Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:25:20.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Defending polar empire: opposition to India's proposal to raise the ‘Antarctic Question’ at the United Nations in 1956

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Adrian Howkins
Adrian Howkins*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station B7000, Austin, Texas 78712-0220, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the international response to India's 1956 proposal to raise the ‘Antarctic Question’ at the United Nations. It focuses in particular on the uneasy alliance that developed between the British Commonwealth and Latin America in opposition to the Indian proposal. Although Great Britain, Argentina, and Chile were bitterly disputing the sovereignty of the Antarctic Peninsula region, they shared a common desire to keep the southern continent off the agenda of the United Nations. This ability to work together for common goals, despite their differences, set an important precedent for the Antarctic Treaty that would be signed in 1959. In this way, opposition to the Indian proposal, more than the proposal itself, played an important role in the history of Antarctica in the 1950s. Latin American opposition to the proposal helped to fragment any ‘anti-imperial’ coalition that might have developed in Antarctica. This fragmentation helps us to place the Antarctic Treaty System into the framework of post-colonial studies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 35 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

TNA. The National Archive, London (formerly the Public Record Office).Google Scholar
USNA. The United States National Archive, Washington D. C.Google Scholar
RR.EE. Archivo Historico. The Foreign Ministry Archive, Santiago, Chile.Google Scholar
Antarctica Cases. 1956. (United Kingdom v. Argentina; United Kingdom v. Chile) Orders of 16 March 1956: removal from the list. International Court of Justice: The Hague.Google Scholar
Arora, K.C. 1998. V.K. Krishna Menon: a biography. New Delhi: Sanchar Publishing House.Google Scholar
Atkins, G.P. 1977. Latin America in the international political system. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Auburn, F.M. 1982. Antarctic law and politics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, P. 1983. Securing the dominant place in the ‘wan Antarctic sun’ for the British Empire: the policy of extending British control over Antarctica. Australian Journal of Politics and History 29 (3): 448–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bendall, D.V. 1956. Minute, 25 June 1956. TNA FO371/119836.Google Scholar
British Embassy Buenos Aires. 1956a. Letter to Foreign Office, 1 March 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
British Embassy Buenos Aires. 1956b. Letter to Foreign Office, 8 May 1956. TNA FO371/119829.Google Scholar
British Embassy Oslo. 1956. Letter to Foreign Office, 25 June 1956. TNA FO371/119836.Google Scholar
Candioti, A.M. 1960. Nuestra Antártida no es tierra conquistada ni anexada. El Tratado Antártico no debe ratificarse. Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Central Intelligence Agency. 1957. An appraisal of Soviet plans to remain in the Antarctic after the IGY and of the reported establishment of a submarine base. CIA/RR–GR–145 28 February 1957. USNA.Google Scholar
Chaturvedi, S. 1990. Dawning of Antarctica: a geopolitical analysis. New Delhi: Segment Books.Google Scholar
Clifford, M. 1948. Radio broadcast to Falkland Islands, February 1948. Oxford: Rhodes House Library MISS. Brit Emp. s 517 4/1 ‘Falkland Islands 1946–1957: Clifford.’Google Scholar
Commonwealth Relations Office. 1956a. Letter to J.V. Rob (New Delhi), 1 March 1956. TNA, FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Commonwealth Relations Office. 1956b. Brief for the Secretary of State before the Commonwealth Prime Ministers meeting, June 1956. TNA FO371/119836.Google Scholar
Commonwealth Relations Office. 1956c. Record of meeting, 24 August 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
DePalma, S. 1956a. Memorandum of conversation with Lall, 5 March 1956. USNA 702.022/3–556.Google Scholar
DePalma, S. 1956b. Office memorandum, 9 August 1956. USNA 702.022/8–956.Google Scholar
Diario de las Americas. 1956. Chile y Argentina en pie de guerra contra los ingleses, 13 April 1956. RR.EE. Archivo Historico, Comunicaciones cambiadas con los EE.UU. de America, 1956.Google Scholar
Dodds, K. 2002. Pink ice: Britain and the south Atlantic empire. London: I.B. Taurus.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodds, K. 2006. Post-colonial Antarctica: an emerging engagement. Polar Record 42 (220): 59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodds, K. 2005. The great trek: New Zealand and the British/Commonwealth 1955–58 Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 33 (1): 93–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gajardo, E. 1958. Acta de la Sección Antártica. 14 October 1958. RR.EE. Archivo Historico, Departamento de Limites: Comisión Chilena Antártica, 1949–1956.Google Scholar
Howkins, A. 2006. Icy relations: the emergence of South American Antarctica during the Second World War. Polar Record 42 (221): 153–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jasper, R. 1956a. Commonwealth Relations Office, 20 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Jasper, R. 1956b. Letter to P.H. Corner (New Zealand House), 6 July 1956. TNA FO371/119837.Google Scholar
Jockel, G. 1956. Letter to Department of External Affairs, Canberra, 10 April 1956. TNA, FO371/119836.Google Scholar
