The islands constitute one of the two exposed parts of theKerguelen Plateau (the other being Heard Island and the McDonald islands), alarge igneous province mostly submerged in the southern Indian Ocean. The main island, Grande Terre, is 6,675 km2 (2,577 sq mi) in area, about three-quarters of the size ofCorsica, and is surrounded by a further 300 smaller islands and islets,[4] forming anarchipelago of 7,215 km2 (2,786 sq mi). The climate is harsh and chilly with frequent high winds throughout the year. The surrounding seas are generally rough and they remain ice-free year-round. There are no indigenous inhabitants, but France maintains a permanent presence of 45 to 100 soldiers, scientists, engineers, and researchers.[5] There are no airports on the islands, so all travel to and from the outside world is by ship.
Before being officially catalogued in 1772, the Kerguelen Islands appear as the "Ile de Nachtegal" onPhilippe Buache's 1754 map of the islands of the Southern Ocean.[6] It is possible this early name was afterAbel Tasman's shipDe Zeeuwsche Nachtegaal. On the Buache map, "Ile de Nachtegal" is located at 43°S, 72°E, about 6° north and 2° east of the actual location of Grande Terre.
The islands were officially discovered by the French navigatorYves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec on 12 February 1772. The next day, Charles de Boisguehenneuc landed and claimed the island for the French crown.[7] Yves de Kerguelen organised a second expedition in 1773 and arrived at the"baie de l'Oiseau" by December 1773. On 6 January 1774 he commanded his lieutenant, Henri Pascal de Rochegude, to leave a message notifying any passers-by of the two passages and of the French claim to the islands.[8]
Thereafter, a number of expeditions briefly visited the islands, including thethird voyage ofCaptain James Cook in December 1776. Cook verified and confirmed the passage of de Kerguelen by discovering and annotating the message left by the French navigator, calling itKerguelen Land in his honor.[8] Cook nonetheless claimed the islands for the British Empire.[9]
Soon after its discovery, the archipelago was regularly visited bywhalers andsealers (mostly British, American, and Norwegian) who hunted the resident populations of whales and seals to the point of near extinction, includingfur seals in the 18th century andelephant seals in the 19th century. The sealing era lasted from 1781 to 1922 during which time 284 sealing visits are recorded, nine of which ended when the vessel was wrecked.[10]: 167 Modern industrial sealing, associated with whaling stations, occurred intermittently between 1908 and 1956. Since the end of the whaling and sealing era, most of the islands' species have been able to increase their population again.[11] Relics of the sealing period includetry pots, hut ruins, graves and inscriptions.[10]: 167
In 1800, theHillsborough spent eight months sealing and whaling around the islands. During this time Captain Robert Rhodes, her master, prepared a chart of the islands.[12] That vessel returned to London in April 1801 with 450 tons of sea elephant oil.[13]
In 1825, the British sealerJohn Nunn and three crew members fromFavourite were shipwrecked on Kerguelen until they were rescued in 1827 by Captain Alexander Distant during his hunting campaign.[14][15]
The islands were not completely surveyed until theRoss expedition of 1840.[16]
In 1874–1875, British, German, and U.S. expeditions visited Kerguelen to observe thetransit of Venus.[19] For the 1874 transit,George Biddell Airy of theU.K. Royal Observatory organised and equipped five expeditions to different parts of the world. Three of these were sent to the Kerguelen Islands and led byStephen Joseph Perry, who set up his main observation station at Observatory Bay and two auxiliary stations, one at Thumb Peak led by Sommerville Goodridge, and the second at Supply Bay, led by Cyril Corbet. Observatory Bay was also used by the German Antarctic Expedition, led byErich Dagobert von Drygalski in 1902–1903. In January 2007, an archaeological excavation was carried out at this site.
In 1877 the French started acoal mining operation, but soon abandoned it.[20]
In the early 1890s, French brothersRené-Émile and Henri Bossière [fr] lobbied the French government to re-assert its original claim to Kerguelen, believing it would make it a suitable area for sheep farming similar to their previous operations inPatagonia.[21] France sent theavisoEure, under CommanderLouis Édouard Paul Lieutard, to the area and on 1 January 1893 formally claimed the island for a second time, which received international recognition and was not contested by the British Empire.[22] The French government granted the Bossière brothers a 50-year lease over the island for the purposes of establishing a sheep-farming colony, although no settlement was attempted until 1908.[22]
In 1901, following thefederation of the British colonies in Australia, the new Australian federal government unsuccessfully lobbied the British government to acquire the Kerguelen Islands from France for strategic purposes.[23] The Australian government viewed the islands' natural harbours as suitable for naval operations and believed that the islands could support a colony based around farming, fishing and mining.[24] The British government ultimately rejected the proposal in August 1901, as it did not believe negotiations with France would be successful and did not consider that the islands posed a strategic threat.[25]
In 1908, the French explorerRaymond Rallier du Baty made a privately funded expedition to the island. His autobiographical account of the adventure (15,000 Miles in a Ketch. Thomas Nelson and Sons: London, 1917) describes the months that he spent surveying the island and hunting seals to finance his expedition.[citation needed]
In 1924, it was decided to administer the Kerguelen Islands, the islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul, and the Crozet Archipelago (in addition to that portion of Antarctica claimed by France and known asAdélie Land) from Madagascar; as with all Antarctic territorial claims, France's possession on the continent is held in abeyance until a new international treaty is ratified that defines each claimant's rights and obligations.
