British Antarctic Territory Facts

British Antarctic Territory is a colony that extends between 20° and 80° west longitude and from latitude 60° south to the South Pole. It consists of the South Orkney and South Shetland islands and a wedge of Antarctica, including the Antarctic Peninsula and the islands adjacent to the peninsula.


Most of the islands are rugged, with many glaciers, and the Antarctic Peninsula is mountainous, Mt. Andrew Jackson rising to about 13,700 feet (4,175 meters). A snow-covered plateau extends along the peninsula at a height declining from about 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) in the south to about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) in the north.

Covered by ice, the continental area is fringed by ice shelves 800 feet (240 meters) thick. The territory has no permanent inhabitants, but there are scientific and field stations manned by scientists and technicians.

The area was discovered in 1819–1821 and taken possession of by Britain over the period to 1832. The territory, created in 1962, is administered by a high commissioner, who is also governor of the Falkland Islands. The uses of the territory are guided by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.

Communications with the Falkland Islands and Britain are maintained by the British Antarctic Survey's research ships. Part of the British Antarctic Territory is claimed by Argentina, part by Chile, and part by both of those nations.

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