One hundred largest islands in the world (98th)-Grande Terre

There are more than one French overseas territories named after "Grande Terre" (meaning "main island"). This article will introduce the main island of the Kerguelen Islands. Grande Terre has an area of ​​6,617 square kilometers and is the 98th largest island in the world. There are more than 300 small islands nearby, which together form the Kerguelen Islands (Kerguelen Islands), also known as the Îles de la Désolation (France), with a total area of ​​7,215 square kilometers.

The archipelago is located in the South Indian Ocean. It is a place where the Kerguelen Plateau (Kerguelen Plateau) of the Antarctic Plate, one of the six major plates of the earth, is exposed to sea level. Grande Terre is a volcanic island with a volcano at an altitude of 1,850 meters-Mont Ross (French Mont Ross). There are many bays, peninsulas and capes on Grande Terre. The 430 square kilometer glacier on the island, the Cook Ice Cap (British Cook Ice Cap), is the largest glacier in France. There are no indigenous peoples in the Kerguelen Islands, and according to its nearest inhabited area (excluding scientific research stations), it is still more than 3,300 kilometers away from Madagascar. The capital of the archipelago, Port-aux-Français (Port-aux-Français), has a population of less than 100 soldiers and researchers who change their posts regularly.

The discoverer of the Kerguelen Islands was the French explorer Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec (11734-1797). King Louis XV of France led a fleet to search for the legendary "Southern Continent" (La Terra Australis). The fleet found this deserted and unsuitable archipelago for human settlement, and left a document to declare French sovereignty over it. However, in the report after returning to China, Kerguelen exaggerated the value of the archipelago, which led Louis to reappoint Kerguelen to lead the fleet to explore this place for the fifteenth year. As a result, this time, the lie was dismantled. This is not a legend. For the "Southern Continent", Kerguelen was imprisoned.

In 1776, the famous British navigator James Cook passed by on his third voyage around the world and discovered the papers left by Kerguelen, and then named it as "Kelgelan" This archipelago.

Since then, a large number of whales and walrus hunting boats have gone to the Kerguelen Islands for hunting, and the hunter gate has caused the whales and walruses here to be on the verge of extinction. After the 19th century, scientific expedition teams from many countries also went to the Kerguelen Islands.

Although France has long claimed sovereignty over the Kerguelen Islands, it has not effectively controlled this remote area for a long time. In 1893, France declared that it has many uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean, including the Kerguelen Islands. In 1924, the above-mentioned islands and the territories on the Antarctic continent declared sovereignty were included in the management of the French Madagascar colony. Since 1955, these areas have been managed by the French southern and Antarctica territories (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises).