Editing South Sandwich Islands (section)

==History==
[[File:South sandwich islands.png|thumb|right|Bathymetry of the Atlantic Ocean around the South Sandwich Islands]]

The southern eight islands of the Sandwich Islands Group were discovered by [[James Cook]] in 1775.  The northern three were discovered by [[Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen]] in 1819.{{clarify|post-text=(see [[Talk:South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands#Discovery of Bellinghausen Island - contradiction|talk]])|date=October 2023}}

Departing from South Georgia, Captain Cook sailed to the southeast to discover [[Clerke Rocks]] and a group of islands which he named "Sandwich Land" in honour of [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|Lord Sandwich]], then [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]. The word "South" was later added to distinguish them from the "Sandwich Islands", now known as [[Hawaiian Islands|Hawai'i]].

The [[Traversay Islands]] ([[Zavodovski Island|Zavodovski]], [[Leskov Island|Leskov]] and [[Visokoi Island|Visokoi]]) were discovered by the [[Russian Navy|Imperial Russian Navy]] expedition of [[Thaddeus Bellingshausen|Bellingshausen]] and [[Mikhail Lazarev|Lazarev]] in the ships ''Vostok'' and ''Mirny'' in 1819.

The United Kingdom formally annexed the South Sandwich Islands through [[letters patent]] in 1908, grouping them with other British-held territory in Antarctica as the [[Falkland Islands Dependencies]].

Argentina claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938 and challenged British sovereignty in the islands on several occasions. From 25 January 1955 through the summer of 1956 Argentina maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at Ferguson Bay on the southeastern coast of [[Thule Island]]. From 1976 to 1982, Argentina maintained a naval base named [[Corbeta Uruguay]] in the lee (southern east coast) of the same island. Although the British discovered the presence of the Argentine base in 1976, protested, and tried to resolve the issue by diplomatic means, no effort was made to remove them by force until after the [[Falklands War]]. The base was eventually removed on 20 June 1982 and the installations were demolished in December of that year.

Since 1995, the South African Weather Bureau has maintained two [[automatic weather station]]s on the islands of Zavodovski and Thule.

The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985;<ref>{{cite web |title=The South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Order 1985|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1985/449/contents/made}}</ref> previously, both archipelagos had been governed as part of the [[Falkland Islands Dependencies]].

On 10 February 2008, an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 on the [[Richter Scale]] had its epicenter {{cvt|205|km|mi}} south-southeast of [[Bristol Island]].<ref>[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008ngak.php "2008 February 10: South Sandwich Islands region"]. U.S. Geological Survey.</ref> On 30 June 2008, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck the region. Its epicentre was at {{convert|283|km|mi|abbr=on}} east-northeast (73 degrees) of Bristol Island.<ref>[http://neic.usgs.gov "National Earthquake Information Center"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916004205/http://neic.usgs.gov/ |date=16 September 2008 }} U.S. Geological Survey.</ref>{{nonspecific|date=October 2023}}