Antartica
Antartica is a Chilean commune in Antartica Chilena Province, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region, which covers all of the Territorio Chileno Antaricothe territory in Antarctica claimed by Chile. It ranges from 53W to 90W and from the South Pole to 60S, overlapping the Argentine and British Antarctic claims. It is administered by the Cabo de Hornos municipality in the South American mainland.
Antartica was created on July 11 1961, and was dependent on the Magallanes Province until 1975, when the Antartica Chilena Province was created. It was dependent administratively on Puerto Williams, the province capital.
The official population figure for the area, as of the census of 2002, is given as 130 . This does not include the staff of non-Chilean bases in the area. During summer, the population swells to 350.
The largest population center is located on King George Island and consists of Frei Montalva Station, which has an airport , and which is connected to the village of Villa Las Estrellas, which has a town hall, hotel, day-care center, school, scientific equipment, hospital, post office and bank. This enclave is a center of logistical support for the other eight countries with scientific bases on King George Island. The Antarctic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Relations controls Professor Julio Escudero Base, the main Chilean scientific facility in Antarctica. The third and oldest Chilean station is Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Antartica
