History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

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Flag Flag of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands The Flag of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was granted on 3 October 1985, when the Territory was created. Previously the Territory was a part of the Falkland Islands Dependency and used the same flag....	Coat of Arms Coat of arms of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands The coat of arms of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was granted in 1985, upon the creation of the territory. Prior to 1985, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands were a dependency of the Falkland Islands, and used their coat of arms...

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

: Leo Terram Propriam Protegat
(Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

: Let the lion protect its own land)

Anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

: God Save the Queen

God Save the Queen

"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...

The history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...

is relatively recent. When Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an explorers found the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement difficult. Due to these setbacks, human activity in the islands has largely consisted of sealing

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...

, whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

, and scientific surveys and research, interrupted by World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

Sixteenth to nineteenth century

The South Atlantic island of South Georgia, situated south of the Antarctic Convergence

Antarctic Convergence

The Antarctic Convergence is a curve continuously encircling Antarctica where cold, northward-flowing Antarctic waters meet the relatively warmer waters of the subantarctic. Antarctic waters predominantly sink beneath subantarctic waters, while associated zones of mixing and upwelling create a zone...

, was the first Antarctic

Antarctic

The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...

territory ever discovered.

Popular belief holds it that Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...

might have sighted South Georgia during one of his much publicised voyages. While sailing in the South Atlantic to 52° south

52nd parallel south

The 52nd parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 52 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

latitude (Vespucci's own estimate), in April 1502 they allegedly encountered a high, gloomy and rough land where human life was rendered impossible by severe cold ― a description seemingly fitting South Georgia. However, that belief is refuted by analysis of Vespucci's records.

Another persistent misconception is that of South Georgia being the mythical Pepys Island

Pepys Island

Pepys Island is a phantom island, said to lie about north of the Falkland Islands in 47°S. It was first described by Ambrose Cowley in 1684, presumably mistaking the coordinates of one of the Falkland Islands, and named by him for Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty. Other observers on the...

reportedly discovered by the English buccaneer

Buccaneer

The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...

William Cowley in December 1683. This is wide off mark as according to Cowley's diary, after leaving the coast of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

he sailed southwestwards to 47° south

47th parallel south

The 47th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 47 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

latitude, and sighted land to the west ― more than 1,700 km or 920 nmi away from South Georgia.

The actual discovery came (similarly to other early discoveries in that region) as a result of a ship being driven off course in bad weather. The English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

merchant Anthony de la Roché

Anthony de la Roché

Anthony de la Roché, born sometime in the 17th century, was an English merchant born in London to a French Huguenot father and an English mother...

, while sailing from Chiloé

Chiloé Island

Chiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean...

to Salvador (Brazil) was overwhelmed by tempestuous conditions off Staten Island (Isla de los Estados)

Isla de los Estados

Isla de los Estados is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait...

, failed to make the Le Maire Strait

Le Maire Strait

The Le Maire Strait is a sea passage between Isla de los Estados and the eastern extremity of the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego....

and was carried far away to the east. He found refuge in one of South Georgia's southern bays where his ship anchored for 14 days in April 1675. La Roché published a report of his voyage in London in 1678, describing the new land. The cartographers started to depict "Roché Island" on their map

Map

A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

s, honouring the discoverer.

Sir Edmund Halley surveyed the vicinity of South Georgia in January 1700 in the course of his work of charting magnetic declination

Magnetic declination

Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true north. The declination is positive when the magnetic north is east of true north. The term magnetic variation is a synonym, and is more often used in navigation...

s in the South Atlantic. His HMS Paramore

HMS Paramour (1694)

HMS Paramour was a 6-gun pink of the Royal Navy, briefly commanded by the astronomer Edmond Halley, initially as a civilian and later as a "temporary captain"....

(or Paramour) penetrated the Antarctic Convergence to reach some 90 nmi (170 km) north of South Georgia, where he mistook few tabular iceberg

Iceberg

An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...

s for islands (as possibly did Vespucci before him).

In 1756 the island was sighted and named ‘San Pedro’ by the Spanish vessel León under Captain Gregorio Jerez sailing in the service of the French company Sieur Duclos of Saint-Malo, with the merchant Duclos Guyot onboard.

These early visits resulted in no sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

claims. In particular ― unlike the case of the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

― Spain never claimed South Georgia. The latter anyway fell within the ‘Portuguese’

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

portion of the world as envisaged by the 1494 Tordesillas Treaty

Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas , signed at Tordesillas , , divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagueswest of the Cape Verde islands...

concluded between Spain and Portugal.

The great mariner Captain James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

in accompanied by made the first landing

Landing operation

A landing operation is a military action aimed at a bringing the landing force usually via landing craft to a shore or to land with the purpose of power projection ashore by forces coming usually from ships and also aircraft and able to fight....

