In all parts of Antarctica, countries whose primary industry is whaling, claimed large portions of land.Britain, Argentina and Chile all laid claim to large sections of Antarctica, and some of those claims overlap.France, New Zealand, Norway, and Australia are also know to have made claims on this continent.

In 1940, the Nazis in Germany ordered airplanes to send stakes emblazoned with swastikas down to the land in order to claim it on behalf of the Third Reich.Antarctica sat largely unnoticed as the global war raged, followed by the Cold War, and only the whalers, continuing their predatory ways, ventured to this icy continent.The occurrence of celestial phenomena precipitated renewed interest in the continent, this time by scientists.

It was the Geophysical Year of 1957-58 that spurred scientists and world governments to converge on the continent of Antarctica, as it’s unique vantage point of the southern hole in the Earth’s magnetic field, allowed them to conduct research of the amplified solar radiation reaching the earth due to extremely high sunspot activity.As a matter of fact, there were 67 countries represented in various bases around the continent.This was such a successful cooperative effort, that the Antarctic Treaty, among the most remarkable international pacts ever created, was negotiated.exciting travel to antarctica

In 1959, this treaty was ratified by nations that had specific investments in Antarctica. It made it so the Antarctica could only be used for positive ventures.The treaty specifically spelled out not allowing any destructive forces to be detonated on the continent, including banning nuke testing and exploding, as well as not allowing countries to dump their toxic waste onto it’s barren landscape or waters.While some military activities, they are strictly limited to the logistical support of scientific activities.Previous land claims were not addressed as a part of this treaty.

This period marked an odd time in the Cold War where the superpowers both put aside their differences for the moment, staking no claims on Antarctica or recognizing any others as well.This open-ended action discouraged smaller countries from pushing forth their own territorial claims on the area.antarctica trip

By the 1960s, the minerals and oil that was believed to be in the Antarctic region became highly sought after.The peninsula and surrounding islands saw an extreme increase in an international presence. Antarctica’s normal population is at most 5,000 in the warmer months, and the majority of those people are jammed into the scientific communities on the peninsula or the surrounding islands.

Countries opening bases on King George Island from the 1960s to the 1980s include Poland, Chile, Argentina, Britain, Italy, the United States, the Soviet Union, China, South Korea, Brazil, Uruguay and Peru.Although these sites were involved in genuine scientific research, they also served as political symbols like the stakes the Nazis had dropped in the 40′s.The essentially served their countries by creating “squatters rights” in Antarctica.

However, by the 1980′s, exploitation began to give way to true science.Not only was the continent of Antarctica being seen more as communal properties, so were the oceans of the world.It was at Britain’s Halley Bay Antarctic Base that the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer was first discovered, making it clear to man that industrial activity could cause damage to the atmosphere.

Because of this, there was an international ban of ozone depleting toxins like Chloroflorocarbons or CFC’s in 1987. The agreement was that they would be completely gone by the mid 1990′s.The international value of these scientific bases on Antarctica was emphasized by this discovery, and the current monitoring of greenhouse emissions and their effects on the planet since it became industrialized can also be attributed to this work.The whaling industry was also encountering massive public outrage in the 1980′s, leading to the idea of establishing Antarctica as a world park, and thereby protecting it further.

It was in 1991 that the Antarctic Treaty nations decided to ban any oil and gas exploration, as well as any mining or other irreversible mistreatment of Antarctica for at least 50 years. In addition to this, they increased the concern for the environment to the same level as science.Antarctica is important today as it was during it’s hey-day because instead of being exploited and ruined in the name of wealth and greed, it’s teaching us how those very things that marked progress are creating a very unstable world. Hopefully, through the studies conducted we will be able to learn how to reverse some of those issues and challenges we will face in the future.

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