Kahin, G.M. 1956. The Asian-African conference. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Klotz, F. 1990. America on the ice: Antarctic policy issues. Washington DC: National Defense University Press.Google Scholar
La Unión. 1956. Chile no acepta una proposición de la India sobre Antártica. 22 February 1956. (Reprinted in Leon, C., and M. Jara (editors). 2003. Antártica testimonios periodisticos 1947–1957. Valparaiso: Editorial Puntángeles: 265).Google Scholar
Larus, J. 1984. India claims a role in Antarctica. Round Table 289: 45–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, R. 1965. A continent for science: the Antarctic adventure. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
Lok Sabha. 1956. Lok Sabha debates. Part 1 – Questions and Answers. Vol. II 1956, 16 March to 16 April, 14 April 1956. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat.Google Scholar
Man, M. 1956a. Foreign Office minute, 20 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Man, M. 1956b. Letter to D.F. Muirhead (British Embassy, Washington), 21 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Man, M. 1956c. Minute, 11 May 1956. FO 371/119836.Google Scholar
Man, M. 1956d. Letter to R. Jasper, Commonwealth Relations Office, 1 May 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Man, M. 1956e. Minute, 20 August 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
Merchant. 1956. Letter to Under Secretary of State, 24 February 1956. USNA 702.022/2–2456.Google Scholar
Moore, J.K. 1999. Tethered to an iceberg: United States policy toward the Antarctic, 1939–1949. Polar Record 35 (193): 125–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J.K. 2001. A ‘sort’ of self denial: United States policy toward the Antarctic, 1950–59. Polar Record 37 (200): 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mundo Peronista. 1954. Política Peronista. Buenos Aires: Editorial Mundo Peronista.Google Scholar
Murray, J.D. 1956. Foreign Office minute, 15 May 1956. TNA FO371/119836.Google Scholar
National Security Council. 1954. Report NSC 5421/1, July 19 1954. National Security Archive, Washington D.C., Presidential Directives PD00414.Google Scholar
Operations Coordinating Board. 1956. Memorandum for discussion on 8 March 1956. USNA 702.022/3–856.Google Scholar
Ortega, R. 1956. Letter to Chilean Minister of Foreign Relations, 17 August 1956. Ministerio RR.EE. Utilización Pacífica de la Antártida.Google Scholar
Pink, I.T.M. 1956. Foreign Office memorandum, 20 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Pinochet de la Barra, O. 1994. Medio siglo de recuerdos antárticos: memorias. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria.Google Scholar
Ramsbotham, P.E. 1956. Letter to H.A.A. Hankey, 19 November 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
Serrano, M. 1948. La Antartica y otros mitos. Santiago: El Esfuerzo.Google Scholar
Scilingo, A. 1963. El Tratado Antártico: defensa de la soberania y la proscipción nuclear. Buenos Aires: Libreria Hachette.Google Scholar
Summerhayes, C., and Beeching, P.. 2007. Hitler's Antarctic base: the myth and the reality. Polar Record 43 (224): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Templeton, M. 2000. A wise adventure: New Zealand in Antarctica, 1920–1960. Wellington: Victoria University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.A. 1956. Letter to J. Wilson, Foreign Office, 7 March 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1956a. United Nations General Assembly Mimeos. A/3118. 21 February 1956.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1956b. United Nations General Assembly Mimeos. A/3118/Add.1. 13 September 1956.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956a. Letter to Foreign Office. 1 March 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956b. Letter to Foreign Office, 21 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956c. Letter to Foreign Office, 14 August 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956d. Letter to Foreign Office, 28 March, 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956de. Letter to M. Man, 26 July, 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956f. Letter to Foreign Office, 14 August 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956g. Letter to Foreign Office, 25 May 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United Kingdom Delegation at United Nations. 1956h. Report on General Assembly debate. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United Kingdom High Commissioner in India. 1956a. Letter to various recipients, 27 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Kingdom High Commissioner in India. 1956b. Letter to various recipients, 24 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
United Kingdom High Commission in India. 1956c. Letter to Foreign Office, 11 October 1956. TNA FO371/119838.Google Scholar
United States Embassy Canberra. 1956. Letter to Secretary of State, April 13 1956. USNA 702.022/4–1356.Google Scholar
United States Embassy Moscow. 1955. Telegram to Department of State, 7 February 1955. USNA 702.022/2–755.Google Scholar
United States Embassy Santiago. 1955. Telegram to Department of State, 14 March 1955. USNA 702.022/3–1455.Google Scholar
United States Delegation to United Nations. 1956a. Letter to Secretary of State, 1 March 1956. USNA 702.022/3–156.Google Scholar
United States Delegation to United Nations. 1956b. Telegraph to Secretary of State, 14 September 1956. USNA 702.022/9–1456.Google Scholar
United States Delegation to United Nations. 1956c. Telegraph to Secretary of State, 28 September 1956. USNA 702.022/9–2856.Google Scholar
Vincent, I.F.S. 1956. Minute, 22 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar
Whitehead, J.S. 1956. Foreign Office Minute, 25 February 1956. TNA FO371/119835.Google Scholar