South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands. The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and theSouth Sandwich Islands in 1908. Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over the territory.
About South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in brief
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands. The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and theSouth Sandwich Islands in 1908. Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over the territory. South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century, until whaling ended in the 1960s. There are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the territory, although visits by cruise liners to South Georgia are increasingly popular, with several thousand visitors each summer. Toothfish are vital to the islands’ economy; as a result, Toothfish Day is celebrated on 4 September as a bank holiday in the territory and is known as ‘Toothfish Day’ in South Georgia. The territory’s total land area is 3,903 km2. The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres west from its nearest point. No permanent native population lives in the South Sandwich Islands, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia and the South Mediterranean islands. The South South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres southeast of South Georgia. The Falkland Islands are 1,300 kilometres west from South Georgia’s nearest point and 1,000 kilometres north of the South South Sandwich island. The islands were first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and an Englishman. The island appeared as Roche Island on early maps.
The commercial Spanish ship León, operating out of Saint-Malo sighted it on 28 June or 29 June 1756. James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1774 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, nameing it the \”Isle of Georgia\” in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom. In 1909, an administrative centre and residence centre were established at King Edward Point on South South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken. The claim was extended in 1917 to include a sector of Antarctica reaching to the South Pole. In 1908, the South United Kingdom issued further letters patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the Atlantic. The letters covered the South Orkneys, South Sheklands, South Sandwich Islands, South Graham Land, and Graham Land. In 1985, the territory was formed in 1985; previously, it had been governed as part of the Falklands Islands Dependencies. Argentina maintained a naval station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. It was briefly occupied by Argentine forces during the 1982 Falklands War, during which Argentine forces briefly occupied the island. The station operated until 1965. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytvikon. The seven stations, all on the north coast with its sheltered harbours, were, from the west to east: The whaling stations’ tryworks were unpleasant and dangerous places to work.
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This page is based on the article South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 27, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
