Chilean Antarctic Territory

The Chilean Antarctic Territory, or Chilean Antarctica (Spanish: Territorio Chileno Antártico, Antártica Chilena), is a part of West Antarctica and nearby islands claimed by Chile. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 53°W and 90°W, partially overlapping the Antarctic claims of Argentina (Argentine Antarctica) and the United Kingdom (British Antarctic Territory). It constitutes the Antártica commune of Chile.
The territory covers the South Shetland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula (called O'Higgins Land—Tierra de O'Higgins—in Chile), and the adjacent islands of Alexander Island, Charcot Island and Ellsworth Land, among others. Its boundaries are defined by Decree 1747, issued on 6 November 1940 and published on 21 June 1955 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
The commune of Antártica has an area of 1,250,257.6 km (482,727.2 sq mi). If reckoned as Chilean national territory, it comprises 62.28% of the total area of the country. It is managed by the municipality of Cabo de Hornos with a seat in Puerto Williams in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago (thus Antártica is the only commune in Chile not administered by a municipality of its own). It belongs to the province of Antártica Chilena, which itself is a part of the region of Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena. The commune was created on July 11, 1961, and was part of the Magallanes Province until 1974, when the Antártica Chilena Province was created.
Chilean sovereignty over the Chilean Antarctic Territory is exercised in conformity with the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. This treaty established that Antarctic activities are to be devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes by the signatories and acceding countries, thereby freezing territorial disputes and preventing the construction of new claims or the expansion of existing ones.
The Chilean Antarctic Territory corresponds geographically to time zones UTC-4, UTC-5, and UTC-6, but as with Magallanes it uses UTC-3 year-round. Chile currently has 13 active Antarctic bases: 4 permanent, 5 seasonal, and 4 shelters.
For many years, cartographers and European explorers speculated about the existence of the Terra Australis Incognita, a landmass potentially of vast size located south of the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego.
On 7 June 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed between Spain and Portugal. This treaty gave rights to newly discovered territories to the two countries according to a line running from pole to pole; at 46° 37'W in the Spanish classical interpretation and farther west according to the Portuguese interpretation. The areas of Antarctica claimed by Chile today fall within the region granted to Spain by this original treaty. Though backed by the papal bull Ea quae pro bono pacis in 1506, the Treaty of Tordesillas was not recognized by several other European powers, including France and other Catholic states. For England, the Netherlands, Russia and other countries, the Antarctic areas were considered res nullius, a no man's land, subject to the occupation of any nation that had the courage and ambition to send people to claim them.
In 1534, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V divided the South American territory of Spain into three governorates: New Castile or Peru (to Francisco Pizarro), New Toledo or Chile (to Diego de Almagro) and New León (to Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor [es]) also known as the Magellanic Lands and subsequently extended to the Strait of Magellan.
In 1539, a new governorate was formed south of New León called the Terra Australis under Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz. This consisted of the land south of the Strait of Magellan, i.e. Tierra del Fuego, and onward to the South Pole. At the time, the existence of the Drake Passage was not known and Tierra del Fuego thought to be part of the Antarctic mainland.
In 1554, the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, who led the Governorate of Chile, talked to the Council of the Indies about giving the rights of New León and Terra Australis to Jeronimo de Alderete. After the death of Valdivia in the following year, Alderete became the governor of Chile and thereby claimed New León and Terra Australis for Chile. A Royal Decree of 1554 states:
Later, in 1558, the Royal Decree of Brussels prompted the Chilean colonial government to "take ownership in our name from the lands and provinces that fall in the demarcation of the Spanish crown", referring to the land "across the Strait", i.e. Terra Australis.
One of the most important works of Spanish literature, the epic poem La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla, is considered by Chileans to give encouragement to their territorial claims in Antarctica. In the seventh stanza of his Canto I:
A circle located '27 degrees from the South Pole' corresponds to a latitude of 63 degrees south, on the southern side of the Drake Passage and just north of the Antarctic Peninsula. However, ambiguity suggests that a misplaced Strait of Magellan may be referred to.