The Germanauxiliary cruiserAtlantis called at Kerguelen during December 1940. During their stay the crew performed maintenance and replenished their water supplies. This ship's first fatality of the war occurred when a sailor, Bernhard Herrmann, fell while painting the funnel. He is buried in what is sometimes referred to as "the southernmost German war grave" ofWorld War II.
Kerguelen has been continually occupied since 1950 by scientific research teams, with a population of 50 to 100 personnel frequently present.[5] There is also a Frenchsatellite tracking station.
Until 1955, the Kerguelen Islands were administratively part of the FrenchColony of Madagascar and Dependencies. That same year, they collectively became known asLes Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (French Southern and Antarctic Lands) and were administratively part of the FrenchDépartement d'outre-mer de la Réunion. In 2004 they were permanently transformed into their own entity (keeping the same name) but having inherited another group of five very remote tropical islands,les îles Éparses, which are also ruled by France and are dispersed around the island of Madagascar.
The main island of the archipelago is calledLa Grande Terre. It measures 150 km (93 mi) east to west and 120 km (75 mi) north to south.
Port-aux-Français, a scientific base, is along the eastern shore of theGulf of Morbihan on La Grande Terre. Facilities there include scientific-research buildings, a satellite tracking station, dormitories, a hospital, a library, a gymnasium, a pub, and the chapel ofNotre-Dame des Vents.
The highest point isMont Ross in theGallieni Massif, which rises along the southern coast of the island and has an elevation of 1,850 metres (6,070 ft). TheCook Ice Cap (French:Calotte Glaciaire Cook),[26] France's largest glacier with an area of about 403 km2 (156 sq mi), lies on the west-central part of the island. Overall, the glaciers of the Kerguelen Islands cover just over 500 km2 (190 sq mi). Grande Terre has also numerous bays, inlets, fjords, and coves, as well as several peninsulas and promontories. The most important ones are listed below:
There are also a number of notable localities, all on La Grande Terre (see also the main map):
Anse Betsy (Betsy Cove) is a former geomagnetic station on Baie Accessible (Accessible Bay), on the north coast of the Courbet Peninsula. On this site an astronomical and geomagnetic observatory was erected on 26 October 1874 by a German research expedition led by Georg Gustav Freiherr von Schleinitz. The primary goal of this station was the 1874 observation of thetransit of Venus.
Armor (Base Armor), established in 1983, is located 40 km (25 mi) west of Port-aux-Français at the bottom of Morbihan Gulf, for the acclimatization of salmon to the Kerguelen islands.[27]
Baie de l'Observatoire (Observatory Bay) is a former geomagnetic observation station, just west of Port-Aux-Français, on the eastern fringe of the Central Plateau, along the northern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan.
Cabane Port-Raymond is a scientific camp at the head of afjord cutting into the Courbet Peninsula from the south.
Cap Ratmanoff is the easternmost point of the Kerguelens.
La Montjoie is a scientific camp on the south shore of Baie Rocheuse, along the northwestern coast of the archipelago.
Molloy (Pointe Molloy) is a former observatory ten kilometres (6 mi) west of the present-day Port-Aux-Français, on the northern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan (Kerguelen). An American expedition led by G. P. Ryan erected a station at this site on 7 September 1874. That station was also established to observe the 1874 transit of Venus.
PortBizet is a seismographic station on the northeastern coast of Île Longue. This also serves as the principal sheep farm for the island's resident flock ofBizet sheep.
Port Christmas is a former geomagnetic station onBaie de l'Oiseau, in the extreme northwest of the Loranchet Peninsula. It was named by CaptainJames Cook, who re-discovered the islands and who anchored there on Christmas Day, 1776. This is also the place where Captain Cook coined the name "Desolation Islands" in reference to what he saw as a sterile landscape.
