the west and the Australian Antarctic Dependency in the east was to be brought under Norwegian sovereignty. The primary aim of the annexation was to secure the Norwegian whaling industry's access to the region. In 1948 Norway and the United Kingdom agreed to limit Norway's longitudinal claims of Queen Maud Land to 20°W to 45°E, and to incorporate the Bruce Coast and Coats Land into Norwegian territory. South American involvement Upon independence in the early 19th century South American nations based their boundaries upon the uti possidetis iuris principle. This meant there was no land without a sovereign. Chile and Argentina applied this to Antarctica citing the Inter caetera bull of 1493 and the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was in that time a recognized arbiter in these matters. This encroachment of foreign powers was a matter of immense disquiet to the nearby South American countries, Argentina and Chile. Taking advantage of a European continent plunged into turmoil with the onset of the Second World War, Chile's president, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, declared the establishment of a Chilean Antarctic Territory in areas already claimed by Britain. Argentina has a long history in the area. In 1904 the Argentine government began a permanent occupation of one of the Antarctic islands with the purchase of a meteorological station on Laurie Island established in 1903 by Dr William S. Bruce's Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Bruce offered to transfer the station and instruments for the sum of 5.000 pesos, on the condition that the government committed itself to the continuation of the scientific mission. The Envoy at the British Legation in Argentina, William Haggard, also sent a note to the Argentine Foreign Minister, José A. Terry, ratifying the terms of Bruce's proposition. In 1906, Argentina communicated to the international community the establishment of a permanent base in the South Orkney Islands, the Orcadas Base. However, Haggard responded by reminding Argentina that the South Orkneys were British. The British position was that Argentine personnel were granted permission only for the period of one year. The Argentine government entered into negotiations with the British in 1913 over the possible transfer of the island. Although these talks were unsuccessful, Argentina attempted to unilaterally establish its sovereignty with the erection of markers, national flags and other symbols. In response to this and earlier