Kerguelen Islands

The Kerguelen Archipelago is in the southern Indian Ocean at 49°20' S, 70°20' E. The main island is 6,675 km² and it is surrounded by another 300 smaller outcrops, forming an archipelago of 7,215 km². The climate is cold, very windy and the seas are usually rough.

The islands belong to France, and were discovered by [Yves Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec]? in February 1772. The archipelago was exploited for its seal population until their destruction, [fur seal]?s in the 18th Century and [elephant seal]?s in the early 20th Century. A number of expeditions have briefly touched the islands, including that of James Cook in 1776.

Kerguelen has been used by a small number of science teams since 1949, with a population of 50-100 always present.