)
| anthem = "
God Save the Queen"
| song_type =
| song =
| image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg
| map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern
Atlantic Ocean
| mapsize = 255px
| subdivision_type =
Sovereign state
| subdivision_name =
United Kingdom
| established_title2 =
Separation from Falkland Islands
| established_date2 = 3 October 1985
| official_languages =
English
| demonym =
| capital =
King Edward Point
| coordinates =
| largest_settlement = capital
| largest_settlement_type = largest settlement
| ethnic_groups =
| ethnic_groups_year =
| government_type =
Directly administered dependency under a
constitutional monarchy
| leader_title1 =
Monarch
| leader_name1 =
Elizabeth II
| leader_title2 =
Commissioner
| leader_name2 =
Nigel Phillips
| national_representation =
Government of the United Kingdom
| national_representation_type1 = Minister
| national_representation1 =
Tariq Ahmad
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| area_sq_mi = 1,507
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Falkland Islands pound (£)
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.gs
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 long and wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is . The
Falkland Islands are about west from its nearest point.
No permanent native population lives in the South Sandwich Islands, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia.
There are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the territory, although visits by cruise liners to South Georgia are increasingly popular, with several thousand visitors each summer.
The United Kingdom claimed
sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985; previously, it had been governed as part of the
Falkland Islands Dependencies.
Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938.
Argentina maintained a naval station,
Corbeta Uruguay, on
Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the
Royal Navy. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982
Falklands War, during which Argentine forces briefly occupied the island. Argentina
continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
Toothfish are vital to the islands' economy; as a result, Toothfish Day is celebrated on 4 September as a
bank holiday in the territory.
History
South Georgia
17th to 19th centuries
The island of South Georgia was first sighted in 1675 by
Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and (despite his French name) an Englishman. The island appeared as ''Roche Island'' on early maps. The commercial Spanish ship ''León'', operating out of
Saint-Malo sighted it on 28 June or 29 June 1756.
in 1775 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the
Kingdom of Great Britain, naming it the "Isle of Georgia" in honour of King
George III of the United Kingdom. British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under 1843 British
letters patent.
In 1882–1883 a
German expedition for the first
International Polar Year set up its base at
Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island. The scientists of this group observed the
transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the
1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century. The waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as , in late-1801.
20th and 21st centuries
at
Grytviken ]]
South Georgia became a base for
whaling beginning in the 20th century, until whaling ended in the 1960s. A Norwegian,
Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at
Grytviken in 1904. It operated through his
Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken.
The station operated until 1965. Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the
Falkland Islands. The seven stations, all on the north coast with its sheltered harbours, were, from the west to east:
#
Prince Olav Harbour
#
Leith Harbour
#
Stromness
#
Husvik
#
Grytviken
#
Godthul
#
Ocean Harbour
The whaling stations'
tryworks were unpleasant and dangerous places to work. One was called "a
charnel house boiling wholesale in Vaseline" by an early 20th-century visitor.
Tim Flannery wrote that its "putrid vapors
esembledthe pong of bad fish, manure, and a tanning works mixed together", and noted one bizarre peril: "A rotting whale could fill with gas to bursting, ejecting a fetus the size of a motor vehicle with sufficient force to kill a man."
during the
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition ]]
With the end of the whaling industry, the stations were abandoned. Apart from a few preserved buildings such as the
South Georgia Museum and
Norwegian Lutheran Church at Grytviken, only their decaying remains survive. From 1905, the Argentine Meteorological Office cooperated in maintaining a meteorological observatory at Grytviken under the British lease requirements of the whaling station until these changed in 1949.
In 1908, the United Kingdom issued further
letters patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic. The letters covered South Georgia, the
South Orkneys, the
South Shetlands, the South Sandwich Islands, and
Graham Land. The claim was extended in 1917 to include a sector of Antarctica reaching to the
South Pole. In 1909, an administrative centre and residence were established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken. A permanent local British administration and resident magistrate exercised effective
possession, enforcement of
British law, and regulation of all economic, scientific, and other activities in the territory, which was then governed as the
Falkland Islands Dependencies. In about 1912, what is according to some accounts the largest whale ever caught, a
blue whale of , was landed at Grytviken.
