Queen Maud Land - YouTube Queen Maud Land Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Dec 9, 2015 Queen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. The latitudinal limits of the territory were not officially defined until 2015 when Norway formally laid claim to the area between it and the South Pole. Positioned in East Antarctica, the territory comprises about one-fifth of the total area of Antarctica. The claim is named for the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales. Norwegian Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was the first person known to have set foot in the territory, in 1930.

On 14 January 1939, the territory was claimed by Norway. From 1939 until 1945, Germany claimed New Swabia, which consisted of part of Queen Maud Land. On 23 June 1961, Queen Maud Land became part of the Antarctic Treaty System, making it a demilitarised zone. It is one of two Antarctic claims made by Norway, the other being Peter I Island. They are administrated by the Polar Affairs Department of the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Oslo. This video is targeted to blind users. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA Creative Commons image source in video Category Neu Schwabenland maps New Swabia New Swabia(German: Neuschwabenland) is a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20ï¿½E and 10ï¿½W in Queen Maud Land, which is administered as a Norwegian dependent territory under the Antarctic Treaty System. New Swabia was explored by Germany in early 1939 and named after that expedition's ship, the Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia.

Like many other countries, Germany sent expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of which were scientific. The late 19th century expeditions to the Southern Ocean, South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Crozet Islands were astronomical, meteorological, and hydrological, mostly in close collaboration with scientific teams from other countries. As the 19th century ended Germany began to focus on Antarctica. The first German expedition to Antarctica was the Gauss expedition from 1901 to 1903. Led by Arctic veteran and geology professor Erich von Drygalski, this was the first expedition to use a hot-air balloon in Antarctica. It also found and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land. The second German Antarctic expedition (1911ï¿½1912) was led by Wilhelm Filchner with a goal of crossing Antarctica to learn if it was one piece of land. As happened with other such early attempts, the crossing failed before it even began. The expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf.

A German whaling fleet was put to sea in 1937 and, upon its successful return in early 1938, plans for a third German Antarctic expedition were drawn up. German Antarctic Expedition (1938ï¿½1939) The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938ï¿½1939) was led by Alfred Ritscher (1879ï¿½1963), a captain in the Kriegsmarine (German navy). The main purpose was to find an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as a way to increase Germanyï¿½s production of fat. Whale oil was then the most important raw material for the production of margarine and soap in Germany and the country was the second largest purchaser of Norwegian whale oil, importing some 200,000 metric tonnes annually. Besides the disadvantage of being dependent on imports, it was thought that Germany would soon likely be at war, which was considered to put too much strain on Germanyï¿½s foreign currency reserves. Another goal was to scout possible locations for a German naval base.

On 17 December 1938 the New Swabia Expedition left Hamburg for Antarctica aboard the MS Schwabenland (a freighter built in 1925 and renamed in 1934 after the Swabia region in southern Germany) which could also carry and catapult aircraft. The secret expedition had 33 members plus the Schwabenland's crew of 24. On 19 January 1939 the ship arrived at the Princess Martha Coast, in an area which had lately been claimed by Norway as Dronning Maud Land and began charting the region. Nazi German flags were placed on the sea ice along the coast. Naming the area Neu-Schwabenland after the ship, the expedition established a temporary base and in the following weeks teams walked along the coast recording claim reservations on hills and other significant landmarks. Seven photographic survey flights were made by the shipï¿½s two Dornier Wal seaplanes named Passat and Boreas.

About a dozen 1.2 meter-long aluminum arrows, with 30 centimeter steel cones and three upper stabilizer wings embossed with swastikas, were air dropped onto the ice at turning points of the flight polygons (these arrows had been tested on the Pasterze glacier in Austria before the expedition. Eight more flights were made to areas of keen interest and on these trips some of the photos were taken with colour film. Altogether they flew over hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and took more than 16,000 aerial photographs, some of which were published after the war by Ritscher. The ice-free Schirmacher Oasis, which now hosts the Maitri and Novolazarevskaya research stations, was spotted from the air by Richard heinrich Schirmacher (who named it after himself) shortly before the Schwabenland left the Antarctic coast on 6 February 1939. On its return trip to Germany the expedition made oceanographic studies near Bouvet Island and Fernando de Noronha, arriving back in Hamburg on 11 April 1939. Meanwhile the Norwegian government had learned about the expedition through reports from whalers along the coast of Queen Maud Land.

Geographic features mapped by the expedition Because the area was first explored by a German expedition, the name Neuschwabenland (or New Schwabenland or New Swabia) is still used for the region on some maps, as are many of the German names given to its geographic features.[Some geographic features mapped by the expedition were not named until the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition (NBSAE) (1949ï¿½1952), led by John Schjelderup Giï¿½ver. Others were not named until they were remapped from aerial photographs taken by the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition (1958ï¿½1959). German map of Antarctica (1941) showing Neuschwabenland Today, this map cannot be exhibited in Germany, on penalty of imprisonment. The subject was already raised in the parliament of the Federal Republic Territory occupied by Germany starting from 1938 in Antarctica, the one given the name of Neu Schwabenland Neu Schwabenland, where the Nazis supposedly hid out after World War II. South is up.

The lower edge of the picture is about 71 degrees south, and the longitude is somewhere near zero degrees Controversy | Travel to a New Country About us Controversy What is a country? There is no single definition. Some countries are universally recognised, some are recognised by only a few other nations. Some countries are occupied, some places are not officially countries at all, merely territories. Some places have an unclear status. The primary factors we use to determine what are countries and what are not are: De facto independence Whether they are self-governing Official status – are they officially termed a country You can deny a place such as Abkhazia is a country all you like but you will still be stopped at the border. Other places such as Aruba are officially titled countries but remain within a larger Kingdom, in Aruba's case The Kingdom of The Netherlands. In that case, Aruba is not considered an integral part of the Netherlands, but is a part of the Kingdom. This site has divided states into countries and other places. Other places are not actual countries but have varying statuses. We list 215 countries and 42 other places which are neither countries nor within other countries. Most are territories or places of similar status.

