Balsha Island is an ice-free island in the Dunbar group

Dunbar Islands

Dunbar Islands is a small group of islands lying southwest of Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica comprising three islands: Balsha Island, Zavala Island and Aspis Island, and several minor islets and rocks...

 off the northwest coast of Varna Peninsula

Varna Peninsula

Varna Peninsula is a roughly rectangular predominantly ice-covered peninsula forming the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...

, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica. It is situated 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi) northwest of Slab Point

Slab Point

Slab Point is a rocky point on the northwest coast of Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica forming the north side of the entrance to Eliseyna Cove and the south side of the entrance to Charybdis Cove....

 and 2.8 km (1.7 mi) north of Kotis Point

Kotis Point

Kotis Point is a point on the northwest coast of Varna Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica forming the south side of the entrance to Eliseyna Cove...

. Extending 600 by, surface area 17 hectares (42 acre). The area was visited by early 19th century sealers

Seal hunting

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...

.

The island is named after the settlement of Balsha in western Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

.

Location

Balsha Island is located at 62°28′24"S 60°11′35"W. Bulgarian topographic survey by Tangra 2004/05

Tangra 2004/05

The Tangra 2004/05 Expedition was commissioned by the Antarctic Place-names Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, managed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation, and supported by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy...

 expedition. British mapping in 1968, Chilean in 1971, Argentine in 1980, Bulgarian in 2005 and 2009.

See also

• Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
  Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
  The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all the Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about those names and the relevant geographical features...
  
  .
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
  Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
  The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science . It was established in February 1958 to continue the international coordination of Antarctic scientific activities that had begun during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58...
  
  
• Territorial claims in Antarctica

External links

• Balsha Island.