close
Jump to content

Brazilian Antarctica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brazilian Antarctica
Antártica Brasileira (Portuguese)
Zone of interest
Coordinates: 28°W 53°W

Coordinates: 28°W 53°W

Brazilian Antarctica (Portuguese: Antártida Brasileira or Antártica Brasileira) is the Antarctic territory south of 60°S, and from 28°W to 53°W, proposed as a "zone of interest" by geopolitical scholar Therezinha de Castro.[1][2][3] It would comprise part of Coats Land, Berkner Island and much of the Weddell Sea and its ice shelf, for a total land area of around 400,000 square kilometers, overlapping the Argentine and British claims and bordering the Chilean claim.[4] The country formally expressed its reservations with respect to its territorial rights in Antarctica when it acceded to the Antarctic Treaty on 16 May 1975, making the first official mention of the Frontage Theory, which states (simplified) that sovereignty over each point in Antarctica properly (bar the South Pole itself) belongs to the first country whose non-Antarctic territory one would reach when travelling north in a straight line from such a point.[5][6]

Outside the zone of interest, Brazil maintains a permanently staffed research facility, the Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base (UN/LOCODE: AQ-CFZ), located in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at 62°08′S 58°40′W / 62.133°S 58.667°W / -62.133; -58.667. The peninsula is the northernmost, most accessible, and warmest part of the Antarctic continent and a number of countries, therefore, have research bases located on it.

At the time of the earliest Brazilian Antarctic expeditions in the early 1980s, there were calls to install a research facility in the zone defined by the frontage theory. Practical reasons prevailed for a location in the Antarctic Peninsula, outside of the zone. The Navy was unprepared to operate in the Weddell Sea and, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, favored a pragmatic approach over the Army's territorialist concern for operations in the zone.[7] A 1980 report by the Armed Forces General Staff advised an avoidance of "sterile discussions" over frontage theory, noting its expansionist undertones brought unneeded tension with Argentina. The priority was to be integration into the Antarctic Treaty.[4]

Maps depicting a Brazilian claim in Antarctica were used in some public schools in the 1960s. As late as 2009, some articles on Wikipedia mistakenly claimed Brazil has or intends to have an Antarctic territorial claim.[4]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Canadian Polar Commission - Meridian (p. 5) Archived 2017-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Canadian Polar Commission. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  2. ↑ It's not just science that's an experiment in Antarctica Exploratorium. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  3. ↑ World Statesmen.org: Antarctic Territorial Claims Worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved on 2010-10-23.
  4. 1 2 3 Ferreira, Felipe Rodrigues Gomes (2009). O sistema do tratado da Antártica: evolução do regime e seu impacto na política externa brasileira (PDF) (Dissertation). Brasília: Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão.. p. 118, 122-123, 132.
  5. ↑ La Antátida (p. 6) Archived 2016-04-10 at the Wayback Machine Asociación de Funcionarios y Empleados del Servicio Exterior Ecuatoriano. Retrieved on 2010-10-23. (in Spanish).
  6. ↑ O Projeto Brasileiro para a Antartica (p. 119) Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. Retrieved on 2010-10-23. (in Portuguese).
  7. ↑ Cardone, Ignacio Javier (2021). The Antarctic politics of Brazil: where the Tropic meets the Pole. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-80161-8. p. 112-113.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Castro, Therezinha. "Antárctica: Assunto do Momento". Revista de Clube Militar (Brazil), 1958.
  • Castro, Therezinha. Atlas-Texto de Geopolítica do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Capemi Editora, 1982.
  • Child, Jack. Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum. New York: Praeger, 1988, Chapter 6.
  • Coelho, Aristides Pinto. "Novas tendências". Boletim Antártico, no. 4, Jan 1985.
  • Dodds, Klaus. Geopolitics in Antarctica : views from the Southern Oceanic Rim. Chichester; New York : Published in association with Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge by J. Wiley, 1997.
  • Moneta, Carlos J., ed. La Antártida en el Sistema Internacional del Futuro. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editor Lationoamericano, 1988.
  • Schmied, Julie. La Política Antárctica de los Países Latinoamericanos. Madrid: Instituto de Cuestiones Internacionales, 1988.
  • WorldStatesmen - Antarctica
  • Flags of the World - Antarctica
  • Map showing Brazilian Antarctica
  • Antarctica, But Sliced Differently
  • W.L. de Freitas, A Antártica no contexto do Sistema Interamericano e a paz nas Américas, Colégio Interamericano de Defesa, Washington, D.C.
[edit]

75°00′S 40°30′W / 75.000°S 40.500°W / -75.000; -40.500

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brazilian_Antarctica&oldid=1368742341"