So, let's go through the more controversial places, in alphabetical order. Abkhazia - country Abkhazia achieved de facto independence from Georgia in a 1992-1993 war. Since then it has been recognised by only 5 other countries – Russia , Venezuela , Nicaragua , Nauru and Vanuatu . Georgia considers it to be Russian-occupied territory. Abkhazia is listed on this site as a country. Denmark – country Denmark, along with Greenland and the Faroe Islands , comprises the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom of Denmark is not listed as a country, but the three counties/territory that constitute it are. Easter Island – not listed Although Easter Island, along with the Juan Fernandez Islands, has the status of special territory of Chile , it is considered part of the Valparaiso region, and therefore is regarded as an integral part of Chile. England - country England, Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland are all listed as countries but the United Kingdom is not, as you cannot be in the United Kingdom without being in one of the 4 constituent countries.

France - country France has 5 overseas departments which are regarded as an integral part of the country's territory – hence they are treated by this site as part of France and so are neither separate countries or other places. These 5 are French Guiana, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion. French Polynesia has the official designation of overseas country, so is treated as a country by this site. The other 4 are regarded as other places, neither being countries in their own right nor integral parts of France. France also has one sui generis collectivity – New Caledonia which is regarded as another place. France has one overseas territory – French Southern and Antarctic Lands which is regarded as another place. It includes several islands which are widely recognised as French claims and also part of Antarctica, which are not. France also has one overseas possession under the direct authority of the minister of Overseas France, Clipperton Island . It is uninhabited and regarded as an other place. French Guiana – not listed Norway – country The Kingdom of Norway includes the islands of Jan Mayen and Svalbard, which are regarded as an integral part of Norway.

It has three dependencies – Bouvet Island , Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. The latter two are below 60 degrees south and so are subject to the Antarctic Treaty and have very limited international recognition. Hence, they are not listed on this site as other places, but Bouvet Island is, not falling within the realms of the Treaty. Palestine – country Palestine declared independence in 1988 and though it has limited recognition and limited control of its territory, it is regarded by this site as a country. Paracel Islands – not listed These islands are disputed by China , Taiwan and Vietnam , but cannot be considered to be a country themselves. Peter I Island – not listed Peter I Island is a dependent territory of Norway . However, being below 60 degrees south and so subject to the Antarctic Treaty, it has very limited international recognition. Spain – country Although both are overseas and bordering Morocco , Ceuta and Melilla are regarded as integral parts of Spain. Spain also claims several islands off the coast of Morocco to be parts of their territory. The Canary Islands and Balearic Islands are also regarded as parts of Spain.

Spratly Islands – not listed These islands are disputed by China , Vietnam , Taiwan , Malaysia , Philippines and Brunei . Svalbard – not listed Svalbard is considered to be an integral part of the Kingdom of Norway . Tibet – not listed As Tibet has no official status as a country, is not self-governing and has no effective border controls of its own, it is not considered by this site to be a country or other place. Britain's Secret War in Antarctica - Part 3 (December 2005 - January 2006) The Antarctica mystery deepens as more details emerge about Norwegian, German, British and American expeditions from the 1930s and nuclear blasts over Queen Maud Land in the 1950s. Did Britain Really "Miss the Bus" in Norway? We are standing here in Norway, undefeated, strong as before. No enemy has dared attack us. And yet we, too, shall have to bow to the dictate of our enemy for the benefit of the whole German cause. We trust we shall from now on deal with men who respect a soldierï¿½s honour.

- General Bï¿½hme, German Commander-in-Chief in Norway, 7 May 1945 The primary reasons for Norwayï¿½s importance to Germany were that its coastlines made exceptional U-boat bases, the Germans needed to secure shipments of Swedish iron ore, and the Vermok hydro-electric plant, which produced deuterium oxide (heavy water), was essential to their atomic research, in which they were leading the world at that juncture. However, there were other reasons - reasons that caused Hitler to review and reverse his stance on preserving Norwegian neutrality. On 14 January 1939, Norway formalized its claim to Queen Maud Land in Antarctica, its course of action forced on it by the imminent German discoveries. Adversely, for Norway, its attempt at pre-empting any German claims failed, and so began a political crisis that led to invasion. The Deutsche Antarktische Expedition, using Norwegian maps, soon realized that the wily Norwegians had omitted the vast, dry areas that it rediscovered on 20 January 1939.

The Norwegians, and also the British, had long been aware of ice-free areas but had purposely omitted them on their maps so as to avoid additional claimant countries appearing and the conceivable diplomatic crises that would ensue. When the Germans reported the ice-free areas, they were told to claim the whole area in the name of Nazi Germany. They were ordered to drop stakes with swastikas on them to state their intent for sovereignty: this, the Nazis hoped, would be enough to formalize their claim. Nazi Germany and Hitler cared little about what the world thought: they had already gained Austria and Czechoslovakia, and Antarctica was to be a further extension of the Third Reich. Norway valiantly protested about the German claim and the renaming of Queen Maud Land to Neuschwabenland but, with European nations gearing up for war and the worldï¿½s attention turning to Poland, Antarctica was forgotten. When war finally broke out in September 1939, most of Germanyï¿½s eventual conquests declared neutrality. Norway was no exception. Hitler wanted Norway to remain neutral but his War Cabinet, whose opinions he trusted until the tide turned against Germany, persuaded him otherwise.

