Biscoe Point is a rocky point forming the south-eastern side of Biscoe Bay, immediately north of Access Point on the south side of

Anvers Island Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high, mountainous island long, the largest in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was discovered by John Biscoe in 1832 and named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarc ...

, in the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anver ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

History

The

French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First expedition In 1772, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec and the naturalist Jean Guillaume Bruguière sailed to the Antarctic region in search of the fabl ...

under

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Life Jean-Bap ...

roughly surveyed the south-west coast of Anvers Island in 1904. They gave the name "Presqu'ile de Biscoe" to a small peninsula on the south-eastern side of Biscoe Bay, honouring

John Biscoe John Biscoe (28 April 1794 – 1843) was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of Antarctica. The expedition also found a number of ...

who may have landed in the vicinity in 1832. When the coast was resurveyed by the

Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

in 1955, two rocky points were found in approximately that location; the name Biscoe Point was applied to the more prominent of the two.

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

A 63 ha site at the point has been designated an

Antarctic Specially Protected Area An Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is an area on the continent of Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Sou ...

(ASPA 139) for its biological values. It contains significant stands of the continent's two flowering plant species,

Antarctic hair grass ''Deschampsia antarctica'', the Antarctic hair grass, is one of two flowering plants native to Antarctica, the other being '' Colobanthus quitensis'' (Antarctic pearlwort). They mainly occur on the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islan ...

and

Antarctic pearlwort ''Colobanthus quitensis'', the Antarctic pearlwort, is one of two native flowering plants found in the Antarctic region. It has yellow flowers and grows about 5 cm (two inches) tall, with a cushion-like growth habit that gives it a moss-like app ...

, with several species of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

es and lichens. There are also

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of Adélie and

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus '' Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The ea ...

References

* Geography of Anvers Island Headlands of the Palmer Archipelago Antarctic Specially Protected Areas Penguin colonies {{PalmerArchipelago-geo-stub