In April 1916,
Ernest Shackleton's
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition became stranded on
Elephant Island, some southwest of South Georgia. Shackleton and five companions set out in a small boat to summon help, and on 10 May, after an epic voyage, they landed at
King Haakon Bay on South Georgia's south coast. While three stayed at the coast, Shackleton and the two others,
Tom Crean and
Frank Worsley, went on to cover over the spine of the mountainous island to reach help at
Stromness whaling station. The remaining 22 members of the expedition, who had stayed on Elephant Island, were subsequently rescued. In January 1922, during a
later expedition, Shackleton died on board ship while moored in King Edward Cove, South Georgia. He is buried at Grytviken. The ashes of another noted Antarctic explorer,
Frank Wild, who had been Shackleton's second-in-command on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, were interred next to Shackleton in 2011.
Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927. The basis of this claim and of a later claim in 1938 to the South Sandwich Islands has been questioned. During the
Second World War, the Royal Navy deployed an armed merchant vessel to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters against German raiders, along with two four-inch shore guns (still present) protecting Cumberland Bay and Stromness Bay, which were manned by volunteers from among the Norwegian whalers. The base at King Edward Point was expanded as a research facility in 1949/1950 by the
British Antarctic Survey, which until 1962 was called the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey.
The
Falklands War was precipitated on 19 March 1982 when a group of Argentinians (most of them
Argentine Marines in
''mufti''), posing as scrap-metal merchants, occupied the abandoned whaling station at
Leith Harbour on South Georgia. On 3 April, Argentine troops
attacked and occupied Grytviken. Among the commanding officers of the Argentine garrison was
Alfredo Astiz, a captain in the
Argentine Navy who was convicted years later of crimes against humanity committed during the
Dirty War in Argentina. The island was recaptured by British forces on 25 April, in
Operation Paraquet.
In 1985, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ceased to be administered as a Falkland Islands Dependency and became a separate territory. The
King Edward Point base, which had become a small military garrison after the Falklands War, returned to civilian use in 2001 and is now operated by the
British Antarctic Survey.
South Sandwich Islands
Captain
James Cook discovered the southern eight islands of the Sandwich Islands Group in 1775, although he lumped the southernmost three together, and their status as separate islands was not established until 1820 by
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The northern three islands were discovered by Bellingshausen in 1819. The islands were tentatively named "Sandwich Land" by Cook, although he also commented that they might be a group of islands rather than a single body of land. The name was chosen in honour of
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. The word "South" was later added to distinguish them from the "Sandwich Islands", now known as the
Hawaiian Islands.
Argentina claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938, and challenged British sovereignty in the Islands on several occasions. From 25 January 1955 to mid-1956, Argentina maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at
Ferguson Bay on the southeastern coast of
Thule Island. Argentina maintained a naval base (
Corbeta Uruguay) from 1976 to 1982, in the lee (southern east coast) of the same island. Although the British discovered the presence of the Argentine base in 1976,
protested and tried to resolve the issue by diplomatic means, no effort was made to remove them by force until after the
Falklands War. The base was removed on 20 June 1982.
Geography
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are a collection of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. Most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous. At higher elevations, the islands are permanently covered with ice and snow.
South Georgia group
The South Georgia group lies about east-southeast of the Falkland Islands, at 54°–55°S, 36°–38°W. It comprises
South Georgia Island itself, by far the largest island in the territory, and the islands that immediately surround it and some remote and isolated islets to the west and east-southeast. It has a total land area of , including satellite islands, but excluding the South Sandwich Islands which form a separate island group.
Islands within the South Georgia group
]]
South Georgia Island lies at and has an area of . It is mountainous and largely barren. Eleven peaks rise to over high, their slopes furrowed with deep gorges filled with glaciers; the largest is
Fortuna Glacier. The highest peak is
Mount Paget in the
Allardyce Range at .
Geologically, the island consists of
gneiss and
argillaceous schists with occasional tuffs and other sedimentary layers from which fossils have been recovered.
The island is a fragment of some greater land-mass now vanished and was probably a former extension of the
Andean system.
