Marie Byrd Land

Marie Byrd Land is a part of Antarctica. It is between the Unclaimed Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the north. It goes towards the east to a line between the head of the Ross Ice Shelf and Eights Coast. It stretches between 158°W and 103°24'W. The area between the Rockefeller Plateau and Eights Coast is included. This is because Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd had an important role in its exploration. Admiral Byrd named the territory in 1929. It was in honour of his wife. He applied the name to the territory that was explored in that year.^[1]

The area is very remote, even for Antarctica. Because of this, most of it (the east part of 150°W) has not been claimed by any country. The territory is not a nation itself. Because of this, it is the largest single unclaimed territory on Earth. Together with Eights Coast, immediately to the east of Marie Byrd Land, it has an area of 1,610,000 km².

In 1939, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt told members of an Antarctic expedition to claim some Antarctic territory. Members of this expedition and later ones seemed to do so, but no official claims were made before 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty System was set up. Some maps in the United States have shown this as US territory. The Defense Department of the US Government has also said that there was a solid basis for a claim for the territory. This was because of the activities there before 1959.^[2]

The portion west of 150°W is part of Ross Dependency.

There are five areas, which are listed from west to east:

1. ↑ "Marie Byrd Land". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2004-11-03.
2. ↑ Presidential Decision Directive NSC-26