Bouvet Island
Bouvetøya or Bouvet is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Southern Ocean. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world and 89 percent of the island is covered by glaciers.
The island has status as a nature reserve and setting up a camp requires a permission.
Its location is at 54°25′S, 3°20′A, 2500 kilometres southwest of South Africa, 1600 kilometres from Gough Island and 1700 kilometres north of the coast of Dronning Maud Land. The island is not part of Antarctica, which is defined as the area south of 60 °S.
The island measures only 49 square kilometres, and is almost entirely covered by ice. Steep cliffs on all sides of the island make it extremely difficult to go ashore there. Olavtoppen, 780 metres above sea level, is the highest peak on the island.
Bouvetøya was discovered by a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Lozier Bouvet, as early as 1739, but many years passed before it was rediscovered.
The first of a series of Norwegian expeditions to Antarctica took place in 1927-28. It was funded by Lars Christensen.
The expedition vessel was named “Norvegia”, so the expeditions have since been known as the “Norvegia” expeditions.
They went ashore on 1 December 1927, hoisted the Norwegian flag and claimed Bouvet Island as Norwegian territory. The United Kingdom disagreed since it had claimed sovereignty as early as 1825. Following some diplomatic activity, Britain waived its claim in 1929.
