Who Owns Antarctica? Seven Claims and One Treaty
Aktie
No country owns Antarctica. Yet seven countries claim a piece of it, and the maps of those claims tell a surprisingly human story of explorers, whaling, rivalry and diplomacy.
The seven claimants
- United Kingdom: claims go back to 1908, when royal letters patent consolidated the Falkland Islands Dependencies, including the Antarctic Peninsula. The British Antarctic Territory itself was established in 1962.
- New Zealand: the Ross Dependency was set up by a British Order in Council in 1923 and placed under the New Zealand Governor-General.
- France: a presidential decree of 1924 reserved French rights in Adélie Land.
- Australia: the Australian Antarctic Territory dates from 1933 and is the largest claim of all.
- Norway: a royal proclamation of January 14, 1939 annexed Queen Maud Land (Dronning Maud Land).
- Chile: the Chilean Antarctic Territory was claimed in 1940.
- Argentina: Argentine Antarctica followed in 1943.
Where the claims overlap
Only three of the claims collide: Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom all lay claim to parts of the Antarctic Peninsula, the finger of land that points toward South America.
The 1959 treaty that froze it all
The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959, and entered into force on June 23, 1961. Its Article IV keeps the status quo: nothing done while the treaty is in force counts as a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a territorial claim, and no new claim, or enlargement of an existing one, can be made. None of the seven claimants has renounced its claim, and the United States and Russia keep the right to make claims of their own.
The land nobody claims
Marie Byrd Land, a huge stretch of West Antarctica of about 1.6 million square kilometers, is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth.
Several of these territories have their own flags and designs in our catalog: Adélie Land, Queen Maud Land, Ross Dependency and the Australian Antarctic Territory. Explore the story behind any country's flag on our free Flag Story Cards page.