Villa Las Estrellas: An Actual Town in Antarctica

The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/extremities08211
Watch Extremities on Nebula: nebula.app/extremities
Our other channels:
Wendover Productions - / wendoverproductions or nebula.app/wendover
Half as Interesting - / halfasinteresting or nebula.app/hai
Follow us on twitter: / wendoverpro
Writing by Christine Benedetti
Editing by Alexander Williard
Audio by Graham Haerther
Motion graphics by Josh Sherrington and Maddy
Thumbnail design by Simon Buckmaster
Project management by Gina Giorgi
Select footage courtesy the AP Archive and Getty Imageses on Nebula: nebula.app/extremities

[@gchecosse]

Fun fact: because the claims overlap, and some of the children were born before the UK abolished birthright citizenship in 1983, those children are also entitled to British citizenship.

[@kiradotee]

Interesting! But were there many children born before 1983 in that area?

[@alexanderklee6357]

@@kiradotee didn't he say something about 11 babys which were born in Antarctica?

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

@@alexanderklee6357 He did, but he didn’t say they were born before 1983

[@CinemaDemocratica]

Even funner fact: Because the UK is still officially a monarchy (and because you can't just decide you don't owe taxes to Her Majesty the Queen), UK citizenship is also officially and permanently un-renounceable. You can sign a piece of paper in some other country -- for example, the U.S. -- that says, "I hereby renounce all citizenship in any other country," etc., and the reaction of the British government would be, "...Aw, aren't you precious."

[@gchecosse]

@@kiradotee Emilio De Palma, Argentinian, was born in 1978. Not sure about others.

[@joshuafessey4190]

Am I the only one that thinks that 1 year's worth of oil consumption isn't that much for a continent the size of Antarctica?

[@AnAverageItalian]

Well, with the ginormous amount that we consume each year, that's a lot. And remember, we won't suddenly stop all mining operations elsewhere, loot Antarctica, and then restart as nothing happened. We will use both resources at the same time

[@menthols4625]

It was shocking to me, when he first revealed how much I was thinking "wow that would last so long!" then he says "1 year of consumption" and I immediately felt dread at the thought that we are most likely going to live through the time when society runs extremely low on these resources and potentially starts WWIII over it.

[@Croz89]

That's likely a conservative estimate.

[@korakys]

Proven reserves are usually much less than actual reserves, especially when the environment is difficult to penetrate, and even more especially when there is a treaty banning extraction there for the medium term as well.

[@jadegrace1312]

@@TriNguyen-he7xk First, not necessarily. If all reserves are found, then there'd be no more unproven reserves. Second, the person you're responding to wasn't even making a statement that disagrees with your statement, the point was that actual reserves are almost always much larger. emphasis on the fact that they are significantly larger.

[@pauloat]

As 17:17, Macarena says that the air force have a "casino", but chileans don't mean a place to gamble but more like a cafeteria, or dinning room.

[@boio_]

^Absolutely

[@MadSocial]

Thank you for clarifying this. I had a feeling that translation was off as well.

[@vladimirj.fuentesl.3548]

Jajaja jajaja jajaja!.... No creo que los pingüinos sean ludopatas!.....😂😂😂😂

[@bavalenzuela]

We always get the weather forecast for Antartica in the news, greetings from Chile!

[@brmolnar]

Ah the Drake crossing, where you can experience the 'Drake Shake' or the 'Drake Lake' depending on how rough the seas are that day.

[@carlramirez6339]

Lakes aren't necessarily calm: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnWypn-CmdaIfKM

[@brmolnar]

@@carlramirez6339 yep, Lake Superior can have some strange weather. This comment was in regards to the section about the crossing of the Drake Passage and the terms used for it. The passage can be one of the roughest seas in the world (Drake Shake). But it can also be as flat as glass (Drake Lake). I’m definitely aware that Superior can be rough. I was using the terms used by those who cross “the drake”.

[@stevenirby5576]

Have you sailed through it before?

[@brmolnar]

​@@stevenirby5576 No, but I have 4-5 friends who have, one of these friends organizes charters of a ~55 person ice cutter. I may get to go in 2023.

