South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

"South Georgia" redirects here. For the southern part of the U.S. state, see Georgia.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, also claimed by Argentina as part of Tierra del Fuego province (because of that, some of the islands have also Spanish names). They are administered from the Falkland Islands by UK civil commissioner Howard Pearce, representing Queen Elizabeth II. Defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom. Since 1982, the territory celebrates Liberation Day on June 14. A constitution was adopted October 3, 1985, when the islands became a separate overseas territory, after having been administratively a part of the Falkland Islands. The legal system is based on English Common Law.

The territory measures 4066 km² in area. The main base (British Antarctic Survey Research Station) and "capital" (seat of the Marine Officer to whom local government is delegated) is King Edward Point, at Cumberland East Bay, near the former Norwegian whaling station of Grytviken, with a maximum accommodation of 18 persons (the winter population is 8 on the average). There is a second base, biological research station Bird Island, at Jordan Cove on the Bird Island 4 km off the western tip of the main island, which can accommodate up to 8 persons but is not continuously occupied. The winter population is 3 to 4 on the average. The total population of the territory therefore ranges from 11 or 12 in winter to a maximum of 26 in summer.

Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting fin fish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK. The territory has revenues of less than $300,000 against expenditures of nearly $500,000. The territory uses data code SX, and has the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .gs.

Table of contents

1 Geography 1.1 South Georgia Group 1.2 South Sandwich Islands 1.2.1 Subgroups 2 History 2.3 South Georgia (Pepys Island) 2.4 South Sandwich Islands 3 See also 4 External links

Geography

The territory consists of two separate island groups, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands.

South Georgia Group

South Georgia lies in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 1390 km south by east of the Falkland Islands, in 54-55°S, 36-38°W. It has a land area of 3756 km², including satellite islands, but excluding the South Sandwich Islands which form a separate island group. The main island itself, also called Pepys Island, or San Pedro in Spanish, has an area of 3528 km². It is mountainous, with 11 peaks over 2,000 m high, their slopes furrowed with deep gorges filled with glaciers (Fortuna Glacier being the largest). Geologically, it consists of gneiss and argillaceous schists, with no trace of fossils, showing that the island is, like the Falkland Islands, a surviving fragment of some greater land-mass now vanished, most probably indicating a former extension of the Andean system. The German expedition sent out to observe the transit of Venus was stationed at Royal Bay, on the south-east side of the island in 1882.

The island group consists of the main island of South Georgia, some satellite islands (including Bird Island, Annekov Island, Cooper Island, Pickersgill Islands, Welcome Islands, Willis Islands), as well as the Shag Rocks, including Black Rock, 250 km to the West, and the Clerke Rocks 74 km in the Southeast.

The climate in the islands is variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow. Most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes. Mount Paget on South Georgia is 2,934 m high. The islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism. The north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia.

South Sandwich Islands

There are 11 mostly volcanic islands (not counting tiny satellite islands and rocks nearby those main islands) forming an island arc, from north to south:

1

Zavodovski	25	550	Mount Curry	{}_{}_{}_{}_{}_{}_{}_1000000|{}°{}′ {} {}°{}′ {}}}
2	Leskov	0.3	190	Rudder Point
3	Visokoi	35	915	Mount Hodson
4	Candlemas (Candelaria)	14	550	Mount Andromeda
5	Vindication (Vidicación)	5	430	Quadrant Peak
6	Saunders	40	805	Mount Michael
7	Montagu (Jorge)	110	1370	Mount Belinda
8	Bristol (Blanca)	46	1100	Mount Darnley
9	Bellingshausen	1	255	Basilisk Peak
10	Cook	20	1115	Mount Harmer
11	Thule or Morrell Island (Tule del Sur)	14	710	Mount Larsen
	SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS (ISLAS SANDWICH DEL SUR)	310	1370	Mount Belinda	56°18' to 59°27'S, 26°20° to 28°08'W

The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, although Thule (Morrell) Island used to have a permanently manned Argentinian research station from 1976 to 1982 (for details, see paragraph on History below).