There are other stories and maps, both Chilean and European, indicating that Terra Australis and Antarctica were claimed by the Captaincy General of Chile for the Spanish Empire.
In March 1603, the Spanish navigator Gabriel de Castilla sailed from Valparaiso entrusted with three ships belonging to the viceroy of Peru, Luis de Velasco y Castilla. The goal of this expedition was to repress the incursions of Dutch privateers in the Southern Seas as far as 64 degrees south latitude. No documents confirming the latitude reached or land sighted have been found in the Spanish archives. However, a story told by the Dutch sailor Laurenz Claesz (date unknown, but probably after 1607), gives interesting details. Claesz said:
In 1622, a Dutch document was published in Amsterdam stating that at 64 degrees south there was land which was "very high and mountainous, snow cover, like the country of Norway, all white, land. It seemed to extend to the Solomon Islands." This could be the first recorded sighting by a European of the Antarctic Peninsula. Other historians attribute the first sighting of Antarctic land to the Dutch mariner Dirk Gerritsz. According to his account, his ship was diverted from its course by a storm after passing through the Strait of Magellan as part of a Dutch expedition to the East Indies in 1599. Gerritsz may have sighted the South Shetland Islands, though there are doubts about his trustworthiness. Other authorities place the first sighting of mainland Antarctica as late as 27 January 1820 by an expedition of the Imperial Russian Navy led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.
Open ocean south of South America was reported by the Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces in 1525 and by Sir Francis Drake in 1578. The existence of Drake Passage was confirmed when the Dutch navigator Willem Schouten became the first to sail around Cape Horn en route to the East Indies in 1616. In 1772, the British explorer Captain James Cook circumnavigated the Southern Ocean.
After the colonies in the Americas had gained their independence, the new Spanish republics agreed amongst themselves to recognize the principle of uti possidetis, meaning new states would have the same borders as their predecessor Spanish colonies. Thus the Republic of Chile included all lands formerly belonging to the Captaincy General of Chile, including claims over portions of Antarctica.
In 1815, the Argentine-Irish Admiral William Brown launched a campaign to harass the Spanish fleet in the Pacific Ocean and, when passing Cape Horn with the Argentine vessels Hércules and Trinidad, his ships were driven down into the Antarctic Sea beyond 65° south latitude. Brown's report indicated the presence of nearby land, though he did not see any portion of the continent and no landings were made.
On August 25, 1818, the government of Argentina, then called the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, granted the first concessions for hunting earless seals and penguins in Antarctica to Juan Pedro de Aguirre, who operated the ship Espíritu Santo based on Deception Island. Espíritu Santo was joined by the American brig Hercilia. The fact that the Argentine sealers were able to sail directly to the island can be regarded as evidence that its location was already known.
Between 1819 and 1821, the Russian ships Vostok and Mirny, under the command of the German Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in Russian service, explored Antarctic waters, as already noted. In 1821, at 69°W 53'S, he sighted an island which he called Alexander I Land, after the Russian Tsar. Although von Bellingshausen circumnavigated the continent twice, no member of his crew ever set foot on Antarctica.
In 1819, the British mariner William Smith rediscovered the South Shetland Islands, including King George Island. The American Nathaniel Palmer spotted the Antarctic Peninsula that same year. Neither of them went ashore on the actual continental landmass. However, in 1821, Connecticut seal hunter John Davis reported setting foot on a southern land that he believed was a continent.
In 1823, James Weddell claimed to have discovered the sea that now bears his name, lying inside the Antarctic Circle to the east of the Antarctic peninsula. The hunting of baleen whales and South American sea lions began to increase in the following years. In 1831, Chile's liberator Bernardo O'Higgins wrote to the Royal Navy, saying:
In 1856, a treaty of friendship between Chile and Argentina recognized boundaries and was enacted uti possidetis juris. The growth of Chilean settlements in the Magallanes Region and especially the city of Punta Arenas allowed the founding of companies for the hunting and exploitation of whales in the Antarctic seas, which required authorization from the Chilean government. In 1894, control over the exploitation of marine resources south of latitude 54 degrees south was given to the Punta Arenas Municipality.