On 20 February 1940, Hitler ordered General von Falkenhorst to lead an expedition force to Norway. Hitler claimed: "I am informed that the English intend to land there [Norway] and I want to be there before them."32 The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, famously boasted when he announced that British forces had also landed in Norway that Hitler had "missed the bus"33. His folly caused his government to collapse, his resignation to be forced and his reputation to be destroyed. Furthermore, by committing troops to Norway, Chamberlain had played into the hands of Hitler and all those inside the German War Cabinet. But had the British mission been a total failure? Operation Weserï¿½bung was launched by Germany on 9 April 1940 and Norway was invaded (Denmark was also invaded that same day). And though the British and Allied forces had to be evacuated in June, they had slowed the unstoppable Wehrmacht enough to help the monarchy, the government and the national treasure be evacuated on board the British cruiser, HMS Devonshire.

King Haakon VII represented Norway in exile, and the vast treasures and documents saved were beneficial not just to the preservation of Norway but to British Intelligence. Hitler was furious with Vidkun Quisling, whom he had hoped would aid the Nazis more comprehensively. Quisling ultimately would have no power, and his inability to stop the evacuation of the monarchy, the government and not least the vast treasures and documentation caused Hitler to lose faith in him and declare him a Norwegian traitor. Those who failed Hitler lost their standing - Hitler made sure of that. Even so, Quisling claimed publicly that he had been offered "safe refuge". Whether the statement was that of a madman or was an honest admission, it echoed the claims of others. Though Hitler had only wished to beat the British to Norway, his War Cabinet knew that Norway was vital to virtually all the branches of Germanyï¿½s armed forces and was more beneficial to its war effort than any other conquest. Nazi Germanyï¿½s occupation of Norway brought immense benefits to the Reich.

There were thousands of miles of protected fjords for the German U-boats, and there was the possibility of the Nazis exerting pressure on neutral Sweden.34 The Third Reich now had a border closer to the Arctic,35 and there was also the chance to train its soldiers in polar conditions, especially after the acquisition of Spitzbergen,36 much to the pleasure of Himmler and his Ahnenerbe. Best of all, Norway was within striking distance of all Nazi Germanyï¿½s enemies. Norway and its ports also made marshalling the Arctic Sea and the North Atlantic far more profitable. These benefits, allied with the primary reasons, made Norway a highly prized conquest. However, Germanyï¿½s occupation was not without problems. Britain heavily financed the Norwegian Resistance and it was due to their cooperation that the Vermok hydro-electric plant was targeted and sabotaged so successfully. Information was passed on a two-way basis and the SOE and SIS were privy to any revelation uncovered. British Intelligence also had access to all the Norwegian Governmentï¿½s files, no matter how "sensitive" the information. Britain at that point stood alone: any information, no matter how trivial, was indispensable.

Many Poles had gone to the UK after the start of the German occupation with intelligence on the Germans as well as with one of the first prototypes of the Enigma code-making device. Similarly, with the invasion and occupation of Norway, many fleeing Norwegians brought secrets of the Reich to England. After Britain frustrated Germany in the Battle of Britain and, as a result, instilled hope in the numerous governments in exile, in 1940ï¿½41 it could only fight the Germans in Africa or bomb their cities. But news was soon filtering through about a new front, and one that both the British and Norwegian governments had hoped would never be opened - a front for which there was little in the way of contingency plans. On 13 January 1941, German commandos under the leadership of Captain Ernst-Felix Kruder from the commerce raider, the Pinguin, stormed and violently captured two Norwegian whaling ships.

If that had happened around European coastlines, there would have been no mystery because the Germans allowed none of its conquered peoples to sail too far from land; but because the captures took place in the Southern Ocean off Neuschwabenland, the news when it filtered through could only have sent shock waves through both the British and Norwegian governments. However, the mystery deepened further because the subsequent night the German commandos resurfaced and captured three more whaling ships and also 11 catchers. The German Antarctic Fleet was active and prospering - mines they had laid around Australian ports sank the first US vessel lost to enemy action - but it was the Antarctic coast and islands where they mainly loitered. The Atlantis,37 the Pinguin,38 the Stier39 and the Komet40 were just four of the documented ships that had anomalous reasons for being so far south. All four were eventually sunk by the British Navy, far from Antarctica in various parts of the world from France to the Ascension Islands. Now that the Antarctic Front had been truly opened, Britain increased its Antarctic bases and personnel numbers and even issued a postmark.

However, possibly the most important area that demanded a base was in Neuschwabenland, officially known as Queen Maud Land. Through Norwayï¿½s assistance with information and maps, Britain envisaged Maudheim as the most viable place for a base because it was close enough to be able to spy on German activities and also was within striking distance for a highly trained and disciplined military unit. The seeds for the Neuschwabenland campaign had been sown. From 1941 until the start of the Britishï¿½Swedishï¿½Norwegian Expedition of 1949ï¿½52, Britain sent at least 12 official missions to Antarctica - half of them between the end of the war and the beginning of Operation Highjump , led by Admiral Byrd , starting in December 1946. Even more intriguingly, Britain sent no missions from the commencement of Highjump until 1948, during which time the US had Antarctica all to itself. Britain nonetheless was more active in Antarctica during the 1940s than any other nation, yet the only Antarctic mission mentioned in depth by historians is Admiral Byrdï¿½s.

His mission still overshadows every other mission and is the main focus of attention for many conspiracy theorists. Britainï¿½s exertions were and still are totally overlooked; and with Admiral Byrd spreading misinformation, the true conspiracy concerning Antarctica as a Nazi haven was forgotten. After the German surrender, Norway still needed to be mopped up, the possible Nazi exodus needed to be ascertained and the secrets that Norway held still needed more investigation. The discoveries further confirmed that the war had ended just in time, but suspicions were still aroused about the estimated 250,000 missing German personnel - including Martin Bormann and thousands of other wanted Nazi war criminals. The enigma of the submarines that were presumed to have been utilized in their escape also required consideration. However, even though a percentage of Germanyï¿½s U-boats may have fled Norway, what was uncovered was still intriguing and certainly proved that the Germans had made great technological strides. In June 1945, the Washington Post published an article stating that the RAF had found, near Oslo, 40 giant Heinkel bombers - aircraft with a 7,000-mile range.

