, under the command of Captain Gauttier-Duparc, during a pause near the island of Milos, the local French representative brought to Dumonts attention the rediscovery of a marble statue a few days before by a local peasant. The statue, now known as the Venus de Milo dates from around the year 130 BC, Dumont recognised its value and would have acquired it immediately, but the ship’s commander pointed out that there was not enough space on board for an object of its size. Moreover, the expedition was likely to proceed through stormy seas that could damage it, Dumont then wrote to the French ambassador to Constantinople about its discovery. Chevrette arrived in Constantinople on 22 April and Dumont succeeded in convincing the ambassador to acquire the statue, meanwhile, the peasant had sold the statue to a priest, Macario Verghis, who wished to present it as a gift to an interpreter for the Sultan in Constantinople. The two began to plan an expedition of exploration in the Pacific, an area from which France had been forced during the Napoleonic Wars, France considered it might be able to regain some of its losses by taking over part of New South Wales. On 11 August 1822 the ship La Coquille sailed from Toulon with the objective of collecting as much scientific and strategic information as possible on the area to which it was dispatched, Duperrey was named Commander of the expedition because he was four years older than Dumont. Dumont discovered the Adélie penguin, which is named after his wife, rené-Primevère Lesson also travelled on La Coquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. Dumont was now 35 and in poor health, on the return to France, Duperrey was promoted to commander, while Dumont was demoted to a lower rank, even after having been on his best behaviour
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Peter I Island
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Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellingshausen Sea,450 kilometres from Antarctica. It is claimed as a dependency of Norway, and along with Queen Maud Land, Peter I Island is 11 by 19 kilometres long and 156 square kilometres, slightly larger than Staten Island. The tallest peak is the ultra and 1, 640-meter tall Lars Christensen Peak, nearly all of the island is covered by a glacier and it is surrounded most of the year by pack ice, making it inaccessible almost all year round. There is little life on the island apart from seabirds and seals, the island was first sighted by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on 21 January 1821 and was named for Peter I of Russia. Since then, the sovereignty over the island belongs to the tsar, not until 2 February 1929 did anyone set foot on the island, when Nils Larsen and Ola Olstads Second Norvegia Expedition, financed by Lars Christensen, was successful. They claimed it for Norway, who annexed it in 1931, the next landing occurred in 1948 and the island has been subject to some scientific research and a limited amount of tourism. The island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty in 1961, since 1987, there has been an automated meteorological station on the island. Three amateur radio DX-peditions have visited the island and there are sporadic landings by tourists, the first sighting of Peter I Island was made on 21 January 1821 by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausens expedition, who commanded the ships Vostok and Mirnyy under the Russian flag. He named the island for Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia, drift ice made it impossible for Bellinghausen to come nearer than 25 kilometers from the island. It was the first land to have been spotted south of the Antarctic Circle, in 1926 and 1927, Norwegian Eyvind Tofte circumnavigated and surveyed the island from Odd I. However, he was prevented from landing. The Norwegian whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic, in part for research, the first expedition to land on the island was the Christensen-financed second Norvegia expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad. They landed on 2 February 1929 and claimed the island for Norway, Larsen attempted to land again in 1931, but was hindered by pack ice. On 6 March 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty, the next landing occurred on 10 February 1948 by Larsens ship Brategg. Biological, geological and hydrographic surveys underwent for three days, before the ice forced the expedition to leave. The expedition built a hut and placed a copy of the document of occupation from 1929 inside, on 23 June 1961, Peter I Island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty, after Norways signing of the treaty in 1959. Since then, there have been several landings on the island by various nations for scientific investigations, in 1987, the Norwegian Polar Institute sent five scientists to spend eleven days on the island. The main focuses were aerial photography and topographical measurements to allow an accurate map of the island to be produced, the second important area was marine biological investigations, although also geological, biological and other surveys were conducted
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Sovereignty
