Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2004)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) z South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2004)

	British Indian Ocean Territory (2002)	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2004)

Airports	1 (2001)	none (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2002)	-
Area	total: 60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago	total: 3,903 sq km land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of some nine islands
Area - comparative	about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly larger than Rhode Island
Background	Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.	The islands lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908, except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. Famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. The islands have large bird and seal populations, and, recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 nm to 200 nm around each island.
Climate	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds	variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow
Coastline	698 km	NA km
Constitution	-	adopted 3 October 1985
Country name	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT	conventional long form: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands conventional short form: none
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London	overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen ELIZABETH II; Grytviken, formerly a whaling station on South Georgia, is a scientific base
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Disputes - international	Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; repatriation is complicated by the US military lease of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the chain	briefly occupied by military force in 1982 - claimed by Argentina in constitution but declares it will no longer seek settlement by force
Economy - overview	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing.	Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. Fees from fishing licenses and related activities traditionally account for around 90% of South Georgia's revenue (about $5.6 million in 2004). There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly. Annual tourist volume hovers around 3,000 arrivals.
Electricity - consumption	NA kWh	-
Electricity - production	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 m
Environment - current issues	NA	NA
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Alan HUCKLE (since 2001); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch	-
Flag description	white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag	blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands coat of arms centered on the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms features a shield with a golden lion centered; the shield is supported by a fur seal on the left and a penguin on the right; a reindeer appears above the shield, and below it on a scroll is the motto LEO TERRAM PROPRIAM PROTEGAT (Let the Lion Protect its Own Land)
Geographic coordinates	6 00 S, 71 30 E	54 30 S, 37 00 W
Geography - note	archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility	the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia
Highways	total: NA km paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km	-
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	1 (2000)	-
Irrigated land	0 sq km (1998 est.)	0 sq km (1998 est.)
Land boundaries	0 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: NEGL permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen) (2001)
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply; the senior magistrate from the Falkland Islands presides over the Magistrates Court
Location	Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America
Map references	Political Map of the World	Antarctic Region
Maritime claims	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016	defense is the responsibility of the UK
National holiday	-	Liberation Day, 14 June (1982)
Natural hazards	NA	the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism
Natural resources	coconuts, fish, sugarcane	fish
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 2001, there were approximately 1,500 UK and US military personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2002 est.)	no indigenous inhabitants note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001, to be replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey, which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited (July 2004 est.)
Ports and harbors	Diego Garcia	Grytviken
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)	0 (2003)
Radios	NA	-
Telephone system	general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)	general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken
Telephones - main lines in use	NA	-
Television broadcast stations	1 (1997)	0 (2003)
Terrain	flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation)	most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes
Waterways	none	-

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