In the early years of the 20th century, interest in the Antarctic territories increased. Some expeditions to Antarctica asked permission from the government of Chile, among these being those of Otto Nordenskjöld in 1902 and of Robert F. Scott in 1900. Chile also granted mining permits, such as that conferred on 31 December 1902 by Decree No. 3310 allowing Pedro Pablo Benavides to lease the Diego Ramírez Islands and San Ildefonso.
In 1906, several decrees were promulgated, including some from the National Congress of Chile, offering mining permits in the Antarctic area. In that same year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile mentioned on September 18 that the delimitation of Chilean Antarctic territory would be the subject of a preliminary investigation. On 10 June 1907, Argentina formally protested and asked for mutual recognition of Antarctic territories. There was work on a treaty to more concretely define territories in the region, but it was never signed.
On 8 May 1906, the Whaling Society of Magallanes was created with a base in Punta Arenas. On 1 December, the society was authorized to expand its territory to the South Shetland Islands, as allowed by Decree No. 1314 of the governor of Magallanes. The group expanded to Whalers Bay on Deception Island, where they hoisted the Chilean flag and established a coaling station. This area was visited by Jean-Baptiste Charcot in December 1908 to replenish coal. The site was manned during the summer seasons until 1914.
On 21 July 1908, however, the United Kingdom had officially claimed sovereignty over all lands between 20°W and 80°W and south of 50°S, including the Falkland Islands and South Georgia (although not, of course, the South American mainland). In 1917, the northern boundary of the claim was moved to 58°S, and in 1962 to the parallel 60°S.
In 1914, Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton began an expedition to cross the South Pole from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. With the ship Endurance he sailed into the Weddell Sea, but the weather worsened dramatically and the Endurance was trapped for weeks and ultimately crushed by the ice. There followed an episode of bravery involving both Britain and Chile. Shackleton and his crew dragged three lifeboats over the frozen sea until they came to open water again, then sailed to the desolate Elephant Island at the very northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula. Shackleton and a picked crew then sailed one boat to South Georgia Island where help was obtained. However, three attempts to reach the rest of the expedition on Elephant Island were turned back by pack ice. Finally, in Punta Arenas, Shackleton obtained the help of the Chilean navy tugboat Yelcho, captained by Luis Pardo Villalón, which managed to rescue the remaining survivors. On 4 September 1916, they were received at the port of Punta Arenas as heroes. Captain Pardo's feat, sailing with temperatures close to −30 °C (−22 °F) and a stormy sea of icebergs, won him national and international recognition.
On 14 January 1939, Norway declared its territorial claims on Queen Maud Land between 0° and 20°W. This prompted President Pedro Aguirre Cerda of Chile to encourage the definition of Chilean territory in the Antarctic. Following Decree No. 1541 on 7 September, he organized a commission which set the bounds of Chilean territory according to the theory of polar areas, taking into account geographical, historical, legal, and diplomatic precedents. The bounds were formalized by Decree No. 1747, enacted on 6 November 1940, and published on 21 June 1955. The Chilean claim extended no farther east than the 53°W meridian; thus the claim excluded the South Orkney Islands in favor of Argentina. Nevertheless, Argentina formally protested in a note on 12 November 1940, rejecting Chile's claim and expressing a potential claim to the same area.
In January 1942, Argentina declared Antarctic rights between the meridians 25° W and 68° 24' W, the westernmost meridian passing through Punta Dúngeness, the southernmost point of mainland Argentina. On 2 September 1946, Decree No. 8944 expanded the bundary for the Argentine Antarctic Sector, widening this sector out to 74° W. Chile began to exercise sovereignty in the Antarctic area in 1947, beginning with the establishment of Sovereignty Base, currently known as Arturo Prat, in the South Shetland Islands. The following year, as a way of establishing the Chilean claims, Chilean President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla personally opened Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme on the Antarctic Peninsula. This was the first official visit of a head of state to Antarctica.