, survey

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

and mapping

Cartography

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...

of South Georgia. As mandated by the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

, on 17 January 1775 he took possession for Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

and renamed the island ‘Isle of Georgia’ for King George III. German naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

Georg Forster

Johann Georg Adam Forster was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific...

, who accompanied Cook during their landings in three separate places at Possession Bay

Possession Bay

Possession Bay is a bay wide which recedes southwest for , entered southeast of Black Head on the north coast of South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.-Cook's Second Voyage:...

on that day, wrote: "Here Captain Cook displayed the British flag, and performed the ceremony of taking possession of those barren rocks, in the name of his Britannic Majesty, and his heirs forever. A volley of two or three musket

Musket

A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....

s was fired into the air."

The group of Shag Rocks

Shag Rocks (South Georgia)

The Shag Rocks are six small islands in the westernmost extreme of South Georgia, west of the main island of South Georgia and off the Falkland Islands. The Shag Rocks are located at . further southeast is Black Rock. Black Rock is located at ....

and Black Rock

Black Rock, South Georgia

Black Rock is a low rock southeast of Shag Rocks and some west-northwest of South Georgia. Black Rock may have been considered as part of the "Aurora Islands" reported in this vicinity by the ship Aurora in 1762...

forming the west extremity of the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is situated 270 km or 150 nmi west by north of the South Georgian mainland. Probably discovered in 1762 by the Spanish ship Aurora, these rocks appeared on early maps as Aurora Islands

Aurora Islands

The Aurora Islands was a group of three phantom islands first reported in 1762 by the Spanish merchant ship Aurora while sailing from Lima to Cádiz. The Aurora's officers reported sighting them again in 1774. The Spanish ship San Miguel fixed their location at 52°37'S, 47°49'W...

, were visited and renamed by the American sealer James Sheffield in the Hersilia in 1819, and mapped by HMS Dartmouth in 1920.

South Georgia's coast and waters have been surveyed by a number of expeditions since those of Cook and Bellingshausen. In particular, the extensive oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

investigations carried out by the Discovery Committee

Discovery Committee

The Discovery Committee was a popular name for the Interdepartmental Committee for the Dependencies of the Falkland Islands established by the British Government to carry out scientific investigations and to propose nature resource conservation and economic development policies for the Falkland...

from 1925 to 1951 yielded an enormous amount of scientific results and data, including the discovery of the Antarctic Convergence. The first land-based scientific expedition on South Georgia was the 1882-83 German Polar Year

International Polar Year

The International Polar Year is a collaborative, international effort researching the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor, but died before it first occurred in 1882-1883. Fifty years later a second IPY occurred...

expedition at Moltke Harbour, Royal Bay

Royal Bay

Royal Bay is a bay, 4 miles wide and indenting 5 miles , entered between Cape Charlotte and Cape Harcourt along the north coast of South Georgia....

.

During the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century South Georgia was inhabited by English and Yankee

Yankee

The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...

sealers, who used to live there for considerable periods of time and sometimes overwintered. The first fur seals from the island were taken in 1786 by the English sealing vessel Lord Hawkesbury, while the first commercial visit to the South Sandwich Islands was made in 1816 by another English ship, the Ann.

The sealers pursued their trade in a most unsustainable manner, promptly reducing the fur seal

Fur seal

Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds in the Otariidae family. One species, the northern fur seal inhabits the North Pacific, while seven species in the Arctocephalus genus are found primarily in the Southern hemisphere...

population to near extermination. As a result, sealing activities on South Georgia had three marked peaks in 1786-1802, 1814-23, and 1869-1913 respectively, decreasing in between and gradually shifting to elephant seal

Elephant seal

Elephant seals are large, oceangoing seals in the genus Mirounga. There are two species: the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal . Both were hunted to the brink of extinction by the end of the 19th century, but numbers have since recovered...

s taken for oil. More efficient regulation and management were practised in the second sealing epoch, 1909-64.

During the nineteenth century the effective, continuous and unchallenged British possession and government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

for South Georgia was provided for by the British Letters Patent

Letters patent

Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...

of 1843, revised in 1876, 1892, 1908 and 1917, with the island appearing in the Colonial Office

Colonial Office

Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...

Yearbook

A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...

since 1887. From 1881 on Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

regulated the economic activities and conservation by administrative acts such as the Sealing Ordinances of 1881 and 1899. South Georgia was governed by Britain as a Falkland Islands Dependency

Falkland Islands Dependencies

Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement for administering the British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica from 1843 until 1985.-Background:...

, a distinct entity administered through the Falkland Islands but not part of them in political or financial respect. These constitution

Constitution

A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

al arrangements stayed in place throughout the second half of the nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century, until South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands were incorporated as a distinct British overseas territory in 1985.

