Argentine Islands
The Argentine Islands are a group of small islands and rocks in the Wilhelm Archipelago of the British Antarctic Territory, lying off the west coast of Graham Land. The islands are to be found five nautical miles south-west of Petermann Island, and 4 nautical miles north-west of Cape Tuxen on Graham Land's Kiev Peninsula.
These islands were discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition of 1903–05, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Charcot, and were named by him after the Argentine Republic in appreciation of that government's support of his expedition.
The islands include:
- Avian Island
- Fanfare Island
- Irizar Island
- Forge Island
- Gallindez Island
- Skua Island
- Uruguay Island
- Winter Island
History
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The British Graham Land Expedition under John Riddoch Rymill was based in the Argentine Islands in 1935 and conducted a thorough survey of them. The expedition built a hut on Winter Island, which was used as their northern base; it was left in place at the end of the expedition, but destroyed around 1946.
The following year, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey established a permanent base on the same site, as "Base F" (or "Argentine Islands"); the main building from this base, Wordie House, is now a protected historic site (HSM-61). The base was moved to Galindez Island in 1954, renamed "Faraday" in 1977, and transferred to the Ukrainian Antarctic programme in 1996, who continue to operate it as 'Vernadsky Research Base'.[1]
References
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Argentine Islands