History of Bouvet Island

This is the history of Bouvet Island. See also history of present-day nations and states.

Bouvet Island was discovered on January 1, 1738 by Jean-Baptiste Lozier Bouvet with French ships Aigle and Marie, but the island's position was not accurately fixed and Bouvet did not circumnavigate his discovery. Therefore, it remained uncertain whether it was an island or part of a continent.

Until 1808, the island was not sighted again, when it was spotted by whaler captain Lindsay. In 1825, the island was first entered by captain Norris, to look for seals. The first long stay on the island was in 1927, when a Norwegian crew stayed for about a month. The island was claimed by Norway, calling it Bouvetøya (Bouvet Island in Norwegian).

In 1979, an unclaimed nuclear bomb test was conducted in the proximity of the island.

For a more extended history, see Bouvetøya [1]

German version see [1]