The last place on earth to be unclaimed by any nation (2024)

SADLY there is not really any such place. Every single piece of claimable land on Earth has been bagged by someone. There’s a strong incentive for doing so, as owning even a remote rock can significantly extend a nation’s access to marine resources such as oil and fish.

States will go to great lengths to secure territorial claims over what appear to be worthless pieces of land. Tiny, uninhabited Hans Island, which sits between Greenland and Ellesmere Island, is claimed by both Canada and Denmark. They opened talks in 2005 but have yet to settle the issue and could yet end up in the International Court of Justice. Neither side looks likely to give up without a fight, as the case may set a precedent for other territorial disputes in the Arctic Ocean.

Despite this, there is land that has not fallen to national claims because it is considered unclaimable. All territorial claims on Antarctica were frozen in 1961, when the Antarctic treaty came into force. Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the UK had by then made unrecognised claims, but 1.6 million square kilometres of West Antarctica known as Marie Byrd Land, roughly one-tenth of the whole continent, had not been claimed by any country. It remains the only unclaimed land on Earth.

The last place on earth to be unclaimed by any nation (1)

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The last place on earth to be unclaimed by any nation (2024)
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