After WW II, scientists from the United States, Russia, Australia, Chile, Argentina, France, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, and others countries began to place greater emphasis on scientific exploration in Antarctica. More scientific bases were constructed, as scientists worked to discover and record meteorological and geographical information. During the years from 1957-1958 these nations agreed to cooperate and focus their research on the following eleven Earth sciences: aurora and airglow, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, gravity, ionospheric physics, longitude and latitude determinations (precision mapping), meteorology, oceanography, seismology and solar activity. This cooperation led to the foundation of the system of "law" in place today in Antarctica (we’ll explore what "law" means later in this article). In addition, some countries were making territorial claims on sections of Antarctica for their own use.

Next, we’ll see what countries made such territorial claims.