The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1961, established an international administrative system for the continent. The impetus for the treaty was the International Geophysical Year, 1957–1958, which had brought scientists from many nations together to study Antarctica. The political situation in Antarctica was complex at the time, with seven nations having made sometimes overlapping territorial claims to the continent: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Several other nations, most notably the former USSR and the United States, had been active in Antarctic exploration and research and were concerned with how the continent would be administered.

Negotiations on the treaty began in June 1958 with Belgium, Japan, and South Africa joining the original nine countries. The treaty was signed in December 1959 and took effect in June 1961. It begins by "recognizing that it is in the interest of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be...