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Sovereignty is understood in jurisprudence as the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a term designating supreme authority over some polity. It is a basic principle underlying the dominant Westphalian model of state foundation, derived from Latin through French souveraineté, its attainment and retention, in both Chinese and Western culture, has traditionally been associated with certain moral imperatives upon any claimant. The concept of sovereignty has been discussed throughout history, and is still actively debated and it has changed in its definition, concept, and application throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects consisting of territory, population, authority, Sovereignty is a hypothetical trade, in which two potentially conflicting sides, respecting de facto realities of power, exchange such recognitions as their least costly strategy. The Roman jurist Ulpian observed that, The imperium of the people is transferred to the Emperor, the Emperor is not bound by the law. Emperor is the law making and abiding force, Ulpian was expressing the idea that the Emperor exercised a rather absolute form of sovereignty, although he did not use the term expressly. Classical Ulpians statements were known in medieval Europe, but sovereignty was an important concept in medieval times, Medieval monarchs were not sovereign, at least not strongly so, because they were constrained by, and shared power with, their feudal aristocracy. Furthermore, both were strongly constrained by custom, Sovereignty existed during the Medieval Period as the de jure rights of nobility and royalty, and in the de facto capability of individuals to make their own choices in life. 1380–1400, the issue of sovereignty was addressed in Geoffrey Chaucers Middle English collection of Canterbury Tales. The story revolves around the knight Sir Gawain granting to Dame Ragnell, his new bride, what is purported to be wanted most by women and we desire most from men, From men both lund and poor, To have sovereignty without lies. For where we have sovereignty, all is ours, Though a knight be ever so fierce and it is our desire to have master Over such a sir. Jean Bodin, partly in reaction to the chaos of the French wars of religion, in his 1576 treatise Les Six Livres de la République Bodin argued that it is inherent in the nature of the state that the sovereign must have both great and perpetual authority. Bodin rejected the notion of transference of sovereignty from people to the ruler, however, although he is often connected with absolutism, Bodin held some moderate opinions on how government should in practice be carried out. Thus, Bodin’s sovereign was restricted by the law of the state. Bodin believed that “the most divine, most excellent, and the form most proper to royalty is governed partly aristocratically and partly democratically”. With his doctrine that sovereignty is conferred by law, Bodin predefined the scope of the divine right of kings. During the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of sovereignty gained both legal and moral force as the main Western description of the meaning and power of a State
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Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
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Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was a Norwegian aviation pioneer, polar explorer and businessman. Among his achievements, he is regarded as the founder of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. Riiser-Larsen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1890, in 1909, aged nineteen, he joined the Norwegian Naval Academy and in 1915 the newly formed Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. After World War I, he served as the head of the RNoNASs factory until a more senior officer was appointed. In 1921, he joined the Aviation Council, then part of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and this gave him the opportunity to study the fledgling military and civil aviation infrastructure for which the Council was responsible. He also became a frequent pilot on the air used by the new aviation companies. Riiser-Larsens years of exploration began in 1925 when his compatriot Roald Amundsen. Riiser-Larsen agreed and secured the use of two Dornier Do J Wal seaplanes, the expedition, however, was forced to land close to the Pole, badly damaging one of the planes. Riiser-Larsen somehow managed to coax the overloaded plane into the air, the following year, Riiser-Larsen rejoined Amundsen for another attempt to fly over the Pole, this time with Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile in his recently renamed airship, the Norge. Leaving Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, the Norge completed the two days later, landing near Teller, Alaska. Riiser-Larsen also became involved in a search for Amundsen, when he as passenger in a French naval flyingboat went missing while he was en route to join the search for Nobile, eventually Nobile and most of his team were found, but Amundsen was not. The Norvegia expeditions were a sequence of Antarctic expeditions financed by the Norwegian shipowner, by the end of the second expedition, two small islands in the Southern Ocean, Bouvet Island and Peter I Island, had been annexed. In 1929 Christensen decided to include aeroplanes in the next expedition, Riiser-Larsen then supervised and took part in mapping most of the Antarctic in this and three further expeditions. More territory was annexed, this time the large area of the continent known as Queen Maud Land. In 1939, the Norwegian military was downsized and Riiser-Larssen was among those officers finding themselves out of work, however, he was quickly offered a new job by the shipping company Fred. Olsen & Co. as manager of its newly formed airline and he invited some former naval pilots to join the airline and soon made it the most successful in Norway. In 1946, DNL would be one of the four Scandinavian airlines merged to create the present-day Scandinavian Airlines System, when Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Riiser-Larsen rejoined the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. However, both the Norwegian Army and Royal Norwegian Navy Air Services were quickly overwhelmed by the Wehrmacht before he saw combat, by the end of the war, however, many of the pilots under his command had become critical of his leadership
Argentina
Australia
Chile
France
New Zealand
Norway
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United Kingdom
Bouvet Island (Dependency of Norway)
French Southern Territories[35][36]
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (External dependent territory of Australia)
Prince Edward Islands (South African territory)
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