Colonization of Antarctica is the establishing and maintaining of control overAntarctic land for exploitation and possibly settlement.[1]
Antarctica was claimed by several states since the 16th century, culminating in a territorialcompetition in the first half of the 20th century when its interior was explored and the firstAntarctic camps and bases were set up.[2]
Contemporarilyterritorial claims and activities on Antarctica have been limited since the Antarctic Treaty (1959) by theAntarctic Treaty System and itsProtocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.[3]
At present thepopulation of Antarctica comprises scientists and staff of approximate 4,000 people in summer and 1,000 in winter, from 30 countries staying at about 70 bases (40 year-round and 30 summer-only). Of those bases, two are civilian settlements,[4][5] the Argentinian-administeredEsperanza Base and Chilean-administeredVilla Las Estrellas.
TheAntarctic region has been aregion of sovereign claims since at least the 16th century. The harshSouthern Ocean thwarted exploration of the region for hundreds of years, until the first half of the 19th century whensealers and explorers reported having found new southern lands. Afterwhalers started hunting in the areapolar explorers started venturing inlandat the start of the 20th century, reaching theSouth Pole in 1911, European and American states increasingly made claims over Antarctic lands, supported by setting up expanding whaling stations andAntarctic research bases.[2]
Contemporarily territorial claims and activities on Antarctica have been limited since the Antarctic Treaty (1959) by theAntarctic Treaty System and itsProtocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.[3]
An idea in the 1950s was to have Antarctic cities enclosed under glass domes. Power and temperature regulation of the domes would come from atomic driven generators outside of these domes. While the Soviets usedradioisotope thermal generators in some of their remote Arctic and Antarctic locations,[6] the Americans experimented with nuclear fission, building on their Army nuclear power plant program. ThePM-3A nuclear power reactor atMcMurdo Station was plagued with reliability issues (achieving anavailability factor of only 74%)[7] and was eventually deemed a pollution hazard and consequently shut down and dismantled.[8]
Buckminster Fuller, the developer of thegeodesic dome, had raised the possibility of Antarcticdomed cities that would allow a controlled climate and buildings erected under the dome.[9] His first specific published proposal for a domed city in 1965 discussed the Antarctic as a likely first location for such a project.[10] The second base atAmundsen–Scott South Pole Station (operated 1975–2003) resembles a reduced version of this idea; it is large enough to cover only a few scientific buildings.
In 1971, a team led by German architectFrei Otto made a feasibility study for anair-supported city dome two kilometers across that could house 40,000 residents.[11] Some authors have recently tried to update the idea.[12]
In 2023 a research report from an Australian team[14] found that the pollution left by international research stations was comparable to that seen in some of the busiest ports in the world.
Although today Antarctica's environment is very harsh, conditions may become better in the future. It has been suggested that, as a result oflong-term effects of global warming, the beginning of the 22nd century will see parts of West Antarctica experiencing similar climate conditions to those found today in Alaska and Northern Scandinavia.[15] Even farming and crop growing could be possible in some of the most northerly areas of Antarctica.
It is suggested that plants and fungi find a favorable environment around Antarctica's volcanoes to grow, a hint as to where the first agricultural efforts could be led.[16] There are about 110 known native species of moss in Antarctica, and two angiosperms (Deschampsia antarctica andColobanthus quitensis). It is believed those native species will disappear with warmer weather and the arrival of stronger species. Humans are responsible for the introduction of 200 to 300 outside species on the continent.[17]
Recent scientific surveys of an area near the South Pole have revealed high geothermal heat seeping up to the surface from below.[18][19]
The oldest known case of a person having died on Antarctic land is from the first half of the 19th century. The person was probably a South American indigenous woman, possibly travelling as a guide for early northernSealers. Her bones were found in the 1980s on a beach onLivingston Island (South Shetlands) off theAntarctic Peninsula.[20]
Emilio Marcos Palma (born January 7, 1978) is an Argentine citizen who is the first person known to be born on the continent of Antarctica. He was born inFortín Sargento Cabral at the Esperanza Base near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and weighed 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz). Since his birth, about ten others have been born on the continent.[21]
