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Comment by gerikson | Hacker News Reader

TIL Belgium has an Antarctic research station.

Belgium actually had the first winter expedition to the Antarctic in the late 1800s. Although it was mostly Belgian in name only and also a complete disaster, save for a commendable amount of scientific data being collected.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Antarctic_Expedition

The book "Madhouse at the End of the Earth" by Julian Sancton is a great read for this story of the first humans to spend a sun-less winter in Antarctica.

You wouldn't have more recommendations about this topic, would you?

The Shackleton expeditions saga for sure will give tons of reading.

If the topic is early Antarctic exploration then I would highly recommend Roland Huntford's book 'Scott and Amundsen' which serves as a sort of autobiography of arctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, and their exhilarating race to discover the South Pole.

In some sense, yes. You could also say that Alain Hubert has an Antarctic station, he just happened to be Belgian.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Hubert

Doing scientific research confers some sort of control over the continent.

Article IV of the Treaty states in part, “No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica.”

https://www.asoc.org/advocacy/antarctic-governance/overview-...

The countries claiming a slice of the pie aren't signatories to that treaty.

Actually, they are. The original 12 signatories of the Antarctic Treaty are the 7 countries that have claimed Antarctic territory, the US and the USSR (who both expressly reserved the right to claim Antarctic territory), and Belgium, Japan, and South Africa.

Which is to say, most of the people who cared enough to sign the treaty already had existing claims they didn't want repudiated by the treaty (which is why Article IV, in its entirety, also says basically "this doesn't affect any existing claims").

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