Port Couvreux, a former attempted permanent settlement based on experimental sheep farming on Baie du Hillsborough, at the southern end ofBaleiniers Gulf. Starting in 1912, sheep were raised here to create an economic base for future settlement. However, the attempt failed and the last inhabitants had to be evacuated, and the station abandoned, in 1931. The huts remain, as well as a graveyard with five anonymous graves. These are those of the settlers who were unable to survive in the harsh environment.
Port Curieuse, a harbor on the west coast across Île de l'Ouest, was named after the shipLa Curieuse, which was used byRaymond Rallier du Baty on his second visit to the islands (1913–14).
Port Douzième (Twelfth Port) is a hut and former geomagnetic station on the southern shore of the Golfe du Morbihan.
Port Jeanne d'Arc is a former whaling station founded by a Norwegian whaling company in 1908, and a former geomagnetic station, and lies in the northwestern corner of Presqu'île Jeanne d'Arc, looking across the Buenos Aires passage to Île Longue (4 km or2+1⁄2 mi northeast). The derelict settlement consists of four residential buildings with wooden walls and tin roofs, and a barn. One of the buildings was restored in 1977, and another in 2007.
From 1968 to 1981, a site just east of Port-aux-Français was a launching site forsounding rockets, some for French (Dragon rockets), American (Arcas) or French-Soviet (Eridans) surveys, but at the end mainly for a Soviet program (M-100).[28]
The following is a list of the most important adjacent islands:
Île Foch in the north of the archipelago, at206 km2 (79+1⁄2 sq mi), the second most important offlier in the Kerguelens.
Île Saint-Lanne Gramont, is to the west of Île Foch in the Golfe Choiseul. It has an area of45.8 km2 (17+11⁄16 sq mi). Its highest point reaches 480 m (1,570 ft).
Île du Port, also in the north in the Golfe des Baleiniers is the fourth largest satellite island with an area of 43 km2 (17 sq mi). Near its centre it reaches an elevation of 340 metres (1,120 ft).
Îles Leygues (north, including île de Castries, île Dauphine)
Île Violette
Île Australia (also known asÎle aux Rennes –Reindeer Island) (western part of the Golfe du Morbihan, area36.7 km2 (14+3⁄16 sq mi), elevation 145 m (476 ft))
Île Haute (western part of the Golfe du Morbihan, elevation 321 m (1,053 ft))
Agricultural activities were limited until 2007 to raising sheep (about 3,500 Bizet sheep, a breed that is rare in mainland France) on Longue Island for consumption by the occupants of the base, as well as small quantities of vegetables in a greenhouse within the immediate vicinity of the main French base. There are also feral rabbits and sheep that can be hunted, as well as wild birds.
There are also five fishing boats and vessels, owned by fishermen onRéunion Island (adepartment of France about 3,500 km or 1,900 nmi north) who are licensed to fish within the archipelago'sexclusive economic zone.
Simplified geological map of the Kerguelen IslandsMont Ross
The Kerguelen Islands form an emerged part of the submergedKerguelen Plateau, which has a total area nearing 949,000 km2 (366,000 sq mi).[29] Theplateau was built by volcanic eruptions associated with theKerguelen hotspot, and now lies on theAntarctic Plate.[30]
The major part of the volcanic formations visible on the islands is characteristic of an effusive volcanism, which caused atrap rock formation to start emerging above the level of the ocean 35 million years ago. The accumulation is of a considerable amount;basalt flows, each with a thickness of three to ten metres, stacked on top of each other, sometimes up to a depth of 1,200 metres (660 fathoms). This form of volcanism creates a monumental relief shaped as stairs of pyramids.
Other forms of volcanism are present locally, such as thestrombolian volcanoMont Ross, and the volcano-plutonic complex on the Rallier du Baty Peninsula. Various veins and extrusions of lava such astrachytes, trachyphonolites, andphonolites are common all over the islands.
No eruptive activity has been recorded in historic times, but somefumaroles are still active in the south-west of Grande-Terre island.
Fossilized wood found in the islands has been identified asAraucarians andCypresses, showing that the islands were once forested with conifers.[31] While an exact date for these wood fragments is unknown, they have been tentatively described as being from the earlyCenozoic. The presence of these species may suggest that Kerguelen's prehistoric flora may have been similar to theAntarctic flora found across the southern hemisphere.
Glaciation caused the depression and tipping phenomena which created the gulfs at the north and east of the archipelago. Erosion caused by the glacial and fluvial activity carved out the valleys and fjords; erosion also created conglomeratedetrital complexes, and the plain of theCourbet Peninsula.
