French Antarctic Territories
Territory created in 1955; population approximately 200 research scientists. It includes Adélie Land (area 432,000 sq km/165,500 sq mi) on the Antarctic continent, the Kerguelen and Crozet archipelagos (7,515 sq km/2,901 sq mi), and St Paul and Nouvelle Amsterdam islands