QUEEN MAUD LAND

'Queen Maud Land' is an English translation of 'Dronning Maud Land', the official name in use by Norwegian authorities and British Antarctic Survey on the part of Antarctica claimed by Norway on January 14, 1939 as a dependent territory. This claim, like all others in the Antarctic, is not universally recognized and is subject to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty System. It has a land area of approximately 2.5 million km², mostly covered by the Antarctic ice sheet lying between the British claim, at 20°W and the Australian claim, at 44°38'E. As all territorial claims were temporarily suspended before this could be clarified Norway has not officially elaborated as to the northernly and southernly extent of their claim. This explains why the Norwegian claim is illustrated differently from other claims on some maps of Antarctica. It is however generally assumed that the Norwegian claim follows the norms of the other antarctic claims.

Contents

Regions

Research stations

Chronology

See also

External links

Regions

Queen Maud Land is divided into five coastal regions which can be thought of extending as sectors to the South Pole, from west to east (clockwise)[1]:

No.	Region	Area (km²)	Western Border	Eastern Border
1	Kronprinsesse Märtha Kyst	970 000	020°00' W	005°00' E
2	Prinsesse Astrid Kyst	580 000	005°00' E	020°00' E
3	Prinsesse Ragnhild Kyst	540 000	020°00' E	034°00' E
4	Prins Harald Kyst	230 000	034°00' E	040°00' E
5	Prins Olav Kyst	180 000	040°00' E	044°38' E
6	Haakon VII's Vidde	The Polar Plateau is considered as sixth region, with an undefined northern border (approx. 80°S) its area is contained in sectors 1 through 5
	Dronning Maud Land	2,500,000	020°00' W	044°38' E

The area was first visited in 1930 by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen as part of efforts to map the Antarctic. Roald Amundsen had previously named it in honour of Queen Maud of Norway and the entire plateau surrounding the South Pole ''Haakon VII's Vidde'' in honour of King Haakon VII of Norway. The area originally identified by Amundsen as Queen Maud Land lay between 37° and 50° E.

Research stations

Norway operates two research stations in Antarctica, both in Queen Maud Land:

★ Troll,

★ Tor (summer station),
Research Stations of other nations include:

★ SANAE IV "Vesles" (South Africa), Princess Martha Coast

★ Sarie Marais (South Africa), Princess Martha Coast

★ Novolazarevskaya Station (Russia), Princess Astrid Coast

★ Showa Station (Japan), Prince Harald Coast

★ Dome Fuji Station (Japan), Prince Harald Coast

★ Mizuho (Japan), Prince Olav Coast

★ Neumayer Station, Princess Martha Coast

★ Kohnen (German summer station), Princess Martha Coast (interior)

★ SANAE E (South African summer station), Princess Martha Coast

★ Svea Station (Swedish summer station) 1987/1988, Princess Astrid Coast

★ Nordenskiöld Base, Princess Astrid Coast

★
★ Wasa Station (Swedish summer station)

★
★ Aboa Station (Finnish summer station)

★ Asuka Station (Japanese unmanned station) Princess Ragnhild Coast

Station	type	Nation	year established	Region	Area	Coordinates	Elevation	km from coast
SANAE IV "Vesles"	year- round	South Africa	1994	Princess Martha Coast	Vesleskarvet		.	10
Neumayer Station	year- round	Germany	1992	Princess Martha Coast	Atka Bay		.	8

Chronology

1832	John Biscoe's expedition claims to sight Graham Land, although one source states it was Anvers Island.
1893	Carl Anton Larsen discovers and names Graham Land's Foyn Coast; also King Oscar Land, Mount Jason and Robertson Island.
1895-01-24	Carsten Borchgrevink makes what is claimed to be the first landing on Antarctica. Three years later he leads the first party to winter on the continent.
1911-12-14	Five Norwegians, led by Roald Amundsen, are the first to reach the South Pole.
1930	Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen flies over the area previously named Dronning Maud Land (Queen Maud Land) by Roald Amundsen.
1938-01-14	Dronning Maud Land, identified as the area lying from 45° to 20°E, is formally claimed by Norway.
1939-01-19    –1945-05-23	The area 20°E to 10°W is claimed by Nazi Germany as "German New Swabia" (Deutsch Neuschwabenland). It is not recognized by any other nation.
1941-01-13	German commandos board and capture two Norwegian factory ships in the sea north of Queen Maud Land. By the end of the next day, the Germans had taken possession of three factory ships and eleven catchers. The German Navy subsequently uses a harbor on Kerguelen Island as a base from which to attack Allied shipping.
1948	The Norwegian Polar Institute, as part of the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, is assigned the administration of Dronning Maud Land.
1957	In Norway, Dronning Maud Land becomes subject to Norwegian sovereignty as a dependency.

See also

★ Peter I Island, the other Antarctic territory claimed by Norway.

External links

★ Norwegian Polar Institute
'Alpinist Magazine Climbing Notes'-First Ascents in Queen Maud Land

★ Windmill Spire

★ West Summit of Fernis

★ Wohlthat Massif

★ Collection of photographs, maps and documents about the geology of western Dronning Maud Land