The islands are part of a submergedmicrocontinent called theKerguelen Subcontinent.[32] The microcontinent emerged substantially above sea level for three periods between 100 million years ago and 20 million years ago. The Kerguelen Subcontinent may have had tropicalflora andfauna about 50 million years ago. It finally sank 20 million years ago and is now one to two kilometres (550 to 1,100 fathoms) below sea level. Kerguelen'ssedimentary rocks are similar to ones found in Australia and India, indicating they were all once connected. Scientists hope that studying the Kerguelen Subcontinent will help them discover how Australia, India, andAntarctica broke apart.[33]
All climate readings come from thePort-aux-Français base, which has one of the more favourable climates in Kerguelen because of its proximity to the coast and its location in a gulf sheltered from the wind.
The average annual temperature is 4.9 °C (40.8 °F) with an annual range of around 6 °C (11 °F). The warmest months of the year include January and February, with average temperatures between 7.8 and 8.2 °C (46.0 and 46.8 °F). The coldest month of the year is August with an average temperature of 2.1 °C (35.8 °F). Annual high temperatures rarely surpass 20 °C (68 °F), while temperatures in winter have never been recorded below −10 °C (14 °F) at sea level.
Kerguelen receives frequent precipitation, with snow throughout the year as well as rain. Port-aux-Français receives a modest amount of precipitation (708 mm or27+7⁄8 in per annum) compared to the west coast which receives an estimated three times as much precipitation per year.
The mountains are frequently covered in snow but can thaw very quickly in rain. Over the course of several decades, many permanent glaciers have shown signs of retreat, with some smaller ones having disappeared completely.
The west coast receives almost continuous wind at an average speed of 35 km/h (19 kn; 10 m/s) because the islands are between theRoaring Forties and the Furious Fifties. Wind speeds of 150 km/h (81 kn; 42 m/s) are common and can even reach 200 km/h (110 kn; 56 m/s).
Waves up to 12–15 m (39–49 ft) high are common, but there are many sheltered places where ships can anchor.
Comparison of local Meteorological data with other cities in France[35]
The wildlife is particularly vulnerable tointroduced species; one particular problem has been cats. The main island is the home of a well-establishedferal cat population, descended fromships' cats.[39] They survive on sea birds and theferal rabbits that were introduced to the islands. There are also populations ofwild sheep (Ovis orientalis orientalis) andreindeer.
In the 1950s and 1960s, French geologistEdgar Albert de la Rue began to introduce several species of salmonids. Of the seven species introduced, onlybrook troutSalvelinus fontinalis andbrown troutSalmo trutta survived to establish wild populations.[40]
French writerJules Verne's 1897 novelLe Sphinx des glaces (An Antarctic Mystery) offers a follow-up to Poe's book, and revisits the Kerguelen Islands, with the first chapter being entitled "Les Îles Kerguelen."[43]
In the seafaring novelDesolation Island, one of theAubrey–Maturin series byPatrick O'Brian, the crew repair their disabled ship on an island that strongly resembles Kerguelen, although a later book in the series asserts that it this was a different Desolation Island, located somewhere "further south and east," (probablyHeard Island, though this island wasn't confirmed to exist until the 1850s.)
InBiggles' Second Case byW. E. Johns,Biggles searches forNazi gold just after World War II on and around Kerguelen.
The novelThe Lost Flying Boat byAlan Sillitoe is situated around Kerguelen, though the islands' geography is not accurately described.
InPatrick Robinson'sKilo Class, naval confrontations arise in the Kerguelen Islands between the Americans, the Chinese, and the Taiwanese.
^Clayton, Jane M. (2014).Ships Employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships. Berforts Group. p. 141.ISBN978-1-908616-52-4.
^Richards, Rhys (2017).Bold Captains; Trans-Pacific exploration and trade: 1780–1830. Vol. II. Wellington, NZ: Paremata Press. pp. 338–339.ISBN978-0-473-40519-9.
^Robinson, James (1906)."Appendix B: Log of theOffley". In Cerchi, D. (ed.). Reminiscences (Report). Hobart, Tasmania, AU: Archives Office of Tasmania. pp. 98–99. Archived fromthe original on 6 February 2012.
^Serra, Jean-Jacques."Bases temporaires" [Temporary Bases].univ-perp.fr (in French). Archived fromthe original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved5 January 2019.
^"Kerguelen (984)"(PDF).Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records (in French). Meteo France. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 27 February 2018. Retrieved26 February 2018.
^Newton, Chris (2013). "The Monsters of Kerguelen".The Trout's Tale – The Fish That Conquered an Empire. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. pp. 161–170.ISBN978-1-907110-44-3.
^Waugh, Charles; Asimov, Isaac; Greenberg, Martin Harry, eds. (1981).Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century. Beaufort Books. p. 113.ISBN978-0-8253-0038-7.
![Christmas Harbour, Kerguelens Land, 1811, by the English engraver George Cooke;[8] the location is now known as Port-Christmas](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aChristmas_Harbour_Kerguelens_Land%2c_1811.jpg)
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