South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands in the Drake Passage with a total area of 3,687 square kilometres. They lie about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula and between 430 and 900 kilometres southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. Under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 the islands sovereignty is neither recognised nor disputed by the signatories. They have been claimed by the United Kingdom since 1908, by Chile since 1940 and by Argentina since 1943, and the British claim has since 1962 been treated as part of the British Antarctic Territory.