Difference between revisions of "Thatcher Peninsula"

Revision as of 17:56, 22 January 2013

Cumberland Bay with the Thatcher Peninsula in its midst

The Thatcher Peninsula (54°17'S 36°32'W) is a mountainous peninsula of South Georgia, on the in middle of the northern coast, extending into Cumberland Bay. The peninsula separates Cumberland West Bay to the west from Cumberland East Bay and Moraine Fjord to the east. Its point is named Mai Point. It is bounded to the southwest and south by Lyell Glacier and Hamberg Glacier.

King Edward Cove is on the east side of the peninsula, which is South Georgia's capital. Here also is Grytviken, the main whaling station in the days of the Antarctic whale fishery, and today the site of a British Antarctic Survey station.

Name

The Thatcher Peninsula is named after Margaret Thatcher, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. The name was allocated by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1991 at the suggestion of members of the Royal Geographical Society.

Mrs Thatcher was described by Sir Vivian Fuchs, chairman of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Antarctic Place Names Committee, as 'a major figure in the history of South Georgia', for her role in the Falklands War.^[1] It was Margaret Thatcher who ordered the dispatch of the forces which liberated South Georgia and the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation in 1982:

'The geographical tribute appropriately encompasses the spot where the first troops from the Task Force landed in April 1982.'^[2][3]

Mrs Thatcher was, according to friends, 'flattered and amused' by the honour.^[2]

References

Gazetteer and Map of the BAT and SGSSI: Thatcher Peninsula