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South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east–west direction, South Georgia is around long and has a maximum width of . The terrain is mountainous, with the central ridge rising to at Mount Paget. The northern coast is indented with numerous bays and fjords, serving as harbor.
Discovered by Europeans in 1675, South Georgia had no indigenous population due to its harsh climate and remoteness. Captain James Cook in made the first landing, survey and mapping of the island. On 17 January 1775, Cook claimed it a British possession, naming it "Isle of Georgia" after George III. Through its history, it served as a whaling and seal hunting base, with intermittent population scattered in several whaling bases, the most important historically being Grytviken. The main settlement and the capital today is King Edward Point near Grytviken, a British Antarctic Survey research station, with a population of about 20 people.
The mariner Captain James Cook in made the first landing, survey and mapping of South Georgia. As mandated by the Admiralty, on 17 January 1775 he took possession for Britain and renamed the island 'Isle of Georgia' for King George III.
After making a foot crossing of the island with Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, Ernest Shackleton organised the rescue of his party from Elephant Island following the disaster that befell the 1916 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which he led. He is buried in the cemetery at Grytviken alongside Frank Wild.
Commercial seal hunting was conducted on the island between 1786 and 1913. During that period 131 sealing visits are recorded, eight of which ended when the vessel was wrecked. (2025). 9780901021267, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. ISBN 9780901021267 Modern industrial sealing associated with whaling stations was carried out between 1909 and 1964. Sealing era relics include iron , hut ruins, graves and inscriptions. The South Georgia Museum was established on the island in 1992.
His knowledge and mapping proved helpful to the British during the Falklands conflicts.
There are 25 native vascular plants on South Georgia, and 76 non-native species have been recorded. (2018). 9781842466520 ISBN 9781842466520
The island's topography includes a stepped sequence of flat surfaces interpreted as wave-cut platforms formed when sea level was higher relative to the island. At sea level have been described.
In 2013, teams of Norwegian government shooters and Sámi Reindeer herding culled all 3,500 reindeer on the island. The animals had been introduced by Norwegian whalers in the early 20th century for food and sport hunting, but were later seen as a pest, damaging the island's flora and wider ecosystem. Karl Erik Kilander, the project manager, said the culled reindeer were frozen and taken to the Falkland Islands where they were sold to local residents and cruise ship operators.
In 2018, after a multiyear extermination effort, the island was declared free of invasive species and the number of South Georgia pipits had clearly increased. In the central north coast, five years after poisoning the rats, the populations of , South Georgia pintails and Wilson's storm petrels had grown.
The island lies in the path of large icebergs drifting northward from Antarctica. Iceberg A-38 grounded off the island in 2004, resulting in indirect but severe effects on local wildlife by disturbing life on the seafloor and blocking foraging routes of seals and penguins. In 2020, the colossal Iceberg A-68, similar in size to the island itself, was initially believed to be on a similar collision course but broke apart before collision with the island.
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