ABSTRACT
Finally, the political boundaries of Antarctica are distinct because all the proclamations dealing with them were made in the 20th century.
British claims On 23 June 1843 British authorities issued details of the arrangements for the government of the Falkland Islands and their Dependencies (International Court of Justice 1956, p. 41). This proclamation did not define the extent
of the Dependencies, nor did subsequent proclamations, governors’ commissions, or laws clarify this question in the period before 1907. However, from 1887 the Colonial Office year book referred to South Georgia as part of the Dependencies. In the last decade of the 19th century there was a marked increase in
voyages to Antarctic seas for purposes of scientific research and the capture of whales and seals. This activity encouraged the British authorities to set out the limits of the Dependencies in Letters Patent dated 21 July 1908: Whereas the group of islands known as South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, and the Sandwich Islands, and the territory known as Graham’s Land, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and 80th degrees of west longitude, are part of our Dominions, and it is expedient that provision should be made for their government as Dependencies of our said Colony of the Falkland Islands . . . (Polar Record 1948, p. 241)
According to British sources, South Georgia was discovered, or rediscovered, by Captain James Cook on 17 January 1775. Having named them in honour of the King and claimed them for Britain, Cook sailed eastwards and two weeks later discovered the South Sandwich Islands which were named for the First Lord of the Admiralty and claimed for Britain. The South Shetland Islands were discovered by Captain William Smith on 18 February 1819. He claimed them for Britain in October of that year when he called them New South Britain. Graham Land was discovered by Captain Edward Bransfield in company with Smith on 30 January 1820. Some American scholars, including Hobbs (1939, 1941) and Martin (1938, 1940), assert that Captain Nathaniel Palmer first sighted the mainland of Antarctica, but their evidence is shown to be dubious by Gould (1941) and Hinks (1939, 1940, 1941). According to British sources Captain George Powell discovered the South Orkney Islands on 6 December 1821, and he claimed them the following day when he landed on the island to which he gave the name Coronation. The British authorities must have been embarrassed to discover that the
limits set out in the proclamation of 1908 enclosed the southern tip of South America, although there was no intention to claim that area. To avoid any uncertainty the boundaries of the British claim were amended on 28 March 1917: The Dependencies of Our said Colony shall be deemed to include and to have included all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 50th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all the islands
and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south latitude. (Polar Record 1948, p. 242)
This definition of the Dependencies was confirmed in The Falkland Islands (Legislative Council) Order in Council dated 26 November 1948 (Great Britain 1948, p. 59). On 26 February 1962 Britain detached part of the Dependencies to create the colony called British Antarctic Territory: . . . the British Antarctic Territory means all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 60th parallel of south latitude . . . (Great Britain 1962, p. 356)
The Dependencies were defined as the remaining area of the 1917 definition (Fig. 13.1).