Twentieth century

In the early twentieth century South Georgia experienced a new rush of economic activity and settlement. Following a 1900 advertisement by the Falklands Government

Politics of the Falkland Islands

The politics of the Falkland Islands takes place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary representative democratic dependency as set out by the constitution, whereby the Governor exercises the duties of head of state in the absence of the monarch and the Chief Executive acts...

the entire island was leased to a Punta Arenas company, and a subsequent conflict of interests with the Compañía Argentina de Pesca

Compañía Argentina de Pesca

Compañía Argentina de Pesca was initiated by the British-Norwegian whaler and Antarctic explorer Carl A. Larsen, and established on 29 February 1904 by three foreign residents of Buenos Aires: the Norwegian consul P. Christophersen, H.H. Schlieper , and E. Tornquist...

which had started whaling at Grytviken

Grytviken

Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...

since December 1904 was settled by the British authorities

Politics of the Falkland Islands

with the company applying for and being granted British whaling lease

Leasing

Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments....

.

South Georgia became the world's largest whaling

Whaling

centre, with shore bases at Grytviken (operating 1904-64), Leith Harbour

Leith Harbour

Leith Harbour , also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station up on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest of seven whaling stations, situated near the mouth of...

(1909-65), Ocean Harbour

Ocean Harbour

Ocean Harbour is a deeply indented bay on the north coast of South Georgia which is entered west-northwest of Tijuca point. It was an active whaling station between 1909–1920...

(1909-20), Husvik

Husvik

Husvik is a former whaling station on the north-central coast of South Georgia Island. It was one of three such stations in Stromness Bay, the other two being Stromness and Leith Harbour. Husvik initially began as a floating, offshore factory site in 1907. In 1910, a land station was constructed...

(1910-60), Stromness

Stromness (South Georgia)

Stromness is a former whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. Its historical significance is that it represents the destination of Ernest Shackleton's epic rescue journey in 1916. See also Stromness Bay...

(1912-61) and Prince Olav Harbour

Prince Olav Harbour

Prince Olav Harbour is small harbour in the south west portion of Cook Bay, entered between Point Abrahamsen and Sheep Point, along the north coast of South Georgia.-Background:...

(1917-34). The companies involved included Compañía Argentina de Pesca, Christian Salvesen Ltd

Christian Salvesen Ltd

Christian Salvesen was a European transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in the United Kingdom and western Europe...

(UK), Albion Star (South Georgia) Ltd. (Falkland Islands), the Norwegian whaling companies Hvalfangerselskap Ocean, Tønsberg Hvalfangeri and Sandefjord Hvalfangerselskap, as well as the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company (South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

). The Japanese companies Kokusai Gyogyo Kabushike Kaisha and Nippon Suisan Kaisha

Nippon Suisan Kaisha

is a marine products company based in Japan. It had annual revenues in 2004 of 4.7 billion USD. The company was established in 1911, and is a commercial fishing and marine product procurement operation. Its goal is to “Establish a global supply chain of marine products.” The company is the...

sub-leased respectively Grytviken in 1963-64 and Leith Harbour in 1963-65, the last seasons of South Georgia whaling.

The spread of Norwegian whaling industry to Antarctica in the early 20th century motivated Norway, right after its independence from Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

in 1905, to pursue territorial expansion not only in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

claiming Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen Island is a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean and part of the Kingdom of Norway. It is long and 373 km2 in area, partly covered by glaciers . It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by an isthmus wide...

and Sverdrup Islands

Sverdrup Islands

The Sverdrup Islands is an archipelago of the northern Queen Elizabeth Islands, in Nunavut, Canada. The islands are situated in the Arctic Ocean, west of Ellesmere Island from 77° to 81° North and 85° to 106° West.- History :...

, but also in Antarctica. Norway claimed Bouvet Island

Bouvet Island

Bouvet Island is an uninhabited Antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,525 km south-southwest of South Africa. It is a dependent territory of Norway and, lying north of 60°S latitude, is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty. The centre of the island is an ice-filled crater of an...

and looked further south, formally inquiring with Foreign Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

about the international status of the area between 45°

45th parallel south

The 45th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 45 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It is the line that marks the theoretical halfway point between the equator and the South Pole...

and 65° south

65th parallel south

The 65th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 65 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 65° south passes through:-See also:...

latitude and 35°

35th meridian west

The meridian 35° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, South America, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

and 80° west

80th meridian west

The meridian 80° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, Central America, South America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.In Antarctica, the...

longitude. Following a second such diplomatic démarche by the Norwegian Government dated 4 March 1907, Britain replied that the areas were British based on discoveries made in the first half of the 19th century, and issued the 1908 Letters Patent

Letters patent

incorporating the British Falkland Islands Dependencies with a permanent local administration in Grytviken established in 1909.