[@Edgemaster72]

18:45 the way she starts the sentence with "entonces..." sounds like when Sam starts a sentence with "therefore..."

[@nahblue]

It's a rather common filler word, a bit like starting a sentence with "So, .."

[@ihaveseverefrootsnackism]

@@nahblue yeah I love studying filler words in other languages I hear spanish has "bueno" used a lot as well (like how we use "um")but I haven't really heard it before

[@CinemaDemocratica]

"You *see*...."

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Must be a criteria for being on the channel.

[@bdiddy77777]

"Anamaria Camacho gave birth to a baby boy" HIS NAME?? Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho. Future President of the United States.

[@SebastTapia]

* Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho

[@adamkatt]

@@SebastTapia sounds like a winner!

[@rebralhunter6069]

The Poles gifted pickles? Yeah sounds about right.

[@nikolassilos_6227]

Polaki mają najlepsze ogórki

[@d4v0r_x]

i love pickles

[@edricaldones9639]

Polish pickles are brilliant!

[@rebralhunter6069]

@@nikolassilos_6227 to prawda

[@CinemaDemocratica]

"Sir, this is a hardware store."

[@cheerymoya]

I'm from Chile, really good video. After seeing videos about Barrow Alaska and Longyearbyen Svalbard I always knew Villa Las Estrellas had an interesting story to tell. Although ngl the translation is a little off.

[@MCPiriri]

Misleading images: 1:38 - Ukrainian Vernadski station, located hundreds of kilometer south of King George Island; 5:03 - Zhongshan station (China) - it's in East Antarctica, thousands of kilometers from King George Island (KGI); 5:31 - King Sejong station (South Korea). This one is at KGI; 12:06 - Gonzalez Videla station from Chile, also south, far from KGI; 18:07 - Amundsen Scott South Pole station of the USA! 18:14 - Chilean Gonzalez Videla station again; 20:21 - fuel farm at Polish Arctowski station, also at KGI; 20:28 - Gonzalez Videla station once more

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

Sam should’ve got you to cast an eye over it before he uploaded 😝

[@cows543]

Why do you know that?

[@CinemaDemocratica]

Since none of these are grammatical mistakes, you may rest assured that Sam is *not* about to go berserk screaming "I DON'T CARE!!!" at you like a willful toddler.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Must have been running low on stock footage.

[@emmeline.reinhardt]

It's impressive that u know all of this

[@Caiuscicero]

At 7:12, you made a very interesting translation mistake. While the person talking says "The Argentinian settlement was there first", and you translated "Which they say was before Chile". Changed the entire thing completely... Also, a bit later, she said "Argentina built a settlement" and you translated "Argentina ARMED a settlement".

[@IanCookUS]

i also notice how when she said 'villa las estrellas' the subtitles had 'villa la estrella' -- someone didn't get the accent

[@crazycanadian7223]

I agree, that _is_ quite interesting indeed...

[@buddyclem7328]

@@crazycanadian7223 You could even say, that it's Half as Interesting.

[@aboreal]

@@IanCookUS As a Chilean I don't blame him, our accent seems to be hard for Spanish speakers I can't imagine how hard it is for an English speaker

[@NicolasUnger]

The translation seems to a google translate from the Spanish transcript of what they were saying. There are a lot of cases where the translation doesn't really make sense because they just translate the word literally instead of using a more appropriate word for what they mean with that word in spanish. Examples: 'quincho' -> barbecue. Even though there are usually barbecues in a quincho I think of it more as a cabin in the backyard. 'armó' -> armed. This is the one you mentioned. In Spanish 'armar' is usually just to build, but it can also mean to arm which they incorrectly translated it as here. 'no tenemos claridad' -> we are not clear weather. I have no idea how they got to that translation, it makes no sense. They thought 'claridad' means clear weather? instead of just clarity? A better translation would have been 'we are not sure'

[@jd.anyway]

When Macarena says the Air Force has a Casino... in Chile, we use that word to referring to the Cafeteria.

[@alanlight7740]

Is this usage separate from "cocina" to mean kitchen? The U.S. stations call their dining facilities galleys, after U.S. naval usage because the stations were originally established by the U.S. Navy. There are a few other words in common use in the U.S. Antarctic Program that come from those naval origins too, including the general maintenance people being called UTs or Utility Techs even though the U.S. Navy did away with that terminology years ago. It's funny all the quirky things you get in Antarctica.

