Territorial Control - North Pole

Acrylic and varnish on wood, ca 18 × 27 × 2.5 cm

About:

Territorial control is the fundament for power for individuals, states and corporations throughout history. Acquiring territory is often done by pure military might for states and by spending capital for individuals and corporations, but some times more unusual practices occur.

The usual justification for control over territory is historic ones about countless generation of ancestors telling the soil, or brave soldiers spilling their blood on the battlefield, for example the nazi idea of 'Blut und Boden'.

I'm interested in the more unusual methods and justifications.

North Pole

Russia planted a flag on the seafloor of the North Pole in 2007,  two mini-subs – Mir-1 and Mir-2 – planted a one metre-high titanium Russian flag at the depth of 4 300 metres on the underwater Lomonosov ridge, which Russia claims is directly connected to its continental shelf. If Russia's claim is approved by the UN, the country could gain rights over supplies of estimated 10 billion tonnes of oil and gas. As the ice cap is melting because of our combustion of fossil fuels, exploration and drilling new ones gets easier.