The article stated that the captured German ground crews had claimed that, "the planes were held in readiness for a mission to New York".41 The British also requisitioned some of the U-boats held in Norway at the end of the war, including the new Type XXI. Captain Mervyn Wingfield was placed in charge of taking these 25 salvaged U-boats to Scapa Flow and, interestingly, chose the new Type XXI to sail in. Upon returning, he stated that "the Allies had won the submarine war just in time"42 - a statement reiterated by all the Allies when speaking about the Nazisï¿½ new weapons. In the UK, British Intelligence unearthed more of Norwayï¿½s secrets but suppressed them; Antarctica was no exception. When the Norwegian Government returned to a liberated Norway, Antarctica soon returned to their consciousness, though the Norwegians would have to wait several years to go back there, lest the rumours of a Nazi base were true.

On the other hand, Britain decided it had collated enough knowledge about Antarctica to initiate an intense investigation - one that had to dispel all fears and hide all evidence - for it could not tolerate any more technology or personnel being acquired by the wrong hands, namely, the USSR and the USA. Britain had helped liberate Norway and, as 1945 was drawing to a close, was in the process of "liberating" Queen Maud Land (the new atlas of the post-war world no longer recognized Neuschwabenland). However, the mysterious wartime expeditions conducted by all the combatant countries, especially Germany, were not entered into the World War II history books. A travesty of history had occurred. Postwar Power Plays In the immediate aftermath of World War II, suspicions surfaced and rumours spread, and the new enemy - one that Hitler had hoped to annihilate - was communism. Allies became enemies, whilst former enemies became allies in the battle against communism. And whilst the USA was offering huge financial subsidies to Western governments to keep them communism-free, Britain was left alone to clean up the last remaining Nazi outposts.

When German forces surrendered in May 1945, peace should have broken out but, alas, the world was thrown into a turmoil that was every bit as volatile as it had been before the most violent war in humanityï¿½s history began. The year 1945 was not just the year that World War II ended but also the year that the Cold War started in earnest; and whilst the USSR and the USA had fears about each otherï¿½s intentions, they also had differing ideas for how Germany was to be administered. The problems started at the Yalta Conference of 4ï¿½11 February 1945, but were heightened by the end of the war in Europe when the misinformation and secrecy about the Alliesï¿½ discoveries made the partnership that had destroyed Nazism no longer tenable. The atmosphere that surrounded Germany in May 1945 following the Nazi surrender was one of exhaustion; but whilst the Western Allies were so fatigued by the war effort, Stalin was not going to give up his territorial gains and was prepared for war and, indeed, fully expected it.

The Soviets did nothing to allay the fears that a Nazi haven had been built or that Hitler might not have committed suicide but, instead, had escaped.43 Just before Berlin fell to the Soviets, it was reported that Martin Bormann had discussed Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, with Grand Admiral Dï¿½nitz. This conversation that emanated from Hitlerï¿½s Berlin bunker was one of the last to be intercepted in the war in Europe. Argentina had long been perceived as a haven for many escaping Nazis, but this possibility was long denied by the sympathetic Peron. Yet, with the Soviet General Zhukov and Stalin disagreeing as to whether Hitler was dead or had fled, the Nazi survival myth gained momentum. Britain, in the unique position of holding the strategically important Falkland Islands, was the only country in the immediate months after the war that was in a position to investigate the leading Nazisï¿½ claims about an Antarctic haven and the rise of a Fourth Reich in South America. The USA, distracted by the war against Japan and the brewing Cold War, had been caught short by Britainï¿½s Antarctic exertions and humbled by its aggressive stance.

So the Americans soon adopted a policy, dreamt up during the war, that would destroy Britainï¿½s imperial aspirations, hinder every attempt by Britain to exert any influence around the world and make the country an "ally" in name only. However, as early as 1942, Britain and British identity were suffering as a result of the United Statesï¿½ globalization agenda. It must be remembered that Britain was denied its own atomic bomb, despite the fact that the bomb could have not been created without British expertise. Furthermore, the British people faced worse rationing than any other Western nation, lasting direfully until the 1950s, and Britain was also pressured into giving full independence or self-government to most of the territories in its Empire. So, whilst Britain went into World War II a superpower, by the end of the war and by the actions of American foreign policy, especially Operation Highjump , it had been put firmly in its place. The United States became the only country that could successfully influence Britain - as the 1956 Suez crisis proved. Even now, 60 years after the end of World War II, British blood is still being shed on behalf of US foreign policy.

Exploring Queen Maud Land As discussed in part one, the Nazi "Shangri-La" did exist. Of unknown size, it was set up during the 1938ï¿½39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition. The existence of a Nazi Antarctic base hidden in vast caverns was considered feasible enough for the British to set up bases in many parts of Antarctica during the war in response to the threat. And whilst the officially recorded British expeditions mainly concentrated around the Antarctic Peninsula, those not recorded were those that concentrated on investigating Queen Maud Land - so named by Norwegian whalers prior to 1939 in honour of Queen Maud of Norway (1869ï¿½1938), consort of King Haakon VII and formerly Princess Maud of the United Kingdom, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The Norwegians began exploring Queen Maud Land intensively in 1930, and using planes for the first time they photographed and sketched the area. In subsequent flights in 1931 and 1936, they uncovered areas unknown and identified anomalies that would attract worldwide interest.

