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For a continent that is often regarded as essentially separate from the global political and economic system, Antarctica has a complex and interesting political history. The Antarctic Treaty (adopted in 1959, and entering into force in 1961) 2 is the best-known but by no means the only political agreement to impact the continent. At the same time, many of the currents that washed against and across lands around the rest of the globe also reached the Antarctic. The aim of this book is to show some of the myriad ways in which the continent for science and peace is also a continent created by politics, maintained by politics–and indeed, generating politics.

In 1948, the American explorer and scientist Laurence Gould could write in an essay entitled ‘Strategy and politics in the polar areas’ that,‘Politics in the polar regions are still largely concerned with political claims and their maintenance’. 3 While his article was mainly …