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| Capital | Vestfold Hills | |||||
| Other Cities | Holme, Sealers Beach, Wilkes | |||||
| Language Official |
English | |||||
| Others | Chinese, Danish, French, Japanese, Russian | |||||
| Demonym | Rooseveltian | |||||
| Area | ~6,000,000 km² | |||||
| Population | 1,730 | |||||
| Established | 1913 | |||||
| Abbreviations | RT, NN-RT | |||||
The Territory of Roosevelt, colloquially known as Roosevelt and sometimes referred to as the Roosevelt Territory, is an unincorporated territory of the Union of New Netherland. The territory incorporates the majority of Eastern Antarctica and several subantarctic islands.
New Netherlanders began exploring the region in the late 1830s. An expedition lead by Charles Wilkes became the first to explore the coast which bears his name. In the 1850s, Mercator Cooper became the first man to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. New Netherland would continue to operate in the areas of seal hunting and whaling of the coast of Eastern Antarctica.
In 1913, President Theodore Roosevelt began the efforts to formally claim territory in Antarctica. Border disputes would exist between with France and the United Commonwealth for decades until the current borders were agreed upon in the 1940s. Following these discussions, New Netherland would expand further in Eastern Antarctica and would gain Heard Island and McDonald Islands in the process. It wouldn't be until the 1950s that these claims would be organized into a territory. The territory was named in honor of the Roosevelt family who helped to achieve New Netherland's claims to the area.
Due to an extreme climate, the territory was not intended to be colonized on the scale as other parts of the New Netherlander Colonial Empire. Most of the early residence were scientists and those in the declining sealing and whaling markets. It wouldn't be until the 1980s that the territory would begin to develop, especially the petroleum sector following the 1970s energy crisis. The population would see a boom as those looking to work on the expanding oil market begin to flock to the territory. Today the territory has a population around 2000, most living in the territorial capital of Vestfold Hills.
Geography[]
Roosevelt is the largest territory of both Antarctica and New Netherland. The territory includes all the land and sea south of the 50th parallel, east of the 50th meridian, and west of the 155th meridian. The vast majority of Roosevelt is covered in glaciers (mostly part of the Antarctic ice sheet). The several Antarctic oases within the territory have a tundra climate with little native vegetation.
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