French Southern and Antarctic Lands

History

The islands became known in the 16th century, when the Spanish discovered Amsterdam Island on 18 March 1522, which was later claimed and named by the Dutch. Saint Paul Island was discovered in 1559 by the Portuguese. The Crozet islands were discovered on 24 January 1772 by French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne during an expedition. Adelie Land was the last to be discovered, in 1840 by the French during an expedition led by Jules Dumont d'Urville, who would later have a research station on the island named after him.

The entire territory has no known permanently settled inhabitants. It is mainly visited by military personnel, officials, scientific researchers, and support staff. In 2019, the Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, and Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to their pristine wilderness, biodiversity, and enormous bird colonies.

On 6 August 1955, French law reorganized the administration of the islands into a new overseas territory administered by France itself, changing the previous arrangement in which the territory was attached to Madagascar (then a French colony).

The Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean are partially claimed by the Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius. The Malagasy and Mauritian claims, however, are significantly later than their access to independence. However, the agreement reached in October 2024 on the surrender to Mauritius of the Chagos Islands by Great Britain, in the heart of the Indian Ocean, notably home to the American base of Diego Garcia, has relaunched the debate in Madagascar.

Administration

The French Southern and Antarctic Lands have formed a territoire d'outre-mer (an overseas territory) of France since 1955. Formerly, they were administered from Paris by an administrateur supérieur assisted by a secretary-general; since December 2004, however, their administrator has been a préfet, currently Florence Jeanblanc-Risler, with headquarters in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.

The TAAF administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the French Navy jointly operate the icebreaker Astrolabe which is based out of Reunion. The vessel is used both to bring personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville Station and for research and patrol duties. The French armed forces also maintain small troop contingents on some of the Scattered Islands in order to protect the French territorial claim.

The territory is divided into five districts:

--a According to new law 2007-224 of February 21, 2007, the Scattered Islands constitute the TAAF's fifth district. The TAAF website does not mention their population. The data are not included in the totals.

--b The Îles Éparses principal station is on Tromelin Island. The headquarters of the district chief lies beyond the TAAF, in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.

--c The Territory's principal station is Martin-de-Viviès on Amsterdam Island. The capital and headquarters of the territorial administrator lies beyond the TAAF, in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.

--

Each district is headed by a district chief, who has powers similar to those of a French mayor (including recording births and deaths and being an officer of judicial police).

Because there is no permanent population, there is no elected assembly, nor does the territory send representatives to the national parliament.

Geography

The territory includes the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands in the southern Indian Ocean near 43°S, 67°E, along with Adélie Land, the sector of Antarctica claimed by France. Adélie Land, named by the French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville after his wife, covers about 432,000 km2 (167,000 sq mi). The islands, totaling 7,781 km2 (3,004 sq mi), have no indigenous inhabitants, although in 1997 there were approximately 100 researchers whose numbers varied from winter (July) to summer (January).

Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island are both extinct volcanoes and have been delineated as the Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands ecoregion. The highest point in the territory is Mont Ross on Kerguelen Island, standing at 1,850 m (6,070 ft). Notably, there are very few airstrips on the islands, existing only on islands with weather stations. The 1,232 km (766 mi) of coastline lacks ports or harbors, offering only offshore anchorages.

The islands in the Indian Ocean receive supplies via the special ship Marion Dufresne, which sails out of Le Port in Réunion Island. Terre Adélie, the Antarctic sector claimed by France, is supplied by L’Astrolabe, which sails out of Hobart in Tasmania.

Regarding maritime activity, the territory maintains a merchant marine fleet totaling (as of 1999) 2,892,911 GRT/5,165,713 tonnes deadweight (DWT). This fleet includes seven bulk carriers, five cargo ships, ten chemical tankers, nine container ships, six liquefied gas carriers, 24 petroleum tankers, one refrigerated cargo ship, and ten roll-on/roll-off (RORO) carriers. Notably, this fleet operates under the French register, allowing French-owned ships to benefit from more liberal taxation and manning regulations than those permissible under the main French register. However, this register is expected to be replaced by the International French Register (Registre International Français, RIF) in the future.[[File:Kerguelen VolcanDuDiable.jpg|thumb|left|[[Volcan du Diable]] on Grande Terre, Kerguelen]]