[@Jack-496]

“Oreo Cookie Crumble Landscape” I love this video.

[@lucas.demello]

The fact that the baby race was held under military dictatorships shouldn't be underestimated

[@C4mil0x]

As a Chilean, the translations of the interviews are definitely off, like they were made using Google Translate

[@robertmiller9735]

Looks like it was filtered through the grammar of a third, unrelated language.

[@Caiuscicero]

I get that the Chilean accent might be a bit harder for non-native speakers, but these people were not using any slang at all. The translation was just... bad.

[@CinemaDemocratica]

They're not just off, though; they *seem* to be off in a way that bespeaks an agenda. Which I can't imagine was Sam's intent, but there it is.

[@Dwumper]

@@robertmiller9735 One of the two might be true. Can't be that hard to find a spanish speaker on the internet.

[@Caiuscicero]

@@CinemaDemocratica Yeah, at first i thought this was somehow a nationalist translator or something like that, but some of the mistakes look genuinely like Google Translate. I think it's just a case of a bad translator who ended up twisting the story.

[@douglasfels9789]

I caught that she said that it was the only post office in Antarctica. However, I used the Port Lockroy post office to send a post card when I visited in 2008. Only post office I've ever been to that you had to walk around penguins to get inside. :D

[@PedroToledo.]

I think she said it was the only post office in the island.

[@alanlight7740]

Definitely not the only post office in Antarctica. All three U.S. stations have a post office. I'm sure other nations have post offices there too.

[@busshock]

I'm pretty pessimistic about what will happen to Antarctica once the Antarctic Treaty lapses. Here's hoping the continent will continue to make it very, very hard for people to live there.

[@freealter]

Here’s to hoping we renew the treaty

[@fabnilsson]

That’s why you have awesome people like Rob Swan constantly campaigning about renewing the Antarctic Treaty through his foundation 2041. Definitely worth checking out his work!

[@robertmiller9735]

It's going to be mining and drilling, not settlement, I'm sure. Which is no comfort, especially considering the human operators could very well be anywhere in the world. Better hope the Chinese find it in their interests to support its renewal.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

I have hope that enough people care about the preservation of Antarctica that it'll last a while.

[@joermnyc]

Renew it, but remove all the claims and open up all the research bases to all scientists, no matter their home country. This place should be for everyone.

[@RankingTheMouse]

NEW EXTREMITIES VIDEO, LETS GOOO

[@salomonsandoval5919]

I was looking forward to this episode, by far one of the places I’ve been curios for a long time !!!! Greetings from Mexico City, keep doing such wonderful videos!!!

[@Zaninator98]

Oh man I couldn't wait to see the next Extremities video. Thanks for the great work!

[@CNT12696]

It's so cool to see places I've been and ships I've traveled on in an Extremities/Wendover video. Also, it's not all white and black. There is a lot of color in the environment. Red and green algae in the snow and ice, blue/green seeping from copper deposits in the rocks, grass, moss, etc

[@PakaBubi]

I used to work on cruise ships for 12 years. 55 nationalities locked inside a metal world, working and living together perfectly. We used to say we are like the small UN but we can get things done

[@NathanDudani]

Now try that with tons of interconnected cruise ships of different sizes and shapes at varying distances

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

✍️Lock all UN members✍️ in a metal world ✍️ while serving term ✍️ 😁

[@ejlare]

Qué interesante Chile Saludos desde Chile

[@krmr]

Casino is translated as a dining area, cafeteria, not a casino to gamble at in the context of their settlement.

[@cmacdhon]

It's always been my dream to work in Antarctica! I don't care if my job was to clean toilets, I would be thrilled to do it!

[@alefantozzi2774]

Hi! Where you from?

[@alanlight7740]

If your country has a station there you might have a chance - though the janitorial jobs are hard to get. It's much easier to go as a skilled tradesman, because they have far fewer qualified applicants applying for the jobs. Probably one of the easiest ways to get a job there is if you are an electrician or a lineman.

