South Georgia History
A history of south georgia starts when it was first sighted in the late 17 th century by a London Merchant. South Georgia (later named by Captain Cook) has had its share of visits by explorers, with its 140 Glaciers it is a remarkable island with abundant wildlife. South Georgia is the land that Ernest Shackleton sailed to in order to rescue his crew stranded on the ice of Elephant Island, Antarctica in 1916.
Travel map of South Georgia including the South Sandwich Islands
Featuring:
- Illustrated biographies of explorers and other notable people
- Historical time line
- Colour Photos and text on the wildlife
- Details of many visitor sites
- General information about the islands more >>
South Georgia was initially used as a base for Sealing and Whaling expeditions, primarily due to the visions of one man Carl Anton Larson. Whaling was big business for the islands inhabitants as oil was the primary product that was used in margarine, cooking fats, glycerine, soaps, cosmetics and candles of the time. Overproduction, combined with global depression saw the close of the whaling stations by 1965. Sealing which was also a popular industry for their coats and oils also ceased its trade by the mid 1960's due to dwindling populations.
The first form of shorebased scientific expedition was led by Karl Schrader which studied many sciences pertaining to South Georgia including Geophysics through to botany and tidal observations. In 1918 a ‘Discovery Committee' was set up to consider how best to preserve the whaling industry and to promote scientific study in the Antarctic, the committee's first focal point for the committee was the oceans surrounding South Georgia, the investigations continued until 1951. In 1982 an Argentine ship the Bahia Buen Suceso arrived in Leith Harbour and began salvage operations without permission only later to return with a military garrison. After holding out for more than a month or so the British nuclear powered submarine HMS Conquerer arrived to 146 Surrendering Argentinian military personnel.
South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands became part of the British overseas territories in 1985. In 2001 British Miltary forces withdrew from South Georgia and the station at King Edward Point was taken over by the British Antarctic Survey.
