Dependencies of Norway

Norway has three dependent territories (Norwegian: biland), all uninhabited and located in the Southern Hemisphere. Bouvetøya is a Subantarctic island in the South Atlantic Ocean.Queen Maud Land is a sector of Antarctica which spans between 20° west and 45° east.Peter I Island is a volcanic island located 450 kilometres (280 mi) off the coast of Ellsworth Land of continental Antarctica.

Both Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land are south of 60°S and are thus part of the Antarctic Treaty System. While the treaty states that the claims are not affected by the treaty, only the other countries with claims recognize Norwegian sovereignty on the island. The dependencies are administered by the Polar Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Oslo, Norway's capital. Norwegian criminal law, private law and procedural law applies to the dependencies, in addition to other laws that explicitly state they are valid on the island.

Norway also has two unincorporated areas which are part of Norway, not dependencies, Jan Mayen and Svalbard.

Territorial claims in Antarctica

Seven states maintain a territorial claim on eight territories in Antarctica. These countries have tended to site their scientific observation and study facilities in Antarctica within their claimed territory.

History

Spanish claims

According to Argentina and Chile the Spanish Empire had claims on Antarctica. The capitulación (governoship) granted to conquistador Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz explicitly included the lands south of the Straits of Magellan (Terra Australis, Tierra del Fuego). This grant establish, according to Argentina and Chile, that an animus occupandi existed on part of Spain on Antarctica. Spains sovereignty claims over parts of Antarctica was according to Chile and Argentina internationally recognized with the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was in that time a recognized arbiter in these matters.

British claims

Antarctic

The Antarctic (US English /æntˈɑË?rktɪk/, UK English /ænˈtÉ‘Ë?rktɪk/ or /æntˈɑË?rtɪk/ and /ænˈtÉ‘Ë?rtɪk/ or /ænˈɑË?rtɪk/) is a polar region, specifically the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters, and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence. The region covers some 20% of the Southern Hemisphere, of which 5.5% (14 million km²) is the surface area of the continent itself.

Geography

The maritime part of the region constitutes the area of application of the international Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), where for technical reasons the Convention uses an approximation of the Convergence line by means of a line joining specified points along parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. The implementation of the Convention is managed through an international Commission headquartered in Hobart, Australia, by an efficient system of annual fishing quotas, licenses and international inspectors on the fishing vessels, as well as satellite surveillance.

Antarctic (ship)

Antarctic was a Swedish steamship built in Drammen, Norway in 1871. She was used on several research expeditions to the Arctic region and to Antarctica through 1898-1903. In 1895 the first confirmed landing on the mainland of Antarctica was made from this ship.

The ship

Antarctic was a barque with three masts and equipped with a steam engine. Build in 1871 at Holmen in Drammen under the name Cap Nor.

Initially Antarctic was used for seal hunting around Svalbard, Jan Mayen and Greenland, under that period the ship was captained by Gullik Jensen and among others Carsten Borchgrevink served on the ship.

In the early 1890s Norwegian ship-owner Svend Foyn wanted to expand his business to the Antarctic Ocean thereby needing capable ships. Foyn then purchased Cap Nor, made extensive repairs and after completion renamed the ship Antarctic. From 1893 the ship was deployed to the Antarctic ocean for whale hunting.

In 1897 the ship was purchased by Alfred Gabriel Nathorst for his planned expedition to Svalbard. Again extensive repairs were made prior to the expedition in 1898.