Smaller islands and islets off the coast of South Georgia Island include:
*
Annenkov Island
*
Bird Island
*
Cooper Island
*
Grass Island
*
Jomfruene
*
Pickersgill Islands
*
Trinity Island
*
Welcome Islands
*
Willis Islands
These remote rocks are also considered part of the South Georgia group:
*
Shag Rocks, west-northwest of South Georgia Island
*
Black Rock, west-northwest of South Georgia Island
*
Clerke Rocks, east-southeast of South Georgia Island
South Sandwich Islands
The South Sandwich Islands ( es|Islas Sandwich del Sur) comprise 11 mostly
volcanic islands (excluding tiny satellite islands and offshore rocks), with some active volcanoes. They form an
island arc running north–south in the region 56°18'–59°27'S, 26°23'–28°08'W, between about southeast of South Georgia.
The northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands form the
Traversay Islands and
Candlemas Islands groups, while the southernmost make up
Southern Thule. The three largest islands
Saunders,
Montagu, and
Bristollie between the two. The Islands' highest point is Mount Belinda () on Montagu Island. The fourth highest peak,
Mount Michael () on Saunders Island has a persistent
lava lake, known to occur at only eight volcanoes in the world.
[
]
The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, though a permanently manned Argentine research station was located on Thule Island from 1976 to 1982 (for details, see above). Automatic
weather stations are on Thule Island and
Zavodovski. To the northwest of Zavodovski Island is the
Protector Shoal, a submarine volcano.
The South Sandwich Islands from north to south are:
A series of six passages separates each of the islands or island groups in the chain. They are, from north to south: Zavodovski Isl., ''Traverse passage'', Visokoi Isl., ''Brown's passage'', Candlemas Isl., ''Shackleton's passage'', Saunders Isl., ''Larsen's passage'', Montagu Isl., Biscoe's passage, Bristol Isl.,
Forsters Passage, Southern Thule. Nelson Channel is the passage between Candlemas and Vindication Island.
Extreme points
* Northernmost point –
Cape North
* Southernmost point – on
Cook Island
* Westernmost point – on
Main Island (of the
Willis Islands)
* Easternmost point – on
Montagu Island
* Highest point –
Mount Paget: 2,934 m
* Lowest point – Atlantic Ocean: 0
Climate
in clouds.]]
The climate is classified as polar, and the weather is highly variable and harsh; making a
tundra (
ET) in
Köppen climate classification. Typical daily maximum temperatures in South Georgia at sea level are around in winter (August) and in summer (January). Winter minimum temperatures are typically about and rarely dip below . Annual precipitation in South Georgia is about , much of which falls as sleet or snow, which is possible the entire year. Inland, the snow line in summer is at an altitude of about .
Westerly winds blow throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm—indeed, in 1963, 25% of winds were in the calm category at King Edward point, and the mean wind speed of around is around half that of the Falkland Islands. This gives the eastern side of South Georgia (leeward side) a more pleasant climate than the exposed western side. The prevailing weather conditions generally make the islands difficult to approach by ship, though the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays which provide good anchorage.
Sunshine, as with many South Atlantic Islands, is low, at a maximum of just 21.5%. This amounts to around 1,000 hours of sunshine annually. The local
topography, however, also contributes significantly to the low
insolation. A study published during the early 1960s indicated that sunshine recording instruments remained significantly obscured throughout the year and entirely obscured during June. It was estimated that the theoretical sunshine exposure minus obstructions would be around 14% at Bird Island and 35% at King Edward Pointor, in hourly terms, ranging from around 650 hours in the west to 1,500 hours in the east. This illustrates the effect the Allardyce Range has in breaking up cloud cover.
Mountain winds blow straight up the western side and straight down the eastern side of the mountains and become much warmer and drier due to the
Föhn effect; this produces the most pleasant conditions when temperatures can occasionally rise over on summer days. The highest recorded temperature was at Grytviken. and at nearby King Edward point, both on the sheltered east side of the Islands. Conversely, the highest recorded temperature at Bird Island on the windward western side is a mere . As one might expect, the sheltered eastern side can also record lower winter temperatures—the absolute minimum for Grytviken being , King Edward Point , but Bird Island just .
The seas surrounding South Georgia are cold throughout the year due to the proximity of the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current. They usually remain free of pack ice in winter, though thin ice may form in sheltered bays, and
icebergs are common. Sea temperatures drop to in late August and rise to around only in early April.
The South Sandwich Islands are much colder than South Georgia, being farther south and more exposed to cold outbreaks from the Antarctic continent. They are also surrounded by sea ice from the middle of May to late November (even longer at their southern end). Recorded temperature extremes at South Thule Island have ranged from .