Britain's 1908 Letters Patent established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic, including the formal annexation

Annexation

Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...

of the South Sandwich Islands. The Letters Patent listed these possessions as "the groups of islands known as South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, and the Sandwich Islands, and the territory known as Graham's Land, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean to the south of the 50th parallel of south

50th parallel south

The 50th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and South America....

latitude, and lying between the 20th

20th meridian west

The meridian 20° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

and the 80th degrees of west

80th meridian west

longitude". In 1917 the Letters Patent were modified, applying the "sector principle" used in the Arctic; the new scope of the Falkland Islands Dependencies was extended to comprise "all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 50th degree of west

50th meridian west

The meridian 50° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, South America, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all islands and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south

58th parallel south

The 58th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 58 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. No land lies on the parallel—it crosses nothing but ocean....

latitude", thus reaching the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

. The 1908 Letters Patent were not disputed by Argentina at the time, but in 1948 Argentina conceived an argument that they were invalid on the grounds that they allegedly encompassed parts of the South American mainland as well as the Falklands, making the latter dependencies of themselves.

All whaling stations on South Georgia operated under whaling leases applied for by each company and granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands

Governor of the Falkland Islands

The Governor of the Falkland Islands is the representative of the British Crown in the Falkland Islands, acting "in Her Majesty's name and on Her Majesty's behalf" as the islands' de facto head of state in the absence of the British monarch...

and Dependencies. On behalf of the Compañía Argentina de Pesca, the application was filed with the British Legation

Legation

A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....

in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

by the company's president Pedro Christophersen and Captain Guillermo Nuñez, a technical advisor and shareholder in the company who was also Director of Armaments of the Argentine Navy

Argentine Navy

The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....

.

From 1906 on the Argentine company was operating in compliance with its whaling and sealing leases granted by the Falklands Governor. That continued until Grytviken was sold to Albion Star (South Georgia) Ltd. in 1960, closed in 1964, and eventually purchased by Christian Salvesen Ltd.

Carl Anton Larsen

Carl Anton Larsen was a Norwegian Antarctic Explorer, who made important contributions to the exploration of Antarctica, the most significant being the first discovery of fossils, for which he received the Back Grant from the Royal Geographical Society...

, the founder of Grytviken was a naturalized

Naturalization

Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

Briton

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

born in Sandefjord

Sandefjord

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sandefjord. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838...

, Norway. In his application for British citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

, filed with the British Magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

of South Georgia and granted in 1910, Captain Larsen wrote: "I have given up my Norwegian citizens rights and have resided here since I started whaling in this colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

on the 16 November 1904 and have no reason to be of any other citizenship than British, as I have had and intend to have my residence here still for a long time." His family in Grytviken included his wife, three daughters and two sons.

As the manager of Compañía Argentina de Pesca, Larsen organized the construction of Grytviken ― a remarkable undertaking accomplished by a team of 60 Norwegians since their arrival on 16 November until the newly built whale oil

Whale oil

Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...

factory commenced production on 24 December 1904. Larsen also established a meteorological observatory at Grytviken, which from 1905 was maintained in cooperation with the Argentine Meteorological Office under the British lease requirements of the whaling station until these changed in 1949.

Larsen chose the whaling station's site during his 1902 visit while in command of the ship Antarctic of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition

Swedish Antarctic Expedition

The Swedish Antarctic Expedition was led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen.-Background:Otto Nordenskjöld, a Swedish geologist and geographer, organized and lead a scientific expedition of the Antarctic Peninsula...

(1901-03) led by Otto Nordenskjöld. On that occasion, the name Grytviken (‘Pot Cove’) was given by the Swedish archaeologist and geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

Johan Gunnar Andersson

Johan Gunnar Andersson , Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s...

who surveyed part of Thatcher Peninsula

Thatcher Peninsula

Thatcher Peninsula is a mountainous cove in north-central South Georgia terminating to the north in Mai Point, rising between Cumberland West Bay to the west, and Cumberland East Bay and Moraine Fjord to the east; bounded to the southwest and south by Lyell Glacier and Hamberg Glacier...

and found numerous artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

and features

Feature (archaeology)

Feature in archaeology and especially excavation has several different but allied meanings. A feature is a collection of one or more contexts representing some human non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic to it in relation to site stratigraphy. Examples of features are...

from sealers’ habitation and industry, including a shallop and several try-pots used to boil seal

Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

. One of those try-pots, having the inscription ‘Johnson and Sons, Wapping

Wapping

Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...

Dock London’ is preserved at the South Georgia Museum

South Georgia Museum

The South Georgia Museum is situated in Grytviken, the administrative centre of the UK overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands....

in Grytviken. Larsen was also instrumental, with his brother, in introducing Reindeer to South Georgia

Reindeer in South Georgia

Reindeer in South Georgia are an example of an animal which has been introduced outside its native range. The reindeer, a species of deer adapted to arctic and subarctic climates, was introduced to the subantarctic island of South Georgia by Norwegian whalers in the early 20th century...

in 1911 as a resource for hunting for the people employed in the whaling industry.

