Antarctica in the Modern Era

Nations who focused efforts on whaling laid claim to major areas around the continent of Antarctica. Land on the Peninsula has been claimed by Chili, Argentina, and Britain. Claims have also been made by Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and France.

In 1940, with nationalism running high, Nazi Germany dropped swastika-engraved stakes by plane, claiming large sections of Antarctica for themselves. With the world pre-occupied by WWII, Antarcitica found itself alone except for the whalers who came to hunt the great animals. Interest in Antarctica waned until the late 1950's when certain events allowed scientists to observe the effect of solar radiation on Earth.

During 1957 to 1958, sunspot eruptions were beginning to peak, and scientists and their governments all over the world setting up stations in Antarctica to study the resulting solar emissions, taking advantage of the hole in the planet's magnetic field at the South Pole. This movement involved 67 different countries visiting the continent for research purposes. This movement, and the cooperation among the scientists in this community were a drving factor in the Antarctic Treaty, an amazing international agreement.

This treaty was signed in 1959 by all the countries with major interests in Antarctica. It was an agreement that made this continent to be used solely for peaceful purposes. Nuclear experimentation was prohibited, as was the discarding of the radioactive waste generated. All military activity was limited to that of scientific support. All of the contention over territorial claims were simply put away on a shelf.

Although they maintained the right to assert future claims, none of the superpower entities made any territorial claims, and they did not recognize the claims made by their allies; this kind of international cooperation was extremely unusual during the Cold War. This clever maneuver also stopped all of the smaller countries from asserting any claims to territory as well.

By the 1960s, the minerals and oil that was believed to be in the Antarctic region became highly sought after. Soon, there were national bases all over the surrounding islands and the peninsula; at its most prolific, Antarctica is home to 5,000 people - only in the summer, and only in the science stations that are based all around the peninsula and 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 there was scientific research going on at these bases, they were actually more of a political statement, as the swastika stakes of the Nazis in the 1940's. Essentially, they claimed territories as their own.

Political motivation for inhabiting Antarctica began to evolve away from resource exploitation to that of scientific exploration by the 1980's. So now the Antarctic joins with the oceans in being defined as communal property belonging to the entire world. It was Britain's Halley Bay Antarctic base that discovered the hole in the ozone layer around the earth, leading to the realization industrial pollution was deteriorating the atmosphere and allowing ultraviolet radiation in.

This discovery brought about the 1987 international agreement to phase out any use of chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer by the year 2000. With this revelation, science bases in Antarctica were suddenly much more valuable, as their ability to accurately monitor carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect were amazing. In the 1980's, whaling was falling out of favor, and the global Green campaign championed the idea of declaring Antarctica a world park.

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 now acting as a guide to the human race, teaching them about the damage that can be done through industrial endeavors, and how to avoid environmental destruction in the future.

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