[@thefalcon-wn1rc]

These are sooo good

[@alexyp8990]

A chillingly well-made video, like always!

[@lucianomaurizi9927]

You own the two best channels in all of KZbin. And Half as Interesting is also insanely good.

[@xp8969]

All 3 channels are some of the best on KZbin but it is an undisputable fact that HAI is the best

[@lucianomaurizi9927]

@@xp8969 They are all pretty great. My personal favorite is Wendover.

[@cristianhurtadocabezas208]

it's nice to see people from my country

[@lmlmd2714]

Loving this series! Would be great to see one on Okinotorishima

[@notesaccount2889]

This channel is criminally underrated

[@jameszenos4045]

I just cannot tell how much I want to visit Antarctica after watching this video. I seriously want to go there right now. I am too too Excited!!!!

[@gorzux2829]

Niceee a video from the best country of Chile, Chileee. Greetings from the best country of Chile, Iquique, the city. Oh and also, videos about San Félix, San Ambrosio, Isla Alejandro Selkirk, Robinson Crusoe, Diego Ramírez Islands and Salas y Gómez would be pretty epic

[@SmellLikeDoritos]

WENdOVERRR WENdOVER CHILENO dE CORAZOOOoOOoOon

[@Cacttux]

¡Viva Chile 🇨🇱! Greetings from a Colombian 🇨🇴

[@historicalfootnotes]

21:46 a Historical Footnote you say? Well now I’m interested!

[@steinarjonsson_]

Love the cinemascope ratio!

[@luigimario6722]

I wonder if he knows that Half as Interesting already made a video about this

[@ericl1332]

That debording sounds like a typical arrival at YUL on any given winter day

[@chimcanga245]

Who is here because of HAI mistakes video? BTW great channel ad Sam.

[@boazshaf]

I enjoyed this video about pickles 18:20

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Almost as fun as a video about bricks

[@MadSocial]

Very well done Sam. Looks like the translation was off a bit, as those have notated in their comments. Either way, you brought this story to the forefront and we thank you for that. As for the translation, it seems impossible to ever get them perfect. Try transcribing Arabic! Boy, what a mess!

[@ShoelessJP]

The storytelling here is absolutely fabulous. Channel owner, please consider allowing us to turn on notifications for your channel, too. I want to see and hear more.

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

What do you mean turn on notifications? It’s already turned on! I have it in my notifications and it turns up like clockwork.

[@edricaldones9639]

Interesting, thanks.

[@johnthebarbarian]

Hey love the video! Just a bit of feedback, the titles for the people featured (the cursive lettering) was a bit difficult to read

[@metrofilmer8894]

Interesting story I wouldn’t have known about otherwise

[@teddy023]

I love your content, long time Wendover Productions viewer here! I’d really appreciate if there was English voiceover when someone is speaking a foreign language. I frequently listen to your videos a little bit more than I watch them!

[@eksbocks9438]

9:13 The only way you could is having towns for seasonal workers only. Which is what mining towns in northern Alaska do.

[@pickles3128]

15:22 Wait, I get that BPA being found in Antarctic seawater is bad, but why are they finding salicylic acid, the solvent I use as an anti-acne medication, an extract of willow bark similar to aspirin, and why is it bad? Why is it _there?_ I stopped buying the kind of salicylic acid face scrub with the microbead plastics in them, was that not enough?

[@alefantozzi2774]

My brother works in the Eduardo Frei Montalva base as a mechanical engineer 🇨🇱🐧

[@2crude2crudeofficialband3]

People who think the earth is flat and Antarctica is an impassible ice wall should watch this.

[@natwon633]

The whole "bringing pregnant women there to get land claim" is so incredibly petty, especially after those treaties

[@natwon633]

8:33 nevermind, there's oil, America will just send their army there, won't they? A la Bigger Army Diplomacy.

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

This might become one of the best areas to live in a few years when the ice is melted and everywhere else the temperatures are unbearable hot.

[@alexv3357]

Gotta love a decent aspect ratio

[@rawleighsellers4525]

I dont know why but I have a feeling Sam would listen to NPR's WWDM

[@rosswebster7877]

I have a vision of angry penguins donning war paint.