Most of the whalers were Norwegian, with an increasing proportion of Britons. During the whaling era, the population usually varied from over 1000 in the summer (over 2000 in some years) to some 200 in the winter. The first census conducted by the British Stipendiary Magistrate James Wilson on 31 December 1909 recorded a total population of 720, including 3 females and 1 child. Of them, 579 were Norwegian, 58 Swedes, 32 Britons, 16 Danes, 15 Finns, 9 Germans, 7 Russians, 2 Dutchmen, 1 Frenchman and 1 Austrian.

Managers and other senior officers of the whaling stations often lived together with their families. Among them was Fridthjof Jacobsen whose wife Klara Olette Jacobsen gave birth to two of their children in Grytviken; their daughter Solveig Gunbjörg Jacobsen

Solveig Gunbjörg Jacobsen

Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen was the first person born in the Antarctic region, in Grytviken, South Georgia Island. Her father Fridthjof Jacobsen settled in South Georgia in 1904 to become assistant manager, and from 1914 to 1921 manager of the Grytviken whaling station...

was the first child ever born in Antarctica, on 8 October 1913. Several more children were born on South Georgia, even recently aboard visiting private yachts.

There are some 200 graves on the island dating from 1820 onwards, including that of the famous Antarctic

Antarctic

explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

(d. 1922) whose British Antarctic Expedition

Nimrod Expedition

The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...

(1908-09) established the route to the South Pole subsequently followed by Robert Scott

Robert Falcon Scott

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...

. In one of the most remarkable small boat journeys in maritime history (probably rivaled only by that of Bounty

Mutiny on the Bounty

The mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, and has been commemorated by several books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the...

's Lieutenant William Bligh

William Bligh

Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...

), in 1916 Shackleton crossed Scotia Sea

Scotia Sea

The Scotia Sea is partly in the Southern Ocean and mostly in the South Atlantic Ocean.-Location and description:Habitually stormy and cold, the Scotia Sea is the area of water between Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, and...

in the 7 m or 23' James Caird
James Caird (boat)
The voyage of the James Caird was an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of...

to reach South Georgia and organize the successful rescue of his expedition team stranded on Elephant Island following the loss of their ship Endurance

Endurance (1912 ship)

The Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...

. In the process, Shackleton accompanied by Frank Worsley

Frank Worsley

Frank Arthur Worsley DSO and Bar, OBE, RD was a New Zealand sailor and explorer.After serving in the Pacific, and especially in the New Zealand Post Office's South Pacific service he joined Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of...

and Tom Crean trekked the island's glaciated and rugged terrain between King Haakon Bay

King Haakon Bay

King Haakon Bay, or King Haakon Sound, is an inlet on the southern coast of the island of South Georgia. The inlet is approximately long and wide.The inlet was named for King Haakon VII of Norway by Carl Anton Larsen the founder of Grytviken...

and the Stromness

Stromness (South Georgia)

whaling station.

Another Antarctic explorer with a special place in South Georgia's history was Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse was born in 1913 and attended Sherborne School. A British actor and explorer, he died on 2 May 2004, aged 90. He had lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, for over 40 years. His father was the artist A...

. His comprehensive 1951-57 survey of the island resulted in the classical 1:200000 topographic map

Topographic map

A topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually using contour lines in modern mapping, but historically using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features...

of South Georgia, occasionally updated but never superseded since its first publication by the British Directorate of Overseas Surveys in 1958. For several months in 1961, Carse experimented on living alone at a remote location, Ducloz Head

Ducloz Head

Ducloz Head is a headland which forms the northwest side of the entrance to Undine South Harbour on the south coast of South Georgia. First charted in 1819 by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen...

on the southwest coast of the island. Mount Carse

Mount Carse

Mount Carse is a mountain having several peaks, the highest , standing north of the head of Drygalski Fjord in the south part of the Salvesen Range of South Georgia. Surveyed by the South Georgia Survey between 1951 and 1957 and named for V. Duncan Carse, leader of the four SGS expeditions during...

, the island's third highest peak is named for him.

A magistrate

Magistrate

conducting the local British administration

Administration (government)

The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to jurisdiction.-United States:In United States usage, the term refers to the executive branch under a specific president , for example: the "Barack Obama administration." It can also mean an executive branch agency...

has been residing in South Georgia ever since November 1909 (except for 22 days in 1982). The 1908 British Letters Patent

Letters patent

was transmitted to the Argentine Foreign Ministry and was formally acknowledged on 18 March 1909 without objections. Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

also recognized de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

the British permanent local administration set up in 1909, with commercial and naval Argentine vessels

Ship

Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

that visited the island in the subsequent years duly complying with normal harbour, customs

Customs

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...

, immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

and other procedures.

