argentine antarctica day

Antarctic Day

On February 22, the Argentine Antarctic Day is commemorated. It was instituted to remember the first time the Argentine Flag was raised in the South Orkney Islands, making effective the national presence in the Antarctic sector claimed by Argentina under the Antarctic Treaty, and to attest to the uninterrupted presence of Argentines in this area, which is part of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, according to decree-law No. 2129 of February 28, 1957, today by provincial law.

Since 1904, when the current Orcada Base was inaugurated, the Argentine Flag has flown on Laurie Island of the Orkney Islands group permanently and without interruption, a fact that constitutes one of the best guarantees of our sovereignty titles in the area.

The Royal Society of Geography of Scotland organized in 1902 an expedition to the Antarctic Sea with the aim of exploring the place and making geophysical, biological, magnetic, and meteorological observations. The expedition led by William Speirs Bruce aboard the Scotia, reached the Falkland Islands, and then headed for the Orkney Islands, where it landed, on February 22, at Laurie Island, in Scotia Bay. There a hut was built as a whereabouts and another as an instrument deposit, in what became the first observatory in Antarctica. In November 1903, the Scotia needed repairs and refueling, for which Bruce landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he negotiated an agreement to transfer rights to the meteorological station. In 1904, the United Kingdom sold to Argentina the meteorological station in the South Orkney Islands (which the Scotsman William Speirs Bruce had founded a year earlier), 1502 km southeast of the Argentine city of Ushuaia. In 1908, the United Kingdom claimed by force the possession of the islands (with the station included), but Argentina maintained its base with Argentine scientific personnel.

Argentina in Antarctica - 110 years of permanent presence
Small review of our beginnings in the Antarctic Continent. By Dr. Verónica Aldazábal

Argentina Antarctica Day.
Eduardo Premoli invites us to see his album. This album has 20 files.
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