On 4 February 1936, Lars Christensen dropped the Norwegian flag from his plane, thus claiming the land informally. The maps produced from the photographs omitted the dry areas and lakes that had been identified, but the discoveries led to private discussions between the Norwegian Government and the Monarchy as to whether Norway should annex the area. After much deliberation, on 14 January 1939 - six days before the first Deutsche Antarktische Expedition flight over Queen Maud Land - the Norwegian Government passed a royal decree annexing the region between Enderby Land and Coates Land as Queen Maud Land. The Deutsche Antarktische Expedition discoveries were well publicized. Captain Ritscher and his two Dornier Wal flying boats (Boreas and Passat) flew extensively and produced in excess of 1,500 photographs that covered an area of over 250,000 square kilometers. However, as with the strange case of the suppressed Norwegian maps, most of the films, records and research materials were destroyed in the war, though some have since resurfaced.

During the war and up till the end of the Antarctic summer of 1945ï¿½46, Britainï¿½s RAF was also flying over Antarctica to map the area and search for suitable places to establish bases. It discovered more dry areas and possibly even the intelligence that provoked Britainï¿½s Neuschwabenland campaign. Britainï¿½s arrogance in committing troops to Antarctica, independent of the United States, and in celebrating the feat with the release in February 1946 of a provocative stamp set, would inevitably lead to Britainï¿½s claims on Antarctica being contested, even though the stamps commemorated Britainï¿½s final fight with Nazism rather than being a statement of its Antarctic claims. And even though Britain expressed outrage publicly when Highjump was launched, it was just a pretence: privately, Britain knew that the USAï¿½s newfound superpower status meant that it would not permit Antarctica to be utilized by other nations for financial gain. Britain halted its Antarctic flights and operations for two years, giving the United States a free hand in Antarctica with the commencement of Operation Highjump.

With the Nazi haven destroyed, there was little need for the British to return: the Americans would not discover anything that had not already been discovered. Or would they? In the two years they had to discover as much about Antarctica as possible, the Americans found dry areas and warm-water lakes that provoked immense media interest, but Operation Highjump, which theyï¿½d planned to last for six months, ended after just eight weeks. They received a hostile reaction from other nations, but it was only after the missionï¿½s return that the rumours and theories began to abound and the enigma surrounding Highjump really began. The US conducted another expedition, Operation Windmill, in the Antarctic summer of 1947ï¿½48 and mapped additional areas of special interest. The RAF returned in 1948ï¿½49 and flew extensively in search of a viable base in Queen Maud Land for the joint Norwegianï¿½ Britishï¿½Swedish Expedition (NBSE) that was going to last from 1949 to 1952 and whose objective was to investigate and verify the 1938 German discoveries.

Britain and Norway knew that the area of Queen Maud Land which the Nazis had utilized would be vastly different from that which was mapped in the 1930s and early 1940s. An explosion of sufficient magnitude could have created a warm front. The ground could have warmed enough for rising heat to have created precipitation - how much could only be gauged by the velocity of the explosion. In all probability, snow would have fallen on areas that had not seen water for thousands if not millions of years and the landscape would have changed significantly. When NBSE team members inspected the area, they found the largest land animal (bar penguins) on the continent: tiny mites. That discovery was an irregularity in itself. The expedition also discovered unusual lichens and mosses in certain areas. However, the lakes that had been so prevalent in reports from previous expeditions were largely not noted; nor were the vast, dry areas. Could the lakes have frozen and the majority of the dry areas have disappeared under a blanket of snow? Meantime, more and more countries wanted their own bases in Antarctica, and soon skirmishes started.

In November 1948, Britainï¿½s Hope Base on the Antarctic Peninsula was suspiciously destroyed by fire; in 1952, Argentinian forces shot at the British returning from the joint expedition. Details of other skirmishes unfortunately have been suppressed for diplomatic reasons. However, in 1982, Britain went to war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands (the Malvinas). Its defeat of the Argentinian forces led to the collapse of the fascist military junta that had dominated Argentina for several years. Argentina also had more than a passing interest in Antarctica but, with the deaths of over 2,000 personnel in the Malvinas campaign and facing the possibility of Buenos Aires being bombed, Argentina had no choice but to admit defeat. Yet, whilst admitting the battle was lost, Argentina insisted the war was not over. The Malvinas are Argentinian possessions according to South American atlases, and who is to say that war will not erupt again one day?

If that were to happen, Britain would again send an armada to fight because, quite patently, the Falkland Islands are still one of Britainï¿½s most prized dependencies and the reason is quite simple: their close proximity to Antarctica and all its treasures and mysteries that one day will be allowed to be utilized and accessed.44 Military Interest in Antarctica Before the Antarctic Treaty was ratified on the 23 June 1961, the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1958 brought immense international attention and cooperation to the frozen continent. The Americans returned in numbers, as did the British, but the Soviets also began their own experiments. The aim of the IGY was to enable nations to put aside their claims whilst sharing resources and scientific information. The success of the IGY allowed the Antarctic Treaty to be enacted - but with the USSR stating that it had no intention of leaving Antarctica and that it would keep all its bases when the IGY ended. However, all claimants deemed that "Antarctica is to be used for peaceful purposes only", although military personnel and equipment may be utilized but not for military reasons.

In the years prior to the June 1961 ratification, the USA, UK and USSR had all used Antarctica for military purposes and all three nations were rumoured to have tested nuclear bombs on the continent. On 27 and 30 August and 6 September 1958, at least three such bombs were detonated in Antarctica, allegedly by the Americans. Rumour has it that they were set off in the area of Queen Maud Land and were triggered 300 meters above the target, with the initial aim being to "recover" frozen areas. The locations of other bomb detonation sites have been firmly suppressed, but it is believed that the areas reconnoitered by the Germans in 1939 and 1940 were targeted.45 With the Germans and Americans officially claiming to have found warm-water lakes on their expeditions, it was only a matter of time before more were discovered. One such lake, discovered by the Russians, is Lake Vostok, which is 4,000 meters below the surface and curiously is located under the Russian base camp of Vostok.