Government
Executive power is vested in the
Monarch of the United Kingdom and is exercised by the
commissioner, a post held by the
Governor of the Falkland Islands. The current commissioner is
Nigel Phillips, who became commissioner on 12 September 2017. A chief executive officer (Martin Collins) deals with policy matters and is director of SGSSI Fisheries, responsible for the allocation of fishing licences. An executive officer (Richard McKee) deals with administrative matters relating to the territory. Also, an environmental officer (
Jennifer Lee) and a marine and fisheries officer (
Katherine Ross) are appointed. The financial secretary and attorney general of the territory are appointed ''ex officio'' similar appointments in the Falkland Islands' government.
As no permanent inhabitants live on the islands, no
legislative council and no elections are needed. The UK Foreign Office manages the foreign relations of the territory. Since 1982, the territory celebrates
Liberation Day on 14 June.
The constitution of the territory (adopted 3 October 1985), the manner in which its government is directed and the availability of judicial review were discussed in a series of litigations between 2001 and 2005 (see, in particular, ''Regina v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Appellant) ex parte Quark Fishing Limited''
005UKHL 57). Although its government is entirely directed by the UK Foreign Office, it was held that, since it was acting as an agent of
the Crown in right of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands rather than in right of the UK, its decisions under that direction could not be challenged as if they were in law decisions of a UK government department; thus the European Convention on Human Rights did not apply.
Economy
Commercial
sealing occurred on the islands between 1817 and 1909. During that period 20 visits are recorded by sealing vessels.
Economic activity in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is limited. The territory has revenues of £4.5 million, 80% of which is derived from fishing licences (2011 figures). Other sources of revenue are the sale of postage stamps and coins, tourism, and customs and harbour dues.
Fishing
Fishing takes place around South Georgia and in adjacent waters in some months of the year, with fishing licences sold by the territory for
Patagonian toothfish,
cod icefish and
krill. Fishing licences bring in millions of pounds a year, most of which is spent on fishery protection and research. All fisheries are regulated and managed in accordance with the
Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) system.
In 2001 the South Georgia government was cited by the
Marine Stewardship Council for its sustainable Patagonian toothfish fishery, certifying that South Georgia met the MSC's environmental standards. The certificate places limits on the timing and quantity of Patagonian toothfish that may be caught.
Tourism
Tourism has become a larger source of income in recent years, with many cruise ships and sailing yachts visiting the area (the only way to visit South Georgia is by sea; there are no airstrips on the Islands). The territory gains income from landing charges and the sale of souvenirs.
Cruise ships often combine a Grytviken visit with a trip to the
Antarctic Peninsula.
Charter yacht visits usually begin in the Falkland Islands, last between four and six weeks, and enable guests to visit remote harbours of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Sailing vessels are now required to anchor out and can no longer tie up to the old whaling piers on shore. One exception to this is the recently upgraded/repaired yacht berth at Grytviken. All other jetties at former whaling stations lie inside a exclusion zone; and berthing, or putting ropes ashore, at these is forbidden. Yachts visiting South Georgia are normally expected to report to the Government Officers at King Edward Point before moving round the island.
Postage stamps
was issued in 1963.]]
A large source of income from abroad also comes from the issue of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands postage stamps which are produced in the UK.
A reasonable issue policy (few sets of stamps are issued each year) along with attractive subject matter (especially whales) makes them popular with
Topical stamp collecting|topical stamp collectors.
There are only four genuine
first day cover sets from 16 March 1982 in existence. They were stamped at the South Georgia Post Office; all those in circulation were stamped elsewhere and sent out, but the only genuine ones were kept at the Post Office on South Georgia. These four sets were removed during the
Falklands War by a member of staff of the British Antarctic Survey in the few moments the Argentinians allowed them to gather their belongings. Everything else was burnt, but these four sets were saved and brought to the UK by Robert Headland, BAS.
Currency
The
pound sterling is the official currency of the islands, and the same notes and coins are used as in the United Kingdom.
Internet domain registration
The
Internet country code top-level domain (
ccTLD) for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is
.gs.