During the Second World War the whaling stations were closed excepting Grytviken and Leith Harbour. Most of the British and Norwegian whaling factories and catchers were destroyed by German raiders

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

, while the rest were called up to serve under Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

command. The resident British Magistrates (W. Barlas and A.I. Fleuret) attended to the island's defence throughout the War. The Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

armed the merchant vessel Queen of Bermuda to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters, and deployed two four-inch (102 mm) guns at key locations protecting the approaches to Cumberland Bay

Cumberland Bay

Cumberland Bay, wide at its entrance between Larsen and Barff Points, which separates into two extensive arms that recede inland along the northern coast of South Georgia. Discovered and named in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook....

and Stromness Bay

Stromness Bay

Stromness Bay is a bay wide, entered between Cape Saunders and Busen Point on the north coast of South Georgia.Stromness Bay, like Leith Harbour takes its name from a location in Scotland, Stromness, on the Orkney Mainland...

, i.e. to Grytviken and Leith Harbour respectively. These batteries (still present) were manned by volunteers

Military volunteer

A military volunteer is a person who enlists in military service by free will, and is not a mercenary or a foreign legionaire. Volunteers often enlist to fight in the armed forces of a foreign country. Military volunteers are essential for the operation of volunteer militaries.Many armies,...

from among the Norwegian whalers who were trained for the purpose.

Sovereignty dispute, and Falklands War

The first official announcement of an Argentine claim of South Georgia was made as late as 1927 at the International Postal Bureau

Universal Postal Union

The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...

in Bern. The first definite Argentine pretension of sovereignty over the South Sandwich Islands was made even in 1938, when the President of Argentina

President of Argentina

The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...

ratified the 1934 Cairo Postal Convention. Since then, Argentina has maintained her claims of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands but repeatedly (in 1947, 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955) refused to have them resolved by the International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...

or by an independent arbitral tribunal

Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...

The Argentine naval station Corbeta Uruguay

Corbeta Uruguay

Corbeta Uruguay was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on the island of Thule, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. The base was established by order of the then-military junta governing Argentina as a way to back up its territorial claims on British territory in...

was clandestinely built on Thule Island

Thule Island

Thule Island, also called Morrell Island, is one of the southernmost of the South Sandwich Islands, part of the grouping known as Southern Thule. It is named, on account of its remote location, after the mythical land of Thule, said by ancient geographers to lie at the extreme end of the earth...

, in the South Sandwich Islands on 7 November 1976 and was subject to a number of official British protests, the first of them on 19 January 1977. Arrangements to legitimize the station were discussed in 1978 but failed. At an early stage of the Falklands Conflict, 32 special forces

Special forces

Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...

troops from Corbeta Uruguay were brought by the Argentine Navy ship Bahía Paraiso to South Georgia and landed at Leith Harbour on March 25, 1982.

Joined by the corvette ARA Guerrico

ARA Guerrico (P-32)

ARA Guerrico is a Drummond class corvette of the Argentine Navy. She is the first vessel to be named after Rear Admiral Martin Guerrico who fought in the 19th century War of the Triple Alliance....

, on April 3 the Bahía Paraiso attacked the platoon

Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

of 22 Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

deployed at Grytviken. The two-hour battle resulted in the Guerrico being damaged and an Argentine helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

shot down. The Argentine forces sustained three men killed and a number of wounded, with one wounded on the British side. The British commanding officer Lieutenant Keith Mills was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross

Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...

for the defence of South Georgia. While the British Magistrate and other civilians and military present in Grytviken were removed from South Georgia, another 15 Britons remained beyond Argentine reach. The losses suffered at Grytviken prevented Argentina from occupying the rest of the island, with Bird Island base, and field camps at Schlieper Bay

Schlieper Bay

Schlieper Bay is a bay 1 mile wide, entered between Romerof Head and Weddell Point along the south coast of South Georgia. Schlieper Bay was named between 1905-12 after the director of the Compañía Argentina de Pesca....

, Lyell Glacier

Lyell Glacier, South Georgia

For the glacier located on Mount Lyell in California, see Lyell GlacierLyell Glacier is a glacier flowing in a north direction to Harpon Bay at the southeast head of Cumberland West Bay, South Georgia...

and St. Andrews Bay

St Andrews Bay, South Georgia

Saint Andrews Bay is a bight 2 miles wide, indenting the north coast of South Georgia immediately south of Mount Skittle. Probably first sighted by the British expedition under Cook which explored the north coast of South Georgia in 1775. The name dates back to at least 1920 and is now well...

remaining under British control.

On April 25, 1982 the Royal Navy damaged and captured the Argentine submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

Santa Fé at South Georgia. The Argentine garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

in Grytviken under Lieut.-Commander Luis Lagos surrendered without returning the fire, and so did on the following day the detachment in Leith Harbour

Leith Harbour

commanded by Captain Alfredo Astiz

Alfredo Astiz

Alfredo Ignacio Astiz was a Commander, intelligence office and maritime commando in the Argentine Navy during the dictatorial rule of Jorge Rafael Videla in the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional...

