NORWAY

NORWAY / NORGE - NOREG.

International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958.
Jan Mayen Island.
First stamp in a set of 3, issued on 01.07.1957.
Face value: 25 Norwegian øre.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 4,020,0000 copies.
Size: 40 x 24 mm.     

Catalogs
- AFA No. 425.
- Michel No. 411.
- Norgeskatalogen No. 448.
- Scott No. 355.
- StampWorld No. 427.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 467.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 376.

On December 1, 1959, the twelve countries that had carried out scientific activities in and around Antarctica during the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year signed the Antarctic Treaty in Washington. The Treaty entered into force on June 23, 1961, and has been accepted by many other nations. The Treaty recognizes, among other things, the interest of all humankind that Antarctica continue to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord. The signatory countries were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Jan Mayen is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, with no permanent population. It is 55 km (34 mi) long (southwest-northeast) and 373 km² (144 sq mi) in area, partly covered by glaciers around the Beerenberg volcano, 2,277 m (7,470 ft ) high. It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide isthmus. It lies 600 km (370 mi) northeast of Iceland, 495 km (305 mi) east of central Greenland and 1,000 km (620 mi) west of the North Cape, Norway. The only inhabitants on the island are personnel working for the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. From 1615 to 1638, Jan Mayen was used as a Dutch whaling base. During the International Polar Year 1882-1883, the Austro-Hungarian North-Pole Expedition stayed for a year at Jan Mayen and carried out an extensive mapping of the area, being their maps of such quality that were used until the 1950s. A regulation dating from 2010 makes the island a nature reserve l under Norwegian jurisdiction.