Why is antarctica not a country

Antarctica is beyond the borders of the U. Instead, U. The Tax Foundation works hard to provide insightful tax policy analysis. Our work depends on support from members of the public like you. Would you consider contributing to our work? We work hard to make our analysis as useful as possible. Would you consider telling us more about how we can do better? Due to the harsh climate, Antarctica was not colonized. Since no settlements were established, Antarctica remained free from land claim disputes.

This unclaimed status was maintained until the early s, when the United Kingdom claimed segments of Antarctica. They decided which parts qualified as theirs by pinpointing the extents of their naval explorations around the coastline of Antarctica, and then drawing straight lines inwards to the Geographic South Pole, claiming all of the parts of the land within those boundaries.

Britain was too busy with the Cold War to take any sort of action at the time, but later on it became a point of consternation. This took place just before the USA and Soviet Union both agreed that they would not claim land on Antarctica yet, but that they had a right to do so in the future. This conversation led to the Antarctica Treaty. This was an important historical event because it saw the USA and Soviet union working towards something without major conflict.

In fact, it was one of the first major Cold War disarmament actions. These stipulations were developed in , and are still used today. They are as follows:. These rules meant that Antarctica was to be left to scientific researchers and nature, with a goal for minimal human-derived negative impacts. Because Antarctica is strictly scientifically purposed, it is forbidden for researchers to leave any evidence of having been there.

Then there is a flash in the shallows by my feet - an arrow of white and black. What on earth fish is that? My slow brain ponders, as before my eyes a gentoo penguin slips out of the water, steadies itself on a rock, eyes me cheekily, squawks and patters off into the snow. Antarctica is the hardest place I know to write about.

Whenever you try to pin down the experience of being there, words dissolve under your fingers. There are no points of reference. In the most literal sense, Antarctica is inhuman. Other deserts, from Arabia to Arizona, are peopled: humans live in or around them, find sustenance in them, shape them with their imagination and their ingenuity.

No people shape Antarctica. It is the driest, coldest, windiest place in the world. So why, then, have Britain, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina drawn lines on Antarctica's map, carving up the empty ice with territorial claims? Antarctica is not a country: it has no government and no indigenous population. Instead, the entire continent is set aside as a scientific preserve. The Antarctic Treaty , which came into force in , enshrines an ideal of intellectual exchange.

Military activity is banned, as is prospecting for minerals. Fifty states - including Russia, China and the US - have now ratified the treaty and its associated agreements. Yet one legacy of earlier imperial expeditions, when Shackleton and the rest battled blizzards to plant their flags, is national covetousness.

Science drives human investigation in Antarctica today, yet there's a reason why geologists often take centre-stage. Governments really want to know what's under the ice.