Ecology
Plants
Native plants
The parts of the islands that are not permanently covered in snow or ice are part of the
Scotia Sea Islands
tundra ecoregion. In total there are 26 species of vascular plant native to South Georgia; six species of
grass, four
rushes, a single
sedge, six
ferns, one
clubmoss and nine small
forbs. There are also about 125 species of
moss, 85 of
liverworts and 150
lichens, as well as about 50 species of macrofungi.
There are no trees or shrubs on the islands.
The largest plant is the tussock grass ''
Poa flabellata''. This grows mostly on raised beaches and steep slopes near the shore and may reach . Other grasses include the tufted fescue (''
Festuca contracta''), the Alpine cat's-tail (''
Phleum alpinum'') and Antarctic hair-grass (''
Deschampsia antarctica''), and one of the most common flowering plants is the greater burnet (''
Acaena magellanica'').
[
]
Introduced plants
A number of introduced species have become naturalised; many of these were introduced by whalers in cattle fodder, and some are considered invasive.
There have been 76 introduced plant species recorded in South Georgia. 35 of these are considered eradicated, with 41 still considered present on the island. 33 of these species are planned for eradication by 2020.
Birds
South Georgia supports many sea birds, including albatross, a large colony of king penguins, Macaroni penguins and penguins of various other species, along with petrels, prions, shags, skuas, gulls and terns. Birds unique to the archipelago are the South Georgia shag, South Georgia pipit, and the South Georgia pintail. Both South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have been identified as Important Bird Areas (IBA) by BirdLife International.
Mammals
Seals frequent the islands, and whales may be seen in the surrounding waters. There are no native land mammals, though reindeer, brown rats and mice were introduced to South Georgia through human activities.
Rats, brought to the island as stowaways on sealing and whaling ships in the late 18th century, have caused much damage to native wildlife, destroying tens of millions of ground-nesting birds' eggs and chicks. While previously the island's glaciers formed a natural barrier to the spread of rats, these glaciers are now slowly melting as the climate warms. In 2011, scientists instituted a four-year programme to entirely eradicate the rats and mice, in what would be by far the largest rodent eradication attempt in the world to date. The project was led by zoologist Anthony Martin of The University of Dundee who stated, "This is a man-induced problem and it's about time that man put right earlier errors." In July 2013, the success of the main phase of the extermination of the rats, which took place in May that year, was announced. 180 tonnes of rat poison, brodifacoum, were dropped over 70% of the island, in what was the world's largest ever operation of this kind. Another 95 tonnes of rat poison was planned to be dropped by three helicopters in January 2015. In June 2015 the eradication programme concluded, apparently successfully, with the island believed "very likely" to be rat free. In 2017/18, an intensive six-month search by the South Georgia Heritage Trust, using sniffer dogs and baited traps, found no evidence of rodent presence. Monitoring will continue for a further two or three years. In 2018, the number of South Georgia pipits had clearly increased.
Reindeer were introduced to South Georgia in 1911 by Norwegian whalers for meat and for sport hunting. In February 2011, the authorities announced that due to the reindeer's detrimental effect on native species and the threat of their spreading to presently pristine areas, a complete cull would take place, leading to the eradication of reindeer from the island. The eradication began in 2013 with 3,500 reindeer killed. Nearly all the rest were killed in early 2014, with the last (about 50) cleared in the 2014/15 southern summer.
Marine ecosystem
The seas around South Georgia have a high level of biodiversity. In a recent study (2009–2011), South Georgia has been discovered to contain one of the highest levels of biodiversity among all the ecosystems on Earth. In respect to species, marine inhabitants endemic to this ecosystem outnumber and (in respect to biodiversity) surpass well-known regions such as the Galápagos or Ecuador. The marine ecosystem is thought to be vulnerable because its low temperatures mean that it can repair itself only very slowly. On 23 February 2012, to protect marine biodiversity, the territory's government created the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Areacomprising .
Military
thumb|HMS ''Protector''
After the Falklands War in 1982, a full-time British military presence was maintained at King Edward Point on South Georgia. This was scaled down during the 1990s until the last detachment left South Georgia in March 2001, after a new station had been built and occupied by the British Antarctic Survey.
The main British military facility in the region is at RAF Mount Pleasant and the adjacent Mare Harbour naval base on East Falkland, and three Remote Radar Heads on the Falklands: RRH Mount Kent, RRH Byron Heights and RRH Mount Alice. A handful of British naval vessels patrol the region, visiting South Georgia a few times each year and sometimes deploying small infantry patrols. Flights by RAF C-130 Hercules and Vickers VC10 (replaced by Voyager) aircraft also occasionally patrol the territory.
