![]() ![]() One was called "a charnel house boiling wholesale in Vaseline" by an early 20th-century visitor. The whaling stations' tryworks were unpleasant and dangerous places to work. The seven stations, all on the north coast with its sheltered harbours, were, from the west to east: Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken. ![]() A Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at Grytviken in 1904. South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century. 20th and 21st centuries Norwegian Lutheran Church at Grytviken The waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as Earl Spencer, in late 1801. Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century. The scientists of this group observed the transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. In 1882–1883 a German expedition for the first International Polar Year set up its base at Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island. British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under 1843 British letters patent. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, naming it the "Isle of Georgia" in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom. James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1775 and made the first landing. The commercial Spanish ship León, operating out of Saint-Malo, sighted it on 28 June or 29 June 1756. The island appeared as Roche Island on early maps. The island of South Georgia was first sighted and visited in April 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and (despite his French name) an Englishman, who spent a fortnight in one of the island's bays. Main article: History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Georgia 17th to 19th centuries Richard William Seale's map of 1744, showing Roche Island and noting its discovery in 1675 Toothfish are vital to the islands' economy as a result, Toothfish Day is celebrated on 4 September as a bank holiday in the territory. Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands as part of the Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982 Falklands War, during which Argentine forces briefly occupied the island. ![]() Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938.Īrgentina maintained a naval station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985 previously, it had been governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. 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. The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia. The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km 2 (1,507 sq mi). The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. ![]()
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