Russian Antarctica

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On June 7, 1950, the Soviet government sent out its statement to all interested parties, which stated that it did not recognize any decisions regarding Antarctica taken without the participation of the USSR. By this, it once again reminded of the priority of Russian discoveries in Antarctica. In fact, this continent could be Russian, as Alaska once was.

Actually, Stalin signed this letter because a number of countries, namely Norway, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Great Britain and France, began to claim various Antarctic territories as their possessions, that is, they began to declare territorial claims.

All this, coupled with the American proposal for the internationalization of Antarctica, was the reason for the Soviet statement. After that, certain movements began along the "no-man's" southern continent.

After the successful holding of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), 12 of its member states (including the seven above) agreed on the need for international cooperation in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959, and entered into force on June 23, 1961, following its ratification by the 12 original signatory states. Its main purpose is to ensure that Antarctica is used in the interests of all mankind. The Treaty provides for freedom of scientific research and encourages international cooperation in every possible way.

It prohibits any military activity, any nuclear explosions and disposal of radioactive materials in Antarctica. In fact, this treaty became the first official document in which the legal status of the continent is enshrined as a territory equally accessible to all countries. Currently, the number of parties to the Treaty is 45 states, 27 of which are consultative parties.

But Antarctica could well have been a part of the Russian Empire if the tsarist advisers had prompted the autocrat Alexander I to officially declare his rights to this southern land. After all, it was Russian sailors, Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, who discovered the continent!

In June 1819, 2nd rank captain Bellingshausen was appointed commander of the three-masted sailing sloop Vostok and head of the expedition to search for the sixth continent, organized with the approval of Alexander I. Young lieutenant Mikhail Lazarev was appointed captain of the second sloop Mirny. On July 4, 1819, the ships left Kronstadt.

On January 16, 1820 the ships of Bellingshausen and Lazarev in the area of the present Princess Martha Coast approached the unknown "ice continent". The discovery of Antarctica dates from this day. Three more times they crossed the Antarctic Circle, at the beginning of February they again approached Antarctica at the present Princess Astrid Coast, but due to snowy weather they could not see it well.

In March, when sailing off the coast of the mainland became impossible due to the accumulation of ice, the ships parted by agreement to meet at the port of Jackson (now Sydney). Bellingshausen and Lazarev went there by different routes. Accurate surveys of the Tuamotu archipelago were made, and a number of inhabited atolls were discovered, including the Russians.

In November 1820 the ships sailed to Antarctica for the second time, circling it from the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Shishkov, Mordvinov, Peter I, and the Land of Alexander I were discovered. On January 30, when it turned out that the sloop "Vostok" was leaking, Bellingshausen turned north and arrived in Kronstadt through Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon on July 24, 1821. The members of the expedition spent 751 days in the voyage, covered more than 92 thousand kilometers.29 islands and one coral reef were discovered. Thus, Thaddeus Bellingshausen became the discoverer of Antarctica.

Why did he become the first, because the famous Captain Cook sailed in these places much earlier? Because Cook, heading south, met a lot of ice on his way, which forced him to turn back. After that, he said that in the south there was nothing but ice, and that swimming in these latitudes was generally useless - just wasting time. The authority of the navigator was so high that for 45 years no one even thought to look for some land in the south. Russian sailors were the first …

Why Emperor Alexander I did not declare Russia's rights to this land is still unclear. Perhaps, then it was considered that in the empire of the earth, and so full, as they say, there is nowhere to go. Yes, and with ice and snow in the state, everything is in order - there, in Siberia alone, there are a lot of them. And the way to Antarctica is incredibly far …