Queen Elizabeth Land is a portion of mainland

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

named by the government of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and claimed as part of the

British Antarctic Territory The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between ...

, which is the largest of the 14 British Overseas Territories. Situated south of

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha ...

and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W, stretching from Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. It is bordered by Zumberge Coast of

Ellsworth Land Ellsworth Land is a portion of the Antarctic continent bounded on the west by Marie Byrd Land, on the north by Bellingshausen Sea, on the northeast by the base of Antarctic Peninsula, and on the east by the western margin of the Filchner–Ronne ...

to the West and by Hercules Inlet to the Northwest. To the Northeast,

circle of latitude A circle of latitude or line of latitude on Earth is an abstract east–west small circle connecting all locations around Earth (ignoring elevation) at a given latitude coordinate line. Circles of latitude are often called parallels because ...

82°S is the dividing line against

Coats Land Coats Land is a region in Antarctica which lies westward of Queen Maud Land and forms the eastern shore of the Weddell Sea, extending in a general northeast–southwest direction between 20°00′W and 36°00′W. The northeast part was discove ...

. The area of Queen Elizabeth Land was unnamed until 2012, though most of it was unofficially known as

Edith Ronne Land Edith Ronne Land was the unofficial name of that portion of Antarctica which is bordered by Palmer Land and Ellsworth Land to the West, Coats Land to the East, and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to the North. In December 2012, this region was officia ...

in 1947–68 and includes areas claimed by the United Kingdom,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

History

On the occasion of a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

in London on 18 December 2012, it was announced there that a area of the

had been named Queen Elizabeth Land after The Queen. The

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, said that the naming was "a fitting tribute at the end of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee year". Queen Elizabeth Land is nearly twice the size of the

and is essentially a triangular segment of

, with one vertex at the

. It is bordered on the North side by the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, to the Northeast by

, to the East by

Queen Maud Land Queen Maud Land ( no, Dronning Maud Land) is a roughly region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addi ...

, and extends in the West to a line between the South Pole and Rutford Ice Stream, east of Constellation Inlet. The

Pensacola Mountains The Pensacola Mountains are a large group of mountain ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Queen Elizabeth Land region of Antarctica. Geography They extend 450 km (280 mi) in a NE-SW direction. Subranges of th ...

, discovered in January 1956, run for some along a north-east to south-west line along the centre of the territory. The area's name will be included on all British maps. Queen Elizabeth Land is the second region of Antarctica to be named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The first is

Princess Elizabeth Land Princess Elizabeth Land is the sector of Antarctica between longitude 73° east and Cape Penck (at 87°43' east). The sector is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, although this claim is not widely recognized. ...

, located across the continent in the

Australian Antarctic Territory The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the En ...

, which was named in 1931 in honour of then-Princess Elizabeth during the reign of her grandfather

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

as the

King of Australia The monarchy of Australia is Australia's form of government embodied by the Australian sovereign and head of state. The Australian monarchy is a constitutional monarchy, modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, while ...

Reaction

, whose

Argentine Antarctica Argentine Antarctica ( es, Antártida Argentina or Sector Antártico Argentino) is an area of Antarctica claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. It consists of the Antarctic Peninsula and a triangular section extending to the ...

claim overlaps with the British Antarctic Territory, criticised the naming calling it a "systematic attack" and described it as "provocation" after recent tensions over Argentina's claim to the

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

, a British Overseas Territory. The

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...

issued a statement regarding the naming, where they reminded that Russia was one of the original parties to the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959 and calling for the full, unconditional and responsible compliance by all State parties with its provisions (which included the UK). According to the Antarctic Treaty, "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 in Antarctica and do not create any rights of sovereignty in Antarctica".

Notes

{{British dependencies British Antarctic Territory Regions of Antarctica Lands of Antarctica Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II 2012 establishments in Antarctica 2012 establishments in British Overseas Territories 2012 in British politics Argentina–United Kingdom relations Geography of the British Antarctic Territory

History

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See also

Notes