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Territory

Territory of Our Far South

An interesting shape of a greater New Zealand can be deduced from combining all pertinent agreements from the 200 mile zone right through to the Ross Dependency. This would be a New Zealand where the current (above sea level) land mass would comprise a mere 12% of the territory.

From Territorial Claims to a Continental Treaty

The age of exploration heralded the era of territorial claims wherein concerns about conquest, protection of borders and the last frontier for imperial powers to exploit excited a race to claim stakes of the frozen continent. The US never made a claim, despite being in reality having the most pervasive presence of all nations on the continent. That reality underlined a readiness on the part of claimants to subjugate their national ambitions to a treaty of international cooperation that in effect provided guardianship of the continent. The Antarctic Treaty however is not impervious to change or dissolution or challenge. Antics in the Arctic suggest that at some stage its relevancy will be seriously challenged.

The Exploration Era and its Legacy

Antarctica has its own unique human history , ranging from the era of exploration through to that of territorial claims to the more modern period of international cooperation on scientific research. Insofar as the exploration era is concerned 2012 is the centenary of the Race to the Pole between Amundsen and Scott. The Ross Dependency hosts several relics of that era, namely the expedition huts that cling to the foreshore of Ross Island and beyond. Preservation and restoration of that history is an important aspect of our activity in Antarctica.

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