Queen Elizabeth Land: Argentina 'Reject' Antarctic Territory Name Change To Honour Monarch

Argentina Fury Over Antarctic Renamed Queen Elizabeth Land

Argentina have lodged a complaint over the renaming of some British Antarctic Territory as "Queen Elizabeth Land" in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The British ambassador to the South American country was passed a message condemning the UK's "anachronistic imperialist ambitions that hark back to ancient practices".

Foreign secretary William Hague announced plans to rename the 169,000 square mile chunk of British territory to Queen Elizabeth Land following the monarch's visit to the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The note expressed Argentina's "firmest rejection of the recently announced pretension of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of naming an area of the Argentine Antarctic sector," according to the Guardian.

A 169,000 square mile portion of the British Antarctic Territory will be renamed

Argentina hold a claim over some of the Territory along with the Falkland Islands, and the country's senate unanimously rejected Britain's name change plans.

The Times reported that the country has called the move part of a "systemic attack" on Buenos Aires, which includes the ongoing dispute over the Falkland Islands.

This dispute caps off a year of political tension between the UK and Argentina. In June, President Cristina de Fernandez Kirchner had a face to face confrontation with David Cameron over the Falkland islands at a UN summit.

Beforehand, the country slammed Prince William's RAF deployment to the Falklands, calling the future king a "conquistador" and claiming the UK was "militarising" the islands.

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