On March 4, 1948, Chile and Argentina signed an agreement on mutual protection and legal defense of their Antarctic territorial rights, agreeing to act in concert to defend the rights of both countries in Antarctica, while leaving the delimitation of their territories for a later date. The governments agreed that "between the meridians 25° and 90° west longitude from Greenwich, indisputable sovereign rights are recognized by Chile and Argentina", stating that "Chile and Argentina have unquestionable rights of sovereignty in the polar area called American Antarctica" (Antártida Americana in Spanish).
In 1953, the representative of India at the United Nations presented a project for the internationalization of Antarctica. The Chilean ambassador in New Delhi, Miguel Serrano, however, persuaded the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to withdraw the proposal. On 4 May 1955, the United Kingdom filed two lawsuits against Argentina and Chile before the International Court of Justice, to declare invalid the claims of sovereignty of the two countries in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic areas. Chilean Law No. 11486 of June 17, 1955, added the Chilean Antarctic Territory to the Province of Magallanes, which on 12 July 1974 became the Region of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica. On 15 July 1955, the Chilean government formally rejected the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in this case, and on 1 August the Argentine government followed suit. The United Kingdom submitted its written argument on 16 March 1956.
On 28 February 1957, Argentine Decree Law No. 2129 established the limits of their claim as the meridians 25° and 74° W and the parallel 60° S. This continuied to overlap the territory claimed by Chile. In 1958, the U.S. president, Dwight Eisenhower, invited Chile to the International Geophysical Year Conference in an attempt to resolve the claiming issues. On 1 December 1959, Chile signed the Antarctic Treaty.
In July 2003, Chile and Argentina began maintaining a joint emergency shelter called Abrazo de Maipú in the Antarctic Peninsula, halfway between Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, operated by Chile, and Esperanza Base, maintained by Argentina. It was closed in 2010.
In February 2022, Chile submitted its second partial report regarding the Western Extended Continental Shelf of the Chilean Antarctic Territory. In August of the same year, it delivered oral presentations for both partial reports during the 55th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York.
In 2023, the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy made available an illustrative graphic showing all the maritime areas claimed by the country, including those of the continental shelf and extended continental shelf of the Chilean Antarctic Territory.
In January 2025, President Gabriel Boric became the first head of state to visit the South Pole and the third head of government, being the first from Latin America. Prime Minister Helen Clark from New Zealand went in 2007 and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg from Norway went in 2011.
The treaty states:
The Chilean Antarctic Territory covers an area of 1,250,257 km (482,727 sq mi). The thickness of ice covering the land can exceed 1,200 meters (3,900 ft) in some areas in the interior of the continent, and the extent of sea ice varies dramatically with the seasons.
Chilean Antarctic Territory is located predominantly in Lesser Antarctica or West Antarctica, which includes the Antarctic Peninsula, known in Chile as O'Higgins Land. Forming the spine of this peninsula are the mountains of the Antartandes, which are a continuation of the Andes mountains. Mount Hope is the highest mountain in the Antartandes, reaching 3,239 meters (10,627 ft) in altitude. The Antartandes clearly differentiate three geographic areas in O'Higgins Land: the western slope, the central plateau and the eastern slope.
To the southwest of the Antarctic Peninsula, within the land claimed by Chile, are the highest summits of the Antarctic continent, a part of the Sentinel Range including the Vinson Massif at 4,897 m (16,066 ft), Mount Tyree at 4,852 m (15,919 ft) and Mount Shinn at 4,800 m (15,700 ft) in height.
The claimed territory has a subglacial lake, the Lake CECs, which was discovered in January 2014 by scientists of Centro de Estudios Científicos headquartered in Valdivia, Chile, and was validated in May 2015 with the publication of its existence in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The lake has an estimated area of 18 km (6.9 sq mi), lies 2.6 km (1.6 mi) deep under the ice and is located in a buffer zone of three major glaciers, in an area designated low-disturbance with ice motion almost nonexistent. There is a hypothesis that it could have life; this would have developed in conditions of extreme isolation and the lake is encapsulated.
Coastal areas north of the Antarctic Peninsula and in the South Shetland Islands, have a subarctic climate or tundra, that is, the average temperature in the warmest month exceeds 0 °C (32 °F) and much is permafrost. The rest of the territory is under the regime of a polar climate. Precipitation in the territory is relatively rare and decreases towards the South Pole, creating polar desert conditions.