[@arthurgord]

Still miss podcasts

[@SkiVail]

Suggestion, in future videos maybe considering having a translator speak over the person speaking softly in a different language. As a viewer who typically listens to your videos at work, I don’t always have the ability to look at the screen to see the translation.

[@NicolasUnger]

And get a proper translator. The translation from Spanish are way off in some cases

[@eyespliced]

All hail the Antartican King. Yeah, but I'm not entirely kidding.

[@Latif.Kakule]

Here from the new HAI video

[@MateoQuixote]

Lorde went to Antarctica

[@ok19772]

This channel is so fucking good imma bust

[@MrJayehawk]

This must be where all the workers live who've dedicated their lives to keeping people from discovering the edges of the flat earth.

[@anandatheertansrinivasan49]

How cool is it to be going to Antarctica for your UG thesis

[@tyrshand8180]

Casino in Chilean Spanish means cafeteria, which is what she probably meant

[@morkovija]

How I wish I was there far from my current timeline

[@jamesjross]

If you played everything a normal speed... maybe you'd be a little less melancholic. (which is french for a person who is addicted to melon based alcohol)

[@morkovija]

@@jamesjross thanks for the insight on etymology of the word. Didn't know they make wine out of melons, on the other hand - it's french)

[@inari.28]

@@morkovija "Middle English: from Old French melancolie, via late Latin from Greek melankholia, from melas, melan- ‘black’ + kholē ‘bile’, an excess of which was formerly believed to cause depression." It was borrowed from French but was originally created in Greek. Nothing to do with wine

[@morkovija]

@@inari.28 nice! Thank you for going one step deeper!

[@miguelangelvizuetmata555]

Contaminante does not mean containment, but pollutant or contaminant.

[@FewVidsJustComments]

This guy reminds me of Sam from HAI. They should collab sometime

[@om7303]

The treaty is important, should not and cannot let it be voided by Chile.

[@Caiuscicero]

Or the USA, who is voiding the treaty every day. Also, why the fuck would the USA have claims in the Antartica?

[@mistervacation23]

Tea and biscuits and murder with dr. Alan Campbell

[@JajaRojas]

Man, your videos are better than Wendover Productions and his twins Half's videos! Yours are much better Note: people this is a joke, I know he his the same as Wendover productions and Half as Interesting

[@TopchetoEU]

but theyre the same person lmao lol smh ong

[@JajaRojas]

@@TopchetoEU bruh click "read more"

[@skyfever111]

hey wendover man, what prevented you from uploading these on the main channel??????

[@IdeaStudioBKK]

can anyone else not turn on notifications for this channel?

[@JackDrewitt]

6:05 NO, Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen was the first person to be born and raised south of the Antarctic Convergence, in Grytviken, South Georgia, Antarctica. Her two sisters and many other whalers children were born there too, making Emilio Palma around 12th not including births in Antarctic waters.

[@Lorryslorryss]

South Georgia is within the Arctic convergence, but not below 60th parallel South. Below that parallel is the definition the treaty uses and this video uses. You're free to disagree and use the convergence, but it's not like he's wrong.

[@Ignacio.Romero]

That's not the antartic

[@JackDrewitt]

@@Ignacio.Romero @Lorryslorryss so Antarctica didnt exist before 1961? Are places like kerguelen and south Georgia the only continentless places on earth? Does this dumb rule apply elsewhere with other bodys and treaties named after continents? Is Switzerland not part of europe because it isnt in the EU? Obviously its Antarctic. Culturally, Geographically, and geologically, places like south georgia and kerguelen are closer to Antarctica than any other continent.

[@Ignacio.Romero]

@@JackDrewitt First of all, fuck your nationalism. Secondly, you're the one bending the rules. South Georgia is not part of the antarctic, it's barely further south than South America, and in fact in terms of latitude it's closer to South America than Antartica. It doesn't meet the international definition of Antarctica as it's not in the 60°S latitude or higher. There are many places in the world with fuzzy geographic definitions, the UK doesn't claim the South Georgia Island to be in Antarctica, and Argentina says it's part of South America, and when you see map of the underwater topology you can see why.

