Years ago, I read that Chile and Argentina (in order to bolster territorial claims) had people living in their Antarctic territories, who had children born there. By now, there must be quite a few young adults living in these “colonies”-have these people ever been interviewed? Do they like living in a land of eternal ice, snow, and winter?
I guess people are very adaptable-but the thought of living in such a dismal place, with no trees or greenery, sounds very depressing! Or do most of these people leave (I sure would!).
Makes you wonder how horrible living on a hypothetical Mars or moon colony would be-I imagine that it takes a very committed type (or huge salaries), in order to voluntaily live in such a place.
Seems like a General Question to me. Off it goes.
As a quarter Inuit I can’t imagine any group that would live around a bunch of snow, none at all.
Does anyone actually live permanently in Antarctica? I know that the various countries’ bases are permanently manned, but I thought that staff were rotated in and out on a semi-annual/annual basis.
I think Chile and Argentina just flew pregnant women out to Antarctic bases to give birth rather that found actual full-fledged colonies.
My impressions are the same as those of the above two posters. In the case of Emilio Palma, the first person born on the continent of Antarctica, his mother was flown in to an Argentine research station when she was 7 months pregnant. I don’t believe he (or anyone else) was actually raised in or will spend his whole life in Antarctica. The base where Palma was born does evidently include a few families, even in winter, but I think it’s a question of researchers (including in some cases their families) spending a “tour of duty” there, not of people actually living there in the sense that European settlers began living at Jamestown or Plymouth (or Buenos Aires or Santiago).
I believe all the handful of people born on the continent have been Argentines or Chileans; those two countries, being the closest to the continent, seem to take their (disputed, overlapping, and essentially held in abeyance under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty) territorial claims on the continent more seriously than other countries do.
That describes about 22 million people that live in Mexico City that choose not to leave!
Yes, Villa Las Estrellas is a small Chilean town in the Antartida. And people live there all the year round. There are several families living there for years.
Those people are also from the Antarctic Peninsula, that long sliver of land that must be a bit warmer than the rest of the continent. Still I imagine it’s what you get used to.
There’s also an Argentinian community called Base Esperanza.
The two are small but real communities. Base Esperanza has a year round population of 55 people and Villa Las Estrellas has a year round population of 80. They each have a school and clinic. Villa Las Estrellas also has a commercial airfield and several private businesses including a bank, a hostel, a supermarket, and a post office.
Very interesting. However, I bet most people don’t have idea.
Villa Las Estrellas
http://www.profesorenlinea.cl/imagenChilegeogra/antartChiBseEdoFrei.jpg