News of the discovery was not released to the world until 1989, so had the Soviets found the subterranean lake years earlier and was this their main reason for refusing to leave its base? The lake has still not been investigated, mainly out of fear of what could be unleashed and to avoid contamination of the lake, although a huge magnetic anomaly has been identified.46 With so many lakes being discovered and with satellites proving that the Antarctic is made up of huge, ice-encased archipelagos, is it unimaginable to believe that a subterranean trench, wide enough for U-boats to pass through, actually runs through Antarctica, as claimed by author Christof Friedrich and on the Piri Reis map ? If the Nazis had built a hidden base in Neuschwabenland and that base had been destroyed in 1945, leaving only a few German Antarctic outposts, then any evidence of a Nazi incursion on Antarctica would have been destroyed comprehensively by the nuclear exertions of the USA, USSR and UK.

Nevertheless, rumours persist that the Nazis were not totally destroyed in Antarctica but fled to secret bases in South America.47 Britainï¿½s Neuschwabenland Campaign Revisited If British forces had indeed destroyed the Nazi outpost that was rumoured to have existed amid the Mï¿½hlig-Hoffmann Mountains, this would never be made public nor be given much credence by mainstream historians. Even so, Britain was the nation most active in Antarctica during the 1940s, which is intriguing if not suspicious. Furthermore, Britain was privileged enough to have collated a mass of evidence on German Antarctic intentions via the leading Nazis it apprehended and via its efficient intelligence network and its own field investigations. All of this leads one to the conclusion that something significant must have occurred there, and it appears only time will tell. Postwar scientific revelations suggest that Antarctica was disrupted by human activity at some time in its near past - a finding that may add credence to the likelihood of Britainï¿½s Neuschwabenland campaign. In 1999, a research expedition discovered a virus to which neither animals nor humans are immune. Specialists were unable to explain the source of the virus, though some tried.

According to some scientists, the virus could have been a prehistoric life-form that had been preserved in the ice. However, other specialists speculated that the virus could have been a secret biological weapon that had been delivered to Antarctica during the 1938ï¿½39 Deutsche Antarktische Expedition. If a biological weapon or virus had been taken to Antarctica, it is doubtful that it would have been unleashed onto the continent intentionally, but, instead, stored with extreme care. If the Germans really had been the architects of the Antarctic virus and they had taken studious care of their weapon, would it be too adventurous to think that the virus could have been released by an attack of some degree on the very place where it was stored? Another mystery may be central to Queen Maud Land and what may have happened in 1945. In 1984 the British Antarctic Survey, based at Halley Station,48 noticed a hole in the ozone layer for the first time; it was located over Queen Maud Land. Scientists, after much speculation, claimed that the hole was due to CFCs and in time would increase global warming. Could the hole, like the virus release, have been caused by a huge explosion of nuclear proportions?

With three known atomic tests and a considerable number undisclosed associated with the likely destruction of the Nazi base, it appears that the hole was caused by more than just CFCs. Subterranean lakes with signs of life, geothermally warmed lakes in dry valleys in a supposed frozen wasteland, viruses that threaten mankind, mysterious holes in the atmosphere allied with suppressed military ventures may seem the work of fiction, and yet they are all fact! Antarctica is a truly mysterious place, and that is why it is inconceivable that the Nazis would claim an area and leave it unoccupied and undefended, especially when the Channel Islands, for instance, a strategically unimportant Nazi gain, utilized for its defenses more than 10 per cent of all the concrete and iron that was used in the construction of the Atlantic Wall - a wall that stretched from the Pyrenï¿½es to the North Cape of Norway! However, trying to validate the story of the British Neuschwabenland campaign is slightly tougher to ascertain. Tales of Polar Men, ancient tunnels and a decisive battle against remnants of the Third Reich appear fanciful.

Even so, it is widely known that Nazi scientists were experimenting on men to simulate the freezing conditions of the Eastern Front and to help their forces better deal with them.49 Could the heinous experiments have been a success of sorts, allowing certain soldiers to combat the cold more efficiently? Tales of ancient tunnels, even tunnels leading through the Mï¿½hlig-Hoffmann Mountains, appear at first far-fetched, but would a cavern network, glacially eroded enough, appear unnatural and thus be explained as a tunnel? Soldiers are not scientists and see things as they are - though whether it was a tunnel or a long cavern network that the British had discovered, it ultimately led to a Nazi base. The base could have been similar to the U-boat base that appeared in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, but thatï¿½s highly unlikely - but what isnï¿½t is the possibility that a base had been constructed and was being manned by German forces. The British had secret wartime bases, so why not the Nazis? It also must be remembered that some Japanese soldiers fought on, not accepting defeat, for over 20 years,50 so why not pockets of Germans?

In fact, Nazi Werewolves were active after the May surrender, and isolated attacks occurred for a few years after the war was deemed over and Nazism was thwarted.51 Whether the Neuschwabenland base was eradicated by Britainï¿½s Special Forces in 1945ï¿½46 or not, it is more than feasible that Britain could have pulled off the feat. During the war, Britain had some of the finest special forces personnel in the world, and still does today, and they were expertly trained in sabotage and destruction, using limited manpower in covert and inexpensive operations. They were so successful that, even after the Dieppe fiasco, Hitler ordered that any of them captured were to be summarily executed. Britain, unlike the United States, believed that success is more attainable with limited resources; however, with the US philosophy of "might is right", it is no wonder that most attention paid to Antarctic expeditions has been firmly focused on Operation Highjump .52 Admiral Byrdï¿½s statements and supposed discoveries, which have spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories, overshadowed Britainï¿½s exertions comprehensively.

