British Antarctic Territory

In the Antarctic Conference of 1932 several nations came together to finalize the borders in Antartica, and Britain got the biggest piece followed by the Kingdom of Norway. It serves mostly as a British Research station for extreme temperatures, and other scientific work. Britain has the only active military base in the entire continent but it is on the tip of the Antartica Peninsula off an island. But only 5 lonely troops are stationed there. The entire population of the Territory is only 100 people, and that is only in the summer. After the summer the population usually goes back to the mainland or the nearby territories in the Falkland islands. The official capital of the territory is Rothera Research station, which is basically a bunch of scientists. Besides the soldiers most of the population are researchers, and there are a couple of brave explorers.

## History

In 1883 when Britain reasserted it's claim in the Falkland islands, ever since then Britain has had a huge presence in the Southern Sea. In 1908, the British Empire expanded its territorial claim by declaring sovereignty over South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, the Sandwich Islands, and Graham's Land, in the South Atlantic Ocean and on the Antarctic continent to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and the 80th degrees of west longitude. All these territories were administered as Falkland Islands Dependencies from Stanley by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. Following the 3rd Anglo-Spanish war, a boost in popularity in the public. In 1911 an accidental race happened between Rolad Amundsen and Robert Scott on the race to be the first in the South Pole. The Norwegians beat the British in the race, and Scott later died during his journey back. A fierce but friendly rivalry begun in Antartica, between the nations of Norway and Britain both of whom are the most active in the region. When the Antarctic Conference of 1932 happened it basically drew up the claims for the region, with the Netherlands, Norway, and Britain getting the larger pieces. The territory's administered region was transferred from the Falklands to the Commonwealth office.

## Geography

The British Antarctic Territory includes the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands and numerous other offshore islands, the Ronne Ice Shelf (Weddell Sea), parts of Coats Land. Over 99 per cent of the territory's land surface is covered by a permanent ice sheet, up to about 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) thick. The highest peak in the Territory is Mount Jackson, on the Antarctic Peninsula, at 3,184 metres (10,446 ft). There are very few plants in the British Antarctic Territories; most of them are mosses and lichens, but there are also two flowering plants: the Antarctic hair-grass and Antarctic pearlwort. Many bird species, including seven species of penguin breed in the British Antarctic Territories. The British Antarctic Territories are also home to six species of seals. It has a large whaling industry, and some of the population lives on small islands nearby.

## Administration

The British Antarctic Territory is administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A Commissioner is appointed every 10 years, and is usually the Director of the FCO's Overseas Territories Directorate. Territory has a full suite of laws and legal and postal administrations. Given the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty System, the Territory does not enforce its laws on foreign nations who maintain scientific bases within the Territory. It is self-financing, with income from the sale of postage stamps and income tax. It has only 3 bases, and only one is active. Rothera is the active base, and all the bases are on the Antarctic peninsula, the other one is Signy and the final one is British but it is owned by the Dominion of Australia which is called Mawson. Rothera is semi-permeant base and only leaves in the early fall and winer, and comes back in late spring, while the other two are only seasonal and there is a 4th base which is foreign and is owned by Argentina, but is hardly active as only 10 men are stationed there compared to the other bases which has an average population of 20 people per base. And there is a port called Port Lockroy where ships dock and travel from there to the bases, it is manned by 10 people.