Are There Countries in Antarctica?

Описание: What is the list of Antarctic countries?
The real answer is that there is not a single country in Antarctica. Antarctica is a unique continent because it does not have a native population. There is not a single list of countries in Antarctica.

However, there are seven countries that claim their respective territories in Antarctica. The seven countries that claim territory in Antarctica are New Zealand, Australia, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Chile and Argentina.

Antarctica is the southernmost and fifth largest continent in the world.
Almost all of its land is covered by a vast layer of ice. Apart from being the southernmost continent, Antarctica is also the highest, driest, windiest, coldest and most iced continent in the world. Antarctica is about 14.2 million square kilometers wide and thick ice covers about 98 percent of its land.

As reported by Britannica, the continent is divided into East Antarctica and West Antarctica. Antarctica also includes island areas within the Antarctic Convergence.

As defined by the Antarctic Treaty System, the Antarctic region is everything south of the 60°S latitude. The Treaty area covers Antarctica and the archipelagos of the Balleny Islands, Peter I Island, Scott Island, the South Orkney Islands, and the South Shetland Islands. However, this area does not include the Antarctic Convergence, a transition zone where the cold waters of the Southern Ocean collide with the warmer waters of the north, forming a natural border to the region.

From the late 18th century to the mid-20th century, whalers and seals sailed the oceans surrounding the continent of Antarctica. Over time, whaling and seal hunting slowly disappeared. In those years also, expansive countries, especially from European countries, competed to send their expedition teams to the Antarctic Continent. Many of these countries mandate initial expeditions, whether economic, scientific, or exploratory, to make territorial claims.

Finally, there is an international scientific project called the International Geophysical Year (I.G.Y.), which lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. In the project, the scale of scientific investigations in Antarctica was initiated and 12 countries already active on the continent signed the Antarctic Treaty.

In the agreement, the countries agreed to preserve the Antarctic continent for non-military scientific activities, and place Antarctica under an international regime that holds all territorial claims there. The treaty binds its members indefinitely with a review of its terms after 30 years. The treaty that followed was called the Madrid Protocol and was adopted in 1991. The Madrid Protocol prohibits mining, requires environmental impact assessments for new activities, and establishes Antarctica as a nature reserve.

Credit : https://pastebin.com/ELmbLm1g