Alexander Island

Alexander Island

Alexander Island shown within Antarctica
Alexander Island
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	71°00′S 70°00′W / 71.000°S 70.000°W / -71.000; -70.000
Area	49,070 km2 (18,950 sq mi)
Area rank	28th
Length	390 km (242 mi)
Width	80 km (50 mi)
Highest elevation	2,987 m (9,800 ft)
Highest point	Mount Stephenson
Administration
None
Demographics
Population	0
Additional information
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System

Alexander Island, which is also known as Alexander I Island, Alexander I Land, Alexander Land, Alexander I Archipelago, and Zemlja Alexandra I, is the largest island of Antarctica. It lies in the Bellingshausen Sea west of Palmer Land, Antarctic Peninsula from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. George VI Ice Shelf entirely fills George VI Sound and connects Alexander Island to Palmer Land. The island partly surrounds Wilkins Sound, which lies to its west. Alexander Island is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) long in a north-south direction, 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in the north, and 240 kilometres (150 mi) wide in the south. Alexander Island is the second largest uninhabited island in the world, after Devon Island.

Alexander Island was discovered on January 28, 1821 by a Russian expedition under Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who named it Alexander I Land for the reigning Tsar Alexander I of Russia. What in fact is an island, was believed to be part of the Antarctic mainland until 1940. Its insular nature was proven in December 1940, by a two-person sledge party composed of Finn Ronne and Carl Eklund of the United States Antarctic Service. In the 1950s, a British base administered as part of the British Antarctic Territory was constructed as Fossil Bluff (Base KG).