There are automatic weather stations on Thule (Morrell) Island and Zavodovski.

Subgroups

• Islands 1 through 3 are collectively known as Traversay Islands
• Islands 4 and 5 are collectively known as Candlemas Islands
• Islands 1 through 5 are collectively known as Traversay Islands (wider sense)
• Islands 9 through 11 are collectively known as Southern Thule

Islands 6 through 8, which are also the three largest islands, are not part of any subgroup.

History

South Georgia (Pepys Island)

Anthony de la Roche, a London merchant sighted the island in 1675 and it was named Pepys Island by William Dampier in 1684. It was rediscovered in 1775 by Captain James Cook. Throughout the nineteenth century it was a sealers' base and, in the following century, a whalers' base until whaling ended mid-century. The first land-based whaling station, Grytviken, was set up in 1904 and was in operation until 1965. All seven whaling stations, all on the North coast with its sheltered harbours, starting in the West:

• Prince Olav Harbour (from 1911 factory-ship, land-based station 1916 to 1934)
• Leith Harbour (1909 to 1965)
• Stromness (from 1907 factory-ship, land-based station 1912-1931, repair yard to 1960/1961)
• Husvik (from 1907 factory-ship, land-based station 1960 to 1960, out of operation 1930 to 1945)
• Grytviken (1904 to 1965)
• Godthul (1908 to 1929, only a rudimentary land base, main operations on factory-ship)
• Ocean Harbour (1909 to 1920)

During World War II (Autumn 1943 - Autumn 1944) the island housed a small (14 people) Norwegian military garrison to protect the island from Japanese invasion.

The Falklands War was precipitated on 19 March 1982 when a group of Argentineans, posing as scrap metal merchants, occupied South Georgia at an abandoned whaling station at Leith Harbor . The commander of the Argentinian Garrison was Alfredo Astiz, a Captain in the Argentine Navy who, years later, was convicted of felonies committed during the Dirty War in Argentina. He renamed the island Isla San Pedro when he proclaimed Argentine authority over South Georgia on April 2. The island was recaptured by British forces on 25 April (Operation Paraquet).

The research station at King Edward Point, near the former Norwegian whaling station of Grytviken, originally established up in 1949/1950 by the British Antarctic Survey (until 1962 called Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey), became a small military garrison after the Falklands War. This returned to civilian use in 2001 and is operated by the British Antarctic Survey.

South Sandwich Islands

The islands were initially named "South" Sandwich Islands to distinguish them from the then "Sandwich Islands" now known as "Hawaii". The southern eight islands were discovered by James Cook in 1775. The northern three by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1819.

Argentina's claim over South Georgia (Pepys Island) and the South Sandwich Islands was based on the fact that these dependencies were administered by the Falkland Islands. However, this was done purely as a form of convenience. Geographically speaking, neither dependency is a part of the Falklands.

The Sandwich Islands are highly volcanic with the very deep Sandwich Trench along their eastern rim. From Jan. 25, 1955 through summer of 1956 Argentina maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at Ferguson Bay on the Southeastern coast of Thule (Morrell) Island, Southern Thule, location , built on rocky ground. From 1976 to 1982, Argentina maintained a research base named Corbeta Uruguay, at Port Faraday, in the lee (southern East coast) of the same island, at location . This base was the last Argentinian presence in the territory to be removed at the end of the Falklands War, when 10 Argentinian civilians were taken prisoner of war on June 20, 1982.

See also

• Sub-antarctic islands

External links

• detailed map of South Georgia
• King Edward Point research station
• Bird Island research station
• CIA World Factbook entry
• South Georgia official website
• A Postcard from South Georgia by Roderick Eime
• Photos from South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands from Pbase.com
• Gazetteer: Geographic Names of Antarctica and Subantarctic (with coordinates and heights)
• Gazetteer: Geographic Names of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
• Information on the whaling stations

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