NavList:

   

Reply

Peter Fogg wrote:


> (As an aside, at least one of its South American neighbours lays claim to
> it. To bolster what they see as their case for sovereignty, they flew down a
> heavily pregnant woman to give birth there, thus producing the first-born
> citizen of that land. Then mother and new-born were flown home again.)

It's Chile.  They claim a wedge of Antarctica created by extending the
meridians south from their southern borders to the South Pole.  The UN
has banned territorial claims to Antarctica, so Chile's claim is more
national puffery than reality.

I visited Chile a half-dozen years ago.  Two souvenirs I remember most
prominently were (a) T-shirts with a map of Chile (including the
Antarctic wedge) and (b) south-up Mercator maps of the Americas, placing
Chile and Argentina at the top of the map instead of Canada and the US
as usual.

Claims to Antarctica aside, it was a wonderful country to visit.

Lu Abel

   

Reply