Whether the British mission did destroy the Nazi base, with any remaining Nazis finally being expunged by the atomic force of the wartime allies, is not the question that needs asking. What is, though, is just how much of Antarcticaï¿½s past, present and, indeed, its future has been, is being and will be suppressed. Postscript: 1966 British Antarctic Survey Mystery After the first part of Britainï¿½s Secret War in Antarctica was published, I was inundated with people and specialists in their field with more substantiating information. However, by far the most intriguing and exciting was an email sent to me by Miles Johnston who investigated a strange story about Antarctica with Danny Wilson whilst with the Irish UFO Research Centre. The centre was contacted by an Eric Wilkinson in 1975, who had reported a strange incident in 1966 when he was with the British Antarctic Survey. An even stranger photo backs up the story (see above). In Miles Johnstonï¿½s own words, he explains: "In 1975 I investigated a UFO/Strange Black Ray Cloud formation, taken by a Belfast member of the British Antarctic Survey.

He gave me some images of a pulsing cloud formation firing a black ray into the ice, which bounced off and reflected further away from him. Who knows... maybe someone down there is using negative energy beam weapons? Or was... since the images were taken in 1966." click image to enlarge The photo [above] is indeed enigmatic and substantiates the fact that Antarctica and Britainï¿½s role there are shrouded in mystery. Queen Maud Land Q Queen Maud Land Queen Maud Land is an English translation of Dronning Maud Land, the official name in use by Norwegian authorities and British Antarctic Survey on the part of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory , on 14 January 1939. This claim, like all others in the Antarctic, is not universally recognized and is subject to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty System. It has a land area of approximately 2.5 million square kilometers (one million sq mi ), mostly covered by the Antarctic ice sheet lying between the British claim , at 20°W and the Australian claim, at 44°38'E. Norway has not officially elaborated as to the northernly and southernly extent of their claim.

This explains why the Norwegian claim is illustrated differently from other claims on some maps of Antarctica. It is however generally assumed that the Norwegian claim follows the norms of the other Antarctic claims. The Norwegian claim has been officially recognised by Australia, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The territory is named for Maud of Wales (1869–1938), queen consort of King Haakon VII of Norway. Regions Queen Maud Land is divided into five coastal regions which can be thought of extending as sectors to the South Pole , from west to east (clockwise): The area was first visited in 1930 by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen as part of efforts to map the Antarctic. Roald Amundsen had previously named it in honour of Queen Maud of Norway and the entire plateau surrounding the South Pole Kong Haakon VII Vidde in honour of the Norwegian king. The area originally identified by Amundsen as Queen Maud Land lay between 37° and 50° E.

Research stations Norway operates two research stations in Antarctica, both in Queen Maud Land: Troll, 72°00″07′S 2°32″02′E Tor (summer station), 71°53″20′S 05°09″30′E Research Stations of other nations include: SANAE IV "Vesles" (South Africa), 71°24″S 2°31″W Princess Martha Coast Sarie Marais (South Africa), 72°01″S 02°29″W Princess Martha Coast Novolazarevskaya Station (Russia), 70°28″S 11°30″E Princess Astrid Coast Showa Station (Japan), 69°00″25′S 39°35″01′E Prince Harald Coast Dome Fuji Station (Japan), 71°24″S 39°25″E Prince Harald Coast Mizuho Station (Japan), 70°15″S 44°07″E Prince Olav Coast Neumayer Station, 70°

39″S 08°15″W Princess Martha Coast Princess Elisabeth Base (Belgium), 71°57″S 23°20″E Princess Ragnhild Coast (interior) Kohnen (German summer station), 75°00″S 00°02″W Princess Martha Coast (interior) SANAE E (South African summer station), 71°11″S 02°14″W Princess Martha Coast Svea Station (Swedish summer station) 1987/1988, 74°21″S 11°08″W Princess Astrid Coast Nordenskiöld Base, 73°03″S 13°25″W Princess Astrid Coast Wasa Station (Swedish summer station) Aboa Station (Finnish summer station) Asuka Station (Japanese unmanned station) 71°19″S 24°05″W Princess Ragnhild Coast Maitri (India),70°45″57′S 11°44″09′E Schirmacher Oasis

 (Wikipedia) Who Claims Antarctica?

| The Basement Geographer The Basement Geographer Scattershot slices of the world from Å to Zzyzx Menu by kuschk Antarctica has long been famous for being the only continent in which no government holds power. While not truly uninhabited thanks to the thousands of personnel present in research stations , the world community generally looks at Antarctica as terra nullius – belonging to no one. That is not to say, however, that no one claims land on the continent, for in fact there are seven countries that claim what amounts to about three-quarters of the frozen continent as part of their own national territory. Since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, these claims have been frozen in the sense that these countries are not allowed to assert, defend or deny any claims made to Antarctic territory (defined as all land below 60°S latitude) by any country, nor is any non-scientific military activity permitted in Antarctica. As long as the treaty remains in place, so will Antarctica’s neutral status. Nevertheless, the claims, however frozen by the treaty, are still in play (the United States and Russia also retain the right to make territorial claims ). Here, then, are the seven claimants to Antarctic territory and their claims.

As you can see on the map below, three of these claims overlap. British Antarctic Territory : The United Kingdom placed a claim on the sector of Antarctica between 20°W and 80°W latitude in 1908, as well as South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, the South Orkney islands, and South Shetland Island. Essentially, it was an extension of their holdings in the Falkland Islands, to the point where these claims were administered as the Falkland Islands Dependencies . The claim was certified to extend southward all the way to the pole in 1917. Strategically, this is a very important wedge, as it contains the Antarctic Peninsula , the northernmost part of the Antarctic mainland and the part of the continent that hosts the most human activity. In 1962, after the implementation of the Antarctic Treaty, the British government removed the Antarctic territory from the Falklands’ purvey (which was reduced to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands since that was all of the territory left north of 60°S) and created the British Antarctic Territory, administered by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office .

