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SOUTH AMERICA ON LINE GUIDESOUTH GEORGIA AND SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS |
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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) are a British overseas territory situated in the South Atlantic. The island of South Georgia is about 1,400 km east-southeast of Falkland Islands and to the north from Antarctica, between 54°-55°S, 36°-38°W. The island, together with the small islands and reefs that surround it, has a surface area of 3,756 sq km, it's predominantly mountainous and covered with permanent snow and glaciers, such as the Fortuna Glacier that is the largest, 11 peaks exceeding 2,000 meters, the highest mountain on the island is Mount Paget (2,934 metres). The only inhabited centre of the island is Grytviken (20 inhabitants), located in the best port, it's a former village centre for fishing, gathering and processing whales, today hosts a scientific station, a museum on cetaceans and a small church, south of the village is the tomb of English explorer Ernest Shackleton, in the island are also numerous colonies of seals. The Southern Sandwich Islands are uninhabited archipelago (311 sq km) of the southwest Atlantic Ocean, located 640 km south-east of South Georgia, between 56°-59°S, 26°-28°W. The archipelago consists of 11 islands of volcanic origin, with numerous active volcanoes, which are divided into three groups. The group of Traversay islands: Zavodovski (25 sq km), Leskov (0.3 sq km), Visokoi ( 35 sq km), Candlemas (14 sq. km) and Vindication (5 sq km) islands; the Central islands: Saunders (40 sq km), Montagu (110 sq. km) and Bristol (46 square kilometres) islands; and the Southern Thule islands: Bellingshausen (1 sq km), Cook (20 sq. km) and Thule (14 sq km) islands. On Montagu is the highest peak in Southern Sandwich, Mount Belinda (1,370 metres). The islands are uninhabited, and mostly covered by ice. The islands are claimed by Argentina.
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