The Antártica Commune had a population of 150 inhabitants on the Chilean bases according to a census conducted nationwide in 2012, corresponding to 54 civilians and 96 military. These people were mostly members of the Chilean Air Force and their families, who lived predominantly in Villa Las Estrellas. This town, located next to the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Antarctic base on King George Island, was opened on 9 April 1984 and has an airport, a bank, a school and child care, a hospital, a supermarket, mobile telephony and television.
In 1984 the first Antarctic Chilean, Juan Pablo Camacho Martino, was born in Villa Las Estrellas. As of 2024, a total of three Chileans have been born in the Chilean Antarctic Territory; Gisella Cortés Rojas was born on 2 December 1984, and Ignacio Miranda Lagunas on 23 January 1985. They do not know each other and have not returned to Antarctica. As of 2024, Ignacio is the most recent Antarctic baby, although the development of tourism has increased explosively through airplanes and cruise ships that depart from Punta Arenas or Ushuaia, with most of the flights arriving at King George Island handled by Dap Group.
Due to the geographical characteristics of the Antarctic Peninsula, which the Chilean Antarctic Territory completely encompasses, the territory has some of the best conditions for human settlement in Antarctica.
There are four Chilean permanent bases operating throughout the year, while an additional five remain open only during the summer (December – March) with four seasonal shelters.
The largest population center is located on King George Island at Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, which has an airstrip, a meteorological center (the Meteorological Center President Frei) and the Villa Las Estrellas. Belonging to Chile, this enclave forms the nucleus for important logistical support to other countries with scientific bases on King George Island.
The Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, operates the Profesor Julio Escudero Base on King George Island, which is the chief Chilean scientific research center in Antarctica.
The Chilean Navy provides logistic and other support for scientific and other activities within Chile's Antarctic territory. As of 2023, the navy is in the process of acquiring a new Polar 5-class icebreaker, Almirante Viel, to support its Antarctic operations, offering year-round operation in medium first-year ice (which may include old ice inclusions). Elements of the Maritime Authority operate throughout the region, promoting the security and interests of Chile, notably with the Maritime Government of Chilean Antarctica in Fildes Bay and at the Captain Arturo Prat Base on Greenwich Island, formerly a naval base, now a research station. During the 2022–23 Antarctic season, the navy transferred 730 scientists and 3,091 tons of cargo for the logistical support of the Antarctic bases. The operation involved the transport vessel Aquiles, the patrol vessel Marinero Fuentealba, as well as two supporting tugboats.
Since 14 January 1995, the navy has assisted the Mendel Polar Station belonging to the Czech Republic. Up to four Chilean researchers carry out scientific work at the base, each with sponsorship from a leading Czech researcher who collaborates in the work.
Following is a list of Chilean Antarctic Bases:
(P): Permanent; these bases are open all the year. (S): Seasonal; therse bases are open in the Austral Summer.
The largest population center is located on King George Island and consists of Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva which is connected to the communal capital, the village of Villa Las Estrellas, which has a town hall, hotel, day-care center, school, scientific equipment, hospital, post office and bank. There is an airport, Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin Aerodrome, ICAO Code SCRM) This enclave is a center of logistical support for the other eight countries with scientific bases on King George Island.
Nearby, Professor Julio Escudero Base is controlled by the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), under the Ministry of Foreign Relations, and is the main Chilean scientific facility in Antarctica.
Captain Arturo Prat Base is a Chilean Antarctic research base located on Greenwich Island. Opened 6 February 1947, it is the oldest Chilean Antarctic base. Until 1 March 2006 it was a base of the Chilean Navy, but was then handed over to the regional government of Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region. Until February 2004 it was a permanent base. Afterwards, it served as a summer base for ionospheric and meteorological research, but then reopened in March 2008 for year-round occupancy again.
The only permanent Chilean base on the Antarctic mainland (the Antarctic Peninsula) is Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme. This has been in operation since 18 February 1948. It is located on Puerto Covadonga and it is the official communal capital.