[@JackDrewitt]

@@Ignacio.Romero sure feel free to pretend kerguelen doesn't exist and call me a nationalist if it makes you feel better, but you still haven't addressed my actual questions. On your points: in terms of latitude tasmania is closer to south America than Australia, but it isnt south america either, and both are closer to their own actual continental mainlands. There is no definition based on 60°S, beyond treaty area. BAS consider SGSSI Antarctica, SGSSI government dont say, CIA and Argentina do consider it south America but this is for political not scientific reasons (also both acknowledge kerguelen as Antarctica and so void your supposed official definition). In terms of geology, SGSSI is on the Scotia plate with many other Antarctic Islands.

[@pyeitme508]

Wow

[@CA999]

@extremites why does the nebula version of this video have no subtitles?

[@baijokull]

Sadly, I don't have a superwide movie theatre for watching my youtube videos :/

[@Danflave]

Tristan da Cunha next, please

[@CarthagoMike]

Great video, but I am not a fan of the extreme widescreen video. It is already very stretched on an ordinary display, but if you got a 16:10 display the letterboxing makes it almost unwatchable.

[@wawagabriel]

I was quite surprised it matched my screen (~21.5/9). But yeah I think 18/9 is wide enough for having a cinematic feel on KZbin.

[@aboreal]

It seems to be made for phones? I was also weirded out when I saw that it fitted snugly in my wack ass screen resolution

[@rateeightx]

Me: *Sees This Video On My Recommended* "Oh, I Haven't Heard Of That Channel, But The Video Sounds Interesting So I'll Check It Out." *Starts Video* "Hold On A Minute, Is That Sam From Wendover??"

[@mbedj1974]

No it's his cousin Sam from Extremities, not to be confused with his other cousin Sam from HAI

[@cooldude8570]

Hey look I'm winning

[@EE-sw3uh]

sam would you consider not including smash cuts to people gutting fish? I was trying to eat lol

[@brookeasia2061]

7:35 what photo is this? Is that mars? Crazy, mars never gets that close!

[@alexonian2940]

Do an episode on Qaanaaq, Greenland please!!!

[@BTScriviner]

Very interesting video, but the white subtitles are hard to read. Yellow might have been a better choice.

[@DisasterBreakdown]

The aspect ratio tho 👌

[@itchylol742]

fuck ultrawide aspect ratio, all my homies hate ultrawide aspect ratio

[@quinks]

Clop clop. Neigh. What do you mean? Neigh. It looks perfectly natural. Whinny. DID YOU SEE A PREDATOR? NO? YOU SURE?

[@videovoer8130]

I think further settling of Antarctica is definitely possible as long as there's the political will to.

[@jackgiantslayer6587]

Seems a bit chilly

[@gabrielbatista1221]

Why I can`t turn on the notifications clicking the bell?

[@diogorodrigues747]

Are you also Sam for HAI and Wendover Productions? It seems so...

[@bdawg923]

Honestly preferred this series as a podcast. I want to listen in the background when I'm traveling, but can't because KZbin doesn't allow it. Also the podcast season style was way more interesting than this one topic per episode Edit: spelling

[@IceSpoon]

Same. There are episodes very fitting for a video in KZbin, but this one was mostly audio and stock footage.

[@Silvina46]

There were previous babies borned in Argentina bases

[@jameszenos4045]

Can someone please tell me what place is this at 10:53 ?

[@cdjwmusic]

"Base Frei" or Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva

[@peleg462]

1984 wow based amirigjt

[@aboreal]

Chile representado ctmre

[@Zestieee]

Tip: if you're watching this from a PC, press T

[@jamesporter628]

This settlement seems like a bad thing considering it could lead to exploitation of antarctic resources

[@brownbear1657]

The subtitles in this video when the woman is speaking in Spanish sum up all of the reasons why one should hire a translator and not use google translate.

[@preesi1403]

Hey Maccarena! (I had to)

[@RealHexJoker]

when the military first went down they found enough coal to power the us for 300 years because of the ice and snow its much cleaner also it is mentioned openly in documentaries from the period

[@robertb1802]

Antarctica is split between 48 nations, including the DPRK?

[@bryansu5824]

First? That's never happened before...