2008/03/01 by Klaus Dodds · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Polar Research and Ecology #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs #Arctic and Russian Policy Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/03004430601065781
openalex publication_date 2008/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article is concerned with Britain's political and territorial interests in the Antarctic in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in the signing of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Using in part the diaries of a Foreign Office advisor, Dr Brian Roberts, attention is given as to how successive British governments and their officials sustained a presence in the remote polar continent. Rival claimants in the form of Argentina and Chile made the task all the more difficult. Mapping and surveying were essential in maintaining British sovereignty even if the end results were at times disappointing. The article concludes by suggesting that the Antarctic Treaty, while important in promoting international scientific collaboration, did not manage to resolve the political and territorial disputes surrounding the Antarctic. Arguably, the 1982 Falklands War and its aftermath provided a vivid reminder that Britain's most southerly possessions still remain deeply contested.