Jump to content

Kerguelen Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Paul Drye (talk | contribs) at 19:14, 5 December 2001 (it's->its). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Kerguelen Archipelago is in the southern Indian Ocean at 49°20' S, 70°20' E. The main island is 6,675 km2 and it is surrounded by another 300 smaller outcropss, forming an archipelago of 7,215 km2. The climate is cold, very windy and the seas are usually rough.


The islands belong to France, it was discovered by de Kerguelen-Tremarec in February 1772. The archipelago was exploited for its seal population until their destruction, fur seals in the 18th C and elephant seals in the early 20th Century. A number of expeditions have briefly touched the islands including that of James Cook in 1776.


Kerguelen has been used by a small number of science teams since 1949, with a population of 50-100 always present.



Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kerguelen_Islands&oldid=262849"