.

One of the most famous and legendary signals of the entire Falklands War

Falklands War

was made by the British forces' commander after the Argentine surrender at Grytviken:

"Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen."

Finally, the Argentine personnel were removed from the South Sandwich Islands by on 20 June 1982. The recapture of South Georgia, even more remote than the Falkland Islands, and in foul weather conditions proved a major boost to British ambitions in the Falklands War, and a blow to those of Argentina.

Due to evidence of an unauthorized visit to Thule Island, the closed station Corbeta Uruguay

Corbeta Uruguay

was destroyed in January 1983.

Since the Falklands War, Britain maintained a small garrison of Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

on South Georgia until March 2001, when the island reverted to civilian rule. However, Argentina continues to claim South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Recent history

In 1985, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ceased to be Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

dependencies and became a separate British overseas territory.

Due to its remote location and harsh climate

Climate

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

, South Georgia had no indigenous population when first discovered. While the island has been inhabited during the last two centuries, with some settlers residing for decades there and children being born and raised, no families have become established for more than one generation so far. The present permanent centres of population include Grytviken, King Edward Point

King Edward Point

King Edward Point is a promontory and settlement with port facilities on the northeastern coast of the island of South Georgia. It is located at in Cumberland East Bay...

and Bird Island

Bird Island (South Georgia)

Bird Island is long and wide, separated from the western end of South Georgia by Bird Sound. It is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, also claimed by Argentina as part of Tierra del Fuego province.-History:...

. King Edward Point is the port of entry

Port of entry

In general, a port of entry is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of people who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a...

, and residence of the British Magistrate and harbour, customs, immigration, fisheries, and postal authorities; it is commonly referred to as ‘Grytviken’ in association with the derelict whaling station situated just 800 m away. The government of the islands maintains field huts at Sörling Valley

Sörling Valley

Sörling Valley is an ice-free valley between Cumberland East Bay and Hound Bay on the north side of South Georgia. Surveyed by the SGS in the period 1951-57...

, Dartmouth Point

Dartmouth Point

Dartmouth Point is the point that marks the north end of Greene Peninsula, the rugged promontory separating Moraine Fjord and the east head of Cumberland East Bay, South Georgia. Charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901-04. Named after HMS Dartmouth, which surveyed the area in 1920....

, Maiviken

Maiviken

Maiviken is a cove at the north end of Thatcher Peninsula between Cumberland West Bay and Cumberland East Bay, South Georgia. Charted by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition. 1901-04, under Otto Nordenskjöld, and named Majviken after May Day, 1902, the day on which the cove was entered. Over the...

, St. Andrews Bay

St Andrews Bay, South Georgia

, Corral Bay, Carlita Bay

Carlita Bay

Carlita Bay is a small bay in the west side of Cumberland West Bay, South Georgia, just west of Islet Point. The feature was earlier named Horseshoe Bay, probably during the survey of Cumberland West Bay by HMS Dartmouth in 1920, but this name was later accepted for a bay close south of Cape...

, Jason Harbour

Jason Harbour

Jason Harbour is a bay 1 mile wide, lying west of Allen Bay in the north side of Cumberland West Bay, South Georgia. Charted and named by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901-04, under Nordenskjold. The bay was previously visited by the Jason, Captain C.A. Larsen, in 1894....

, Ocean Harbour

Ocean Harbour

Ocean Harbour is a deeply indented bay on the north coast of South Georgia which is entered west-northwest of Tijuca point. It was an active whaling station between 1909–1920...

, and Lyell Glacier

Lyell Glacier, South Georgia

.

Since the 1990s, the islands have become a popular tourist destination, with cruise ships visiting on a fairly regular basis.

South Sandwich Islands

The uninhabited South Sandwich Islands are even less hospitable than the main island of South Georgia, affected by volcanic activity

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

as well. Since 1995 the South African Weather Bureau maintains two automatic weather station

Automatic weather station

An automatic weather station is an automated version of the traditional weather station, either to save human labour or to enable measurements from remote areas...

s on the islands of Zavodovski and Thule

Thule Island

.

The southern eight islands of the Sandwich Islands Group were discovered by James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

in 1775; the northern three by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral...

in 1819.^{[clarification needed]}

Departing from South Georgia, Captain Cook sailed to the southeast to discover Clerke Rocks

Clerke Rocks

The Clerke Rocks are a group of small rocky islands some southeast of South Georgia that extend from east to west. The Clerke Rocks include The Office Boys at the northeastern end and Nobby at the southeastern end of the group...

and a group of islands which he named "Sandwich Land" in honour of Lord Sandwich

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather, Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten...

, then First Lord of the Admiralty. The word "South" was later added to distinguish them from the "Sandwich Islands", now known as "Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

".

The archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

of the South Sandwich Islands comprises Candlemas

Candlemas Island

Candlemas Island is a small uninhabited island of the Candlemas Islands in the South Sandwich Islands. It lies about from Vindication Island, separated by the Nelson Channel....

