ABSTRACT
Some have long traditions of Antarctic involvement, while others are relative newcomers to the region. The varying histories tend to cause divisions. The unclear status of the claims is due to the condition of international legal principles; they are rather unclear on the matter. Argentina entered the Antarctic stage twice around the turn of the century, once to rescue a stranded Swedish expedition in 1903, and again at the invitation of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to take over a weather station in the South Orkneys in 1904. That particular station remained Argentina's only Antarctic outpost until after the Second World War. The Belgians were granted a place at the Washington Conference that produced the Antarctic Treaty based largely on the legacy of the "Belgica" expedition led by Baron De Gerlache in 1897-99. The importance of this effort rests in the fact that this was the first expedition to spend the winter, or "winter-over", in Antarctica.
