General: According to SIMPLYYELLOWPAGES, this uninhabited volcanic island is almost entirely covered with glaciers and is difficult to access. It was discovered in 1739 by a French navigator, after whom he received his name. No one claimed it until 1825, when the British flag was raised on the island. In 1928 Great Britain abandoned its claims in favor of Norway, which had occupied the island the year before. In 1971 Bouvet Island and the surrounding territorial waters were declared a natural reserve. Since 1977, a Norwegian automatic meteorological station has been operating on the island.
Geography
Location: South Africa, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, south-southwest of the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa).
Geographic coordinates: 54° 26’S sh., 3° 24′ in. e.
Reference map: Antarctic region.
Area: total: 58.5 square kilometers; land surface area: 58.5 km2; water surface area: 0 km2
Comparative area: approximately 0.3 the area of Washington.
Land borders: 0 km.
Coastline: 29.6 km.
Maritime claims: territorial waters: 4 nautical miles.
Climate: Antarctic.
Relief: volcanic; the maximum elevation is about 800 m; the coast is mostly impregnable.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Southern Ocean 0 m; highest point: Olaf Peak 935 m.
Natural resources: none.
Land use: arable land: 0%; cultivated land: 0%; pasture: 0%; forests and plantations: 0%; other: 100% (93% of the surface is covered with ice).
Irrigated land: 0 sq. km. (1993).
Natural hazards: no data available.
Current environmental issues: no data available.
International agreements on environmental protection:
Note to the section “Geography”: the island is covered by a glacier; declared a nature reserve.
Politics
Common long form: absent;
Common short form: Bouvet Island. Dependency state: territory of Norway; administered from Ospo by the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice and Police.
