New Delhi: The Bouvet Island is the remotest island in the world and is the place of mysterious and baffling natural wonder. It is an uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island which is dependent on Norway. A protected nature reserve, the island is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s southern end. Notably, it does not under the southern region which the Antarctic Treaty System covers.
Bouvet Island: Who discovered the world’s remotest island?
On January 1, 1739, Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, the commander of the French ships Marie and Aigle discovered the island. Bouvet was looking for a southern continent and saw the island amid the fog. He named the cape that he spotted Cap de la Circoncision but he could not land on the island nor could he circumnavigate. Hence, there was some confusion whether it was part of a continent or an island. Also, he inaccurately plotted the island’s position, which misled several expeditions.
In 1808, James Lindsay, the captain of the Samuel Enderby & Sons’ (SE&S) snow whaler Swan, spotted the island. However, he could only record its position and could not land on the island. In 1898, a German expedition rediscovered the Bouvet Island and in the 1920s, the Norwegian expeditions to the Antarctic claimed that the island belonged to Norway as they wanted to turn it into a whaling station. In December 1927, the hoisting of the Norwegian flag took place on the island and Norway annexed it on February 27, 1930. In 1971, the Norwegian government declared the island a nature reserve.
How remote is the Bouvet Island?
The Bouvet Island is the world’s remotest island and the island situated closest to it is Queen Maud Land of Antarctica 1,700 km away. Also, there is the Gough Island which is 1,845 km away. The Tristan da Cunha island is the closest inhabited place and it is 2,250 km to the northwest. The South Sandwich Islands lie to the west at about 1,900 km away.
How is the nature on the Bouvet Island?
Almost the entirety of the Bouvet Island is covered with ice. Animals are not found there as a result, and only fungi, ascomycetes including symbiotic lichens and non-vascular plants like liverworts and mosses could be found there. Due to the snow, vegetation is limited and snow algae can be found.
BirdLife International has designated the Bouvet Island as an Important Bird Area since it is an important breeding ground for seabirds. The island is an important breeding ground of the penguins, mainly the macaroni penguin. Other breeding seabirds include Antarctic prion, Cape petrel, Wilson’s storm petrel, southern giant petrel, subantarctic skua, snow petrel and slender-billed prion.
Non-breeding birds found on the island include wandering albatross, king penguin, black-browed albatross, Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross, Campbell albatross, sooty albatross, northern giant petrel, light-mantled albatross, Antarctic petrel, and blue petrel. Seals are the sole non-bird vertebrates on the island, especially the Antarctic fur seal and southern elephant seal which breed there. In the surrounding waters, one can see different types of whales and dolphins including the killer whale.
Bouvet Island, a remote subantarctic volcanic island, holds the title of the world’s most isolated landmass. Discovered in 1739 by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, its location and true nature remained a mystery for years. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