A Royal Navy destroyer or frigate and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel carry out the Atlantic Patrol Task (South) mission in the surrounding area.
, the Royal Navy ice-patrol ship, operated in the South Georgia area during part of most southern summer seasons until her near loss due to flooding in 2008. She carried out hydrological and mapping work as well as assisting with scientific fieldwork for the British Antarctic Survey, film and photographic units, and youth expedition group BSES Expeditions. While the final decision on the fate of ''Endurance'' was pending, the Royal Navy chartered a Norwegian icebreaker, renamed , to act as replacement for three years. In September 2013 the British Ministry of Defence purchased the ship outright.
See also
* Bibliography of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
*
*
* Lists of islands
References
Further reading
* Basberg, Bjorn L. – ''The Shore Whaling Stations at South Georgia: A Study in Antarctic Industrial Archaeology.''
*Burton, Robert. ''South Georgia''. (4th edition ed.). The Commissioner, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
* Chaplin, J. M. – ''Narrative of Hydrographic Survey Operations in South Georgia and the South Shetland Islands, 1926-1930.''
*Galbraith, Deirdre. (2011). ''A field guide to the flora of South Georgia''. Great Britain: South Georgia Heritage Trust. ..
* Forster, Georg (1777). ''A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop ''Resolution'' Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years 1772, 3, 4 and 5'' (2 vols.). London.
* Greene, Dorothy M. – ''A Conspectus of the Mosses of Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and Southern South America.''
* Gregory, J. W. – ''Geological Relations and Some Fossils of South Georgia.''
* Hardy, A. C. and E. R. Gunther – ''The Plankton of the South Georgia Whaling Grounds and Adjacent Waters, 1926-1927.''
* Headland, R. K. (1984)
''The Island of South Georgia''
Cambridge University Press. .
* Holdgate, Martin W., and Peter Edward Baker
The South Sandwich Islands: I. General description
Vol. 91. British Antarctic Survey, 1979.
* Kemp, Stanley, A. L. Nelson, and G. W. Tyrell – ''The South Sandwich Islands.''
* Kohl-Larsen, Ludwig and William Barr – ''South Georgia, Gateway to Antarctica.''
* Leader-Williams, N. – ''Reindeer on South Georgia: The Ecology of an Introduced Population.''
* Matthews, L. Harrison – ''South Georgia: The British Empire’s Subantarctic Outpost.''
* Murphy, Robert Cushman – ''The Penguins of South Georgia.''
* Ovstedal, DO and RI Lewis Smith – ''Lichens of Antarctica and South Georgia: A Guide to Their Identification and Ecology.''
*Poncet, Sally and Crosbie, Kim. ''A visitor's guide to South Georgia : the essential guide for any visitor''. (2nd edition ed.). Princeton, New Jersey. .
* Skottsberg, C. – ''The Vegetation in South Georgia.''
* Stonehouse, Bernard – ''The King Penguin Aptenodytes Patagonica of South Georgia 1. Breeding Behaviour and Development.''
*Upson, Rebecca,. ''Field guide to the introduced flora of South Georgia''. Myer, Bradley, Floyd, Kelvin, Lee, Jennifer, Clubbe, Colin,. Richmond, Surrey, UK. .
* Verrill, G. E. – ''Notes on Birds and Eggs from the Islands of Gough, Kerguelen, and South Georgia, With Two Plates.''
* Wheeler, Tony (2004). ''The Falklands & South Georgia Island''. Lonely Planet. .
External links
Government
South Georgia government website
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
*
*
Map of the Argentine claim over Islas Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur
Others
South Georgia Association website
South Georgia Heritage Trust
Live picture from the South Georgia webcam
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Category:Antarctic region
Category:Disputed islands
Category:English-speaking countries and territories
Category:Important Bird Areas of the British Overseas Territories
Category:Lists of coordinates
Category:Seal hunting
Category:States and territories established in 1985
Category:Territorial disputes of Argentina
Category:Volcanic arc islands
.South Georgia
Category:Dependent territories in South America
Category:1985 establishments in British Overseas Territories
Category:Islands of the South Atlantic Ocean
South Georgia
Category:Important Bird Areas of subantarctic islands