, Vindication

Vindication Island

Vindication Island is a small uninhabited island in the South Sandwich Islands. It lies about from Candlemas Island, separated by the Nelson Channel....

, Saunders

Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands

Saunders Island is a crescent-shaped island long, lying between Candlemas Island and Montagu Island in the South Sandwich Islands, apart of the United Kingdom. It is a volcanic island composed of an active stratovolcano, Mount Michael. It's known to have erupted explosively in 1819, and has...

, Montagu

Montagu Island

Montagu Island is the largest of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. It is a part of the British Overseas Territory, the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and has the only active volcano in the United Kingdom...

, Bristol

Bristol Island

Bristol Island is an long island lying midway between Montagu Island and Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands.Bristol Island is composed of several active volcanoes with eruptions reported in 1823, 1935, 1936, 1950 and 1956.-History:...

, Bellingshausen

Bellingshausen Island

The island is a basaltic andesite stratovolcano, and the latest crater, about across and deep, formed explosively some time between 1968 and 1984.-References:*...

, Cook

Cook Island, South Sandwich Islands

Cook Island is the central and largest island of Southern Thule, part of the South Sandwich Islands in the far south Atlantic Ocean. Southern Thule was discovered by a British expedition under Captain James Cook in 1775. The island was named for Cook by a Russian expedition under Bellingshausen,...

and Thule

Thule Island

discovered by Cook, and the Traversay Islands

Traversay Islands

The Traversay Islands are a group of three islands – Zavodovski, Leskov and Visokoi – at the northern end of the South Sandwich Islands....

(Zavodovski

Zavodovski Island

Zavodovski Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Traversay Islands group of the South Sandwich Islands. It lies southeast of South Georgia Island...

, Leskov

Leskov Island

Leskov Island is a small uninhabited island in the Traversay Islands group of the South Sandwich Islands. It is less than long, and lies west of Visokoi Island...

and Visokoi

Visokoi Island

Visokoi Island is an uninhabited island in the Traversay Islands group of the South Sandwich Islands. It was discovered in 1819 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named the island Visokoi because of its conspicuous height.The island is long and wide, capped by...

) discovered by the Imperial Russian Navy expedition of Bellingshausen and Lazarev

Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev

Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev was a Russian fleet commander and explorer who discovered Antarctica.-Education and early career:Lazarev was born in Vladimir, a scion of the old Russian nobility from the Vladimir province. In 1800, he enrolled in Russia's Naval College. Three years later he...

in the ships Vostok and Mirny in 1819.

The United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

formally annexed the South Sandwich Islands through the 1908 Letters Patent, grouping them with other British-held territory in Antarctica as the Falkland Islands Dependencies.

Argentina claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938, and challenged British sovereignty in the Islands on several occasions. From January 25, 1955 through summer of 1956 Argentina

Argentina

maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at Ferguson Bay on the southeastern coast of Thule Island

Thule Island

. From 1976 to 1982, Argentina maintained a naval base named Corbeta Uruguay

Corbeta Uruguay

in the lee (southern East coast) of the same island. Although the British discovered the presence of the Argentine base in 1976, protested and tried to resolve the issue by diplomatic means, no effort was made to remove them by force until after the Falklands War

Falklands War

. The base was eventually removed on June 20, 1982 and the installations demolished in December.

On February 10, 2008 an earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

of magnitude 6.5 on the Richter Scale had its epicentre 205 km south-southeast of Bristol Island

Bristol Island

. On June 30, 2008, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck the region. Its epicentre was at 283 km (175.8 mi) east-northeast (73 degrees) of Bristol Island.

Old maps

See also: Maps showing la Roché's discovery

L'Isle, Guillaume de & Henry A. Chatelain. (1705/19). Carte du Paraguai, du Chili, du Detroit de Magellan. Paris. (Map featuring Roché Island.)
Seale, Richard W. (ca. 1745). A Map of South America. With all the European Settlements & whatever else is remarkable from the latest & best observations. London. (Map featuring Roché Island.)
Jefferys, Thomas. (1768). South America. London. (Map featuring Roché Island.)
Joseph Gilbert. (1775). Isle of Georgia with Clerke’s Isles and Pickersgill’s Isle. Plan with panorama. In: Charts, and views of headlands, taken during Captain Cook's Second Voyage, 1772-1774. British Library.
Cook, James. (1777). Chart of the Discoveries made in the South Atlantic Ocean, in His Majestys Ship Resolution, under the Command of Captain Cook, in January 1775, W. Strahan and T. Cadel, London.
A. Arrowsmith. (1794). Map of the World on a Globular Projection, Exhibiting Particularly the Nautical Researches of Capn. James Cook, F.R.S. with all the Recent Discoveries to the Present Time. London.

External links

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