Rothschild Island

Rothschild Island

Rothschild Island Location in Antarctica
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	69°36′S 72°33′W / 69.600°S 72.550°W / -69.600; -72.550Coordinates: 69°36′S 72°33′W / 69.600°S 72.550°W / -69.600; -72.550
Length	39 km (24.2 mi)
Administration
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System
Demographics
Population	Uninhabited

Rothschild Island is a black rugged island 39 kilometres (24 mi) long, mainly ice covered but surmounted by prominent peaks of Desko Mountains in Antarctica, 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of the north part of Alexander Island in the north entrance to Wilkins Sound.

History[]

The island was sighted from a distance by the French Antarctic Expedition (c1908-1910), and named by Charcot in honour of Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949), head of the Rothschild banking family of France and president of de Rothschild Frères.

In the subsequent explorations of the area by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) (c1934-1937) the feature was believed to be a mountain connected to Alexander Island. Geologically this might be true—but it has not been proven by any means due to a lack of anything like a complete geological survey of the region.

However Rothschild Island's insularity was reaffirmed by the United States Antarctic Service (USAS, c1939-1941) who photographed and roughly mapped the island from the air.

Antarctic Peninsula's tectonic movement

Modern exploration[]

Rothschild Island was mapped in detail from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE c1947-1948) and by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1960, and from US governmental satellite imagery taken in 1974.

Threats and preservation[]

Although this very remote part of the world has never been inhabited and is protected by the Antarctic Treaty System, which bans industrial development, waste disposal and nuclear testing, there is still a threat to these fragile ecosystems from increasing tourism, primarily on cruises across the Southern Ocean from the port of Ushuaia, Argentina.

See also[]

• Larsen Ice Shelf
• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica
• List of Antarctic ice shelves
• Wilkins Sound

Further reading[]

• Defense Mapping Agency 1992, Sailing Directions (planning Guide) and (enroute) for Antarctica, P 379

External links[]

• Rothschild Island on USGS website
• Rothschild Island on SCAR website

References[]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: "Rothschild Island". (content from the Geographic Names Information System) 

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