The BAT government finances its operations almost entirely through minting coins and printing stamps ; its issues some of the most sought-after modern-day issues by collectors in recent years ( as these prices attest ). The UK maintains three research stations plus Port Lockroy , a historic whaling and research station that now operates as a museum, post office, and tourist stop . Chilean Antarctic Territory : The westernhalf of the British claim overlaps with the Chilean claim, which extends from 53°W to 90°W. The claim dates back to 1940, and the territory’s current status is that of a commune inside of the Antártica Chilena Province , the southernmost province of Chile. Villa Las Estrellas , the largest civilian settlement on the continent, is located here along with ten other Chilean bases. Bernardo O’Higgins Station at the top end of the peninsula serves as the capital. A plaque in Punta Arenas, Chile showing the Chilean claim. Source: M. St-Amant, . Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.

Argentine Antarctica : Argentina’s claim overlaps both those of Chile and the UK, meaning all three countries claim the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands. Argentina’s claim is the most recent, dating back to 1942. It claims the territory as a department (equivalent to a US county) n the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and South Atlantic Islands with a census population of 230 . The other civilian settlement in Antarctica, Esperanza , is located here, one of 13 bases Argentina has within its Antarctic claim. Queen Maud Land : Moving east of the three overlapping claims centered on the Antarctic Peninsula (and directly bordering the British claim), we come to Queen Maud Land ( Dronning Maud Land ), claimed by Norway as a dependency since 1939 (the area of the claim is about seven times as large as the actual country of Norway) and name for the late queen consort of Norway (and granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom) that had passed away the previous year.

The extends between 20°W and 45°E, straddling the Prime Meridian, but unlike the other claims on Antarctica does not explicitly reach north to 60°S or south to the pole. Norway maintains one permanent ( Troll ) and one seasonal ( Tor ) base in Queen Maud Land The entire coastline of Queen Maud Land is a 20-30m (66-98 ft) ice cliff. Australian Antarctic Territory : To the east of the Norwegian claim is Australia’s claim, Australian Antarctic Territory. The claim is broken apart by France’s claim, leaving a larger western sector (45°E to 136°E) and a smaller eastern sector (142°E to 160°E). In total, the 5 896 500 km2 (2 276 651 sq mi) claim constitutes approximately 42% of the entire area of Antarctica; Australia maintains just three bases for the entire area. Originally, the westernmost portion, Enderby Land , was a British claim made in 1930.

Enderby Land was transferred to Australian control three years later (part of the gradual relinquishing of British control over the foreign affairs of other British Empire countries), at which Australia accepted responsibility over all of the land between 45°E and 160°E other than France’s Adélie Land in the name of the Commonwealth . Adélie Land : The aforementioned Adélie Land occupies the narrow wedge of land between 136°E and 142°E. Discovered by the French explorer Dumont d’Urville in 1840 (who named it for his wife), this land formally was claimed by France in 1924, nine years before Australia made its claim on the surrounding lands. Today, France claims it as one of the five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands , which otherwise consist of various islands dispersed around the Indian Ocean; the capital is thus Port-aux-Français on Grande Terre, Kerguelen . The lone French base (and base of any kind for that matter) is fittingly named for Dumont d’Urville .

Ross Dependency : New Zealand’s Ross Dependency is the easternmost mainland claim on Antarctica, extending from 160°E to 150°W, the sector immediately surrounding the Ross Sea (and thus the Ross Ice Shelf , Ross Island , Roosevelt Island , and Mount Erebus , the world’s southernmost active volcano which has been in a state of eruption since 1972). Two heavily-used research stations, New Zealand’s Scott Base and the United States’ McMurdo Station , lie adjacent to each other on Ross Island, and the famous ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys lie here as well. Claimed for the British by the explorer James Ross (for whom the dependency is named) in 1841, the claim was transferred to New Zealand in 1923 . As with the United Kingdom, New Zealand produces stamps exclusively for the dependency valued by philatelists (although Ross Dependency mail is processed back in New Zealand at Christchurch).

Peter I Island : While the remaining mainland between 90°W and 150°W is unclaimed (it is called Marie Byrd Land after the wife of US explorer Richard Byrd ), there is a small offshore claim from Norway in the form of Peter I Island, 450 km (280 mi) north of Australia in the Bellingshausen Sea and named in 1820 for Peter the Great of Russia. Almost entirely glaciated, 40-m (130-ft) ice cliffs surround nearly the island. Norway claimed the island in 1931 in an effort to gain another potential whaling station location, but no ships would return to Peter I until 1948, and whaling never took place here to any large extent. Even today, it is believed that less than 600 people have ever stepped foot here. Note: the UK, France, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand all recognise each other’s claims, but Chile and Argentina do not recognise each other’s claims, nor the UK’s. Further Reading Australian Government (2000). Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act 1933. ComLaw. Available at .

Accessed 13 February 2012. Conference on Antarctica (1959). The Antarctic Treaty. Washington, 15 October 1959. Available at . Accessed 13 February 2012. Filatelia Argentina (2000). La Actividad Argentina en la Antártida. Available at . Accessed 13 February 2012. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2011). British Antarctic Territory. Available at . Accessed 13 February 2012. Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty (2011). The Antarctic Treaty. Available at . Accessed 13 February 2012. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (2011). Antarctic Treaty. Available at . Accessed 13 February 2012.

Question: Queen Maud Land on Antarctica is a dependent territory of which country?
Answer: NORWAY