Queen Maud Land
Geoarea · 334,849 km²
Queen Maud Land is a geoarea in Antarctica, covering an estimated 334,849 km². It extends across Antarctica and Norway.
Queen Maud Land (Norwegian: Dronning Maud Land) is a roughly 2.7-million-square-kilometre (1.0-million-square-mile) region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west, specifically the Caird Coast, Coats Land on the West, and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east, specifically Enderby Land on the East. In addition, a small unclaimed area from 1939 was annexed in June 2015. Positioned in East Antarctica, it makes out about one-fifth of the continent, and is named after the Norwegian Queen Maud (1869–1938).
In 1930, the Norwegian Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was the first person known to have set foot in the territory. On 14 January 1939, the territory was claimed by Norway. On 23 June 1961, Queen Maud Land became part of the Antarctic Treaty System, making it a demilitarised zone. It is one of two Antarctic claims made by Norway, the other being Peter I Island. They are administered by the Polar Affairs Department of the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Oslo.
Most of the territory is covered by the east Antarctic ice sheet, and a tall ice wall stretches throughout its coast.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Queen Maud Land (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Feature class
- Geoarea
- Mapped extent
- 334,849 km²
- Size rank
- #31 of 231 landforms
- Region
- Antarctica
- Countries
- Antarctica, Norway
- Coordinates
- -81.6001°, 39.3594°
- Summits:
- Olavtoppen (780 m), Oksskolten (1,916 m), Haltiatunturi (1,328 m)
- Ranges:
- Prince Charles Mountains (Antarctica), Shackleton Range (Antarctica)
- Settlements:
- Kristiansand (15,654 km), Arendal (15,681 km), Sandnes (15,745 km)
More about Queen Maud Land
Geography
Queen Maud Land extends from the boundary with Coats Land in the west to the boundary with Enderby Land in the east, and is divided into the Princess Martha Coast, Princess Astrid Coast, Princess Ragnhild Coast, Prince Harald Coast and Prince Olav Coast. The territory is estimated to cover around 2,700,000 square kilometres (1,000,000 sq mi), which roughly corresponds to the sizes of India, Argentina or Kazakhstan. The limits of the claim, put forth in 1939, did not fix the northern and southern limits other than as "the mainland beach in Antarctica... with the land that lies beyond this beach and the sea beyond". The sea that extends off the coast between the longitudinal limits of Queen Maud Land is generally called King Haakon VII Sea.
History
Queen Maud Land was the first part of Antarctica to be sighted, on 27 January 1820 by Fabian von Bellingshausen. However, it was among the last to be explored, as it required aircraft in combination with ships to undertake systematic exploration. Early Norwegian research activities in Antarctica rested entirely on whaling and sealing expeditions funded by ship owners, particularly by Christen Christensen and his son Lars. The first two Norwegian expeditions were carried out by sealing ships in 1892–93 and 1893–94. While they were primarily sent for exploring, sealing, and whaling possibilities, they also performed scientific research. Further Norwegian expeditions were mounted into the first decades of the 20th century.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Queen Maud Land (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Queen Maud Land: Key Facts
| Area | 2,500,000 km² |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q189999 (CC0).
