South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) 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 known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km2 (1,507 sq mi). The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point.
Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen was a cartographer, explorer, and naval officer of the Russian Empire, who attained the rank of admiral. He participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe, and subsequently became a leader of another circumnavigation expedition that discovered the continent of Antarctica. Like Otto von Kotzebue and Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Bellingshausen belonged to the cohort of prominent Baltic German navigators who helped Russia launch its naval expeditions.
Bellingshausen Island is one of the most southerly of the South Sandwich Islands, close to Thule Island and Cook Island, and forming part of the Southern Thule group. It is named after its discoverer, Russian Antarctic explorer Fabian von Bellingshausen (1778–1852).
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. The alternative name Morrell Island is after Benjamin Morrell, an American explorer and whaling captain. It was espied by James Cook and his Resolution crew on 31 January 1775 during his attempt to find Terra Australis.
Vindication Island is a small uninhabited island of the Candlemas Islands in the South Sandwich Islands. It is one of about a dozen islands that make up the South Sandwich island arc, a chain of volcanoes in the Southern Ocean that was discovered in 1775 by James Cook. The volcanism is caused by the subduction of the South American Plate beneath the Sandwich Plate.
The Traversay Islands are a group of three islands—Zavodovski, Leskov and Visokoi—at the northern end of the South Sandwich Islands.
The Candlemas Islands are a group of small uninhabited islands lying at the northern part of the South Sandwich Islands, 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Visokoi Island. They consist of Candlemas Island and Vindication Island, divided by Nelson Channel, and numerous rocks.
Protector Shoal is the shallowest point of the Protector Seamounts, a group of submarine volcanoes in the Southern Ocean. They are part of the South Sandwich island arc, a volcanic arc that has given rise to the South Sandwich Islands. Protector Shoal reaches a depth of 55 metres (180 ft) below sea level and is part of a larger group of seamounts that formed atop a larger ridge. Some of these seamounts bear traces of sector collapses, and one is capped by nested calderas.
The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the various British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica which were governed from the Falkland Islands and its capital Stanley.
Leskov Island is an island in the South Sandwich Islands named after Russian sailor Arcady Leskov. It is a semicircular 190 metres (620 ft) high eroded volcano with a large bay on its eastern side. Leskov Island is almost entirely surrounded by cliffs and has a surface area of 0.55 by 0.93 kilometres. Volcanic rocks form tuffs and lava and consist almost entirely of andesite.
Saunders Island is a crescent-shaped island 8.5 by 5 kilometres long, lying between Candlemas Island and Montagu Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a volcanic island composed of an active stratovolcano, 990-metre (3,248 ft) Mount Michael, and a cluster of pyroclastic cones on the southeastern side. Mount Michael has a lava lake in its summit crater, which is fumarolically active, and there is widespread evidence of recent eruptions across the island.
Southern Thule is a group of the three southernmost islands in the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean: Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule (Morrell). It is a largely submerged volcano of which only the three islands emerge above sea level. Between Cook and Thule, and south of Bellingshausen, lie two submerged calderas; a third caldera is located on Thule. Cook Island is inactive and largely glaciated, while Bellingshausen and Thule feature active craters with fumarolic activity, and there is evidence of eruptions in the 20th century.
Candlemas Island is a small uninhabited island of the Candlemas Islands in the South Sandwich Islands. It is one of about a dozen islands that make up the South Sandwich island arc, a chain of volcanoes in the Southern Ocean that was discovered in 1775 by James Cook. The volcanism is caused by the subduction of the South American Plate beneath the Sandwich Plate. The island is remote and rarely visited due to the often hostile weather conditions, but is populated by penguins and seabirds, which form large breeding colonies.
Zavodovski Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Traversay Islands subgroup of the South Sandwich Islands, which are located southeast of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands and consists of one major stratovolcano, Mount Curry, which is surrounded to the east by a plain formed by lava flows. Mount Curry has a fumarolically active crater on the southwestern side, which also bears traces of a sector collapse. An eruption occurred in 2016.
Visokoi Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Traversay Islands subgroup of the South Sandwich Islands, which are located southeast of South Georgia. It consists of one major volcano, Mount Hodson whose height is usually given as 1,005 metres (3,297 ft). The mountain is mostly covered by glaciers, except for several low areas on the coast like the northern Finger Point and eastern Irving Point. Several parasitic vents are found especially on the eastern side, and one vent close to Finger Point is still hot. Eruptions were reported in 1830, 1927 and 1930.
Montagu Island is the largest of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the Scotia Sea off the coast of Antarctica. It is almost entirely ice-covered with only sparse rocky outcrops, and consists of a large caldera with a large parasitic cone, Mount Oceanite. Several secondary volcanic cones have formed in the caldera, including Mount Belinda.
Bristol Island is an uninhabited island in the South Sandwich Islands. The island is almost entirely surrounded by ice cliffs and largely covered with ice. It features both the oldest rocks of this archipelago and an active volcano that last erupted in 2016.
