The Christiania Islands () are a group of islands and rocks between Liège Island and Trinity Island, 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 Anvers ...

, Antarctica.

Location

The Christiania Islands are in the

to the west of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. They are south of

Hoseason Island Hoseason Island () is an island long and wide, lying west of Trinity Island in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. Location Hoseason Island is in the Palmer Archipelago to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is south of Low Island (Sou ...

, west of Trinity Island, northwest of Cape Herschel on the Davis Coast, and northeast of Two Hummock Island and Liège Island. Intercurrence Island is the largest of the group.
Copernx satellite image

Mapping and name

The Christiania Islands were charted by the

Belgian Antarctic Expedition The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the fir ...

, 1897–99, under Adrien de Gerlache, who named the group for Christiania (now

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

), Norway, where he obtained assistance and equipment for the expedition.

Features

Features include:

Intercurrence Island

. An island long, the largest of the Christiania Islands, lying east-northeast of Liege Island. Though the origin of this name is unknown, it has appeared on maps for over a hundred years and its usage has been established internationally.

Franklin Point

. Conspicuous rock point forming the west end of Intercurrence Island. First roughly charted and named Cape Franklin by Henry Foster in 1829.

Babel Rock

. The northernmost of a small group of rocks lying north of Intercurrence Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. Two of the rocks lying off the north end of Intercurrence Island were first charted and named Penguin Islands by James Hoseason, First Mate of the sealer ''Sprightly'', in 1824. Since the name has not been used in recent years, it has been rejected to avoid confusion with the many other "Penguin" names. Babel Rock, the largest and most conspicuous of the rocks, is the site of a penguin rookery and the name arises from the ceaseless noise.

Grinder Rock

. The southernmost of a group of rocks extending from the southeast end of Intercurrence Island. Shown on Argentine and Chilean government charts of 1957. The name, given by the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...

(UK-APC) in 1960, is descriptive of this toothlike feature.

Gulch Island

. An island lying northwest of Small Island in the Christiania Islands. Shown on an Argentine government chart of 1952. So named by the UK-APC in 1960 because the island is deeply indented.

Small Island

. Island long, lying south of Intercurrence Island in the Christiania Islands. Though the origin of this name is unknown, it has appeared on maps for over 100 years and its usage has been established internationally.

References

Sources

* * {{refend Islands of the Palmer Archipelago