Sovereignty dispute

Mauritius, Madagascar, and the Comoros dispute France's sovereignty over these islands. Mauritius claims Tromelin Island and states that the island, discovered by France in 1722, was not ceded by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. Madagascar claims sovereignty over the Glorioso Islands (including Banc du Geyser), though the island group was never a part of the Malagasy Protectorate, having been a part of the Colony of Mayotte and dependencies, then a part of the French Comoros that had become a separately administered colony from Madagascar in 1946. The Comoros also claims the Glorioso Islands (including Banc du Geyser), as a part of the disputed French region of Mayotte. Furthermore, Madagascar has also claimed Bassas da India, Europa Island, and Juan de Nova Island since 1972, and a 1979 United Nations resolution (without binding force) demanded the cession of these islands to Madagascar. Seychelles claimed a part of the Scattered Islands too before the signing of the France–Seychelles Maritime Boundary Agreement. A negotiation session between France and Madagascar took place in November 2020. In April 2025, France and Madagascar announced that they would meet in June 2025 to find a peaceful solution to the dispute. President Emmanuel Macron favors a form of co-management with Madagascar, rather than restitution. On June 20, 2025, Malagasy Foreign Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika chaired a meeting of the scientific committee devoted to Madagascar's claim to the Scattered Islands. The objective of this meeting was to develop arguments for preserving Madagascar's sovereignty over the Scattered Islands, while moving forward in discussions with France. On June 24, 2025, the Malagasy platform "Sehatry ny Raiamandreny" (Sera) affirmed the indefatigability of Madagascar's claim to the territories of the Scattered Islands. The second commission, between France and Madagascar, will meet on June 30, 2025, for bilateral discussions on congestion, or the restitution of the Scattered Islands to Madagascar. On June 26, 2025, France published the lists of negotiators at the meeting of June 30, 2025, between Madagascar and France.

Flora and fauna

Due to their isolation, the French islands in the southern Indian Ocean comprise one of the last remaining large wilderness areas on Earth. Furthermore, the islands are positioned along the Antarctic Convergence, where upwelling creates nutrient-rich waters. As a result, birds and marine mammals gather on the islands in great abundance. More than 50 million birds of 47 species breed on the islands, including more than half the breeding population of 16 different species. The largest populations of king penguins and the endangered Indian yellow-nosed albatross on Earth are found on the Crozet Islands and Amsterdam Island, respectively. Other threatened bird species with important populations on the islands include Eaton's pintail, MacGillivray's prion, and the Amsterdam albatross, which is one of four bird species endemic to the island group. The French Southern Lands also hold the second largest population of southern elephant seals on Earth, numbering roughly 200,000, and the third largest population of the Antarctic fur seal.

Because of their isolation and subpolar location, the French Southern Lands are relatively depauperate of vegetation, with both Saint-Paul and Crozet having no native tree or shrub species. However, eight of the 36 higher plant species are endemic. Some species of endemic invertebrates have also been recorded on the islands, including moths and flies which have lost their wings in the absence of predators.

Economy

The territory's natural resources are limited to fish and crustaceans. Economic activity is limited to servicing meteorological and geophysical research stations and French and other fishing fleets.

The main fish resources are Patagonian toothfish and spiny lobster. Both are poached by foreign fleets; because of this, the French Navy, and occasionally other services, patrol the zone and arrest poaching vessels. Such arrests can result in heavy fines or the seizure of the ship.

France previously sold licenses to foreign fisheries to fish the Patagonian toothfish; because of overfishing, it is now restricted to a small number of fisheries from Réunion Island.

The territory takes in revenues of about €16 million a year.

Locations and scientific stations

While the territory lacks a permanent civilian population, there are several inhabited research stations. Île Amsterdam has a meteorological station. Îles Crozet contains the Alfred Faure research station with a population of about 20-30 people. One of the most populous research stations in the Îles Kerguelen, Port-aux-Francais, contains 50-100 researchers. The Îles Éparses contains a French military garrison and is a spot for meteorology. The Dumont d’Urville station is a vital area for studying wildlife, the atmosphere and the ice caps.

[[Adélie Land]]

[[Crozet Islands]]

[[Kerguelen Islands]]

[[Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands]]

[[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean|Scattered Islands]]

There are no permanent settlements on the islands, however the French Armed Forces maintain small troop contingents on some of the islands. There are also weather stations on all the islands apart from Bassas da India.

Codes

The French Southern Territories (i.e. the TAAF excluding Adélie Land) have been given the following country codes: FS (FIPS) and TF (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2).

References

References

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2. [{{geonameslink
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