Antarctica is not owned by any specific country or group and has no official government, because it has no permanent residents. Under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, it was set that the continent was not to be owned by any country but rather used only for peaceful scientific exploration through a co-operative of nations. The original agreement was signed by 12 nations, but as of 2014, 50 countries had agreed to the treaty. There are no official laws of Antarctica, so people stationed in Antarctica are to follow the laws of their own countries.
More about Antarctica:
- About 70% of the Earth's supply of freshwater is located in Antarctica, as is about 90% of the Earth’s freshwater ice.
- Roughly 35,000 tourists visited Antarctica in 2013, up from an average of 2,000 per year in the 1980s, which has made environmentalists concerned about tourists introducing trash and other pollutants.
- Antarctica set the record for coldest temperature on Earth when it reached minus-128.56° Fahrenheit (minus-89.2° Celsius) on 21 July 1983.