Gibbs Point, a rock point on the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

, the most northern area of the

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, was named for

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Antarctic explorer,

George W. Gibbs, Jr. George Washington Gibbs Jr. (November 7, 1916 – November 7, 2000), a sailor in the United States Navy, became the first African-American to set foot on the continent of AntarcticaRejcek, PeterMaking history: Gibbs first person of African de ...

on September 2, 2009.Smith, Adam Christian
Black Past.org
"Gibbs, Jr., George W. (1916-2000)". Retrieved August 1, 2012. Contributor to
clientgenie.cgi?butName=Who%20is%20George%20Gibbs%3F&cId=&permission=3&username=; http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?page=lifestory&personid=28147 Legacy.com obituary for George W. Gibbs Jr.
Retrieved August 1, 2012. Also found a

/ref> On that date, the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

(

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

) confirmed the place name in Antarctica for Gibbs as the first black explorer to set foot on the continent.Rejcek, Peter
Making history: Gibbs first person of African descent to set foot on Antarctic continent
In The Antarctic Sun. Posted October 1, 2010. United States Antarctic Program web site. Retrieved August 1, 2012.Geens, Stefan. "Double Honors for African-American Antarctic Explorer George W. Gibbs Jr.
International Polar Year, 2007-2008 web site
. Retrieved August 1, 2012. Gibbs Point is a rock point forming the northwest entrance to

Gaul Cove Gaul Cove () is a cove indenting the northeast side of Horseshoe Island, off the coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee for Kenneth M. Gaul, first leader of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Surve ...

, on the northeast of Horseshoe Island,

Marguerite Bay Marguerite Bay or Margaret Bay is an extensive bay on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is bounded on the north by Adelaide Island and on the south by Wordie Ice Shelf, George VI Sound and Alexander Island. The mainland coast on th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs Point Geography of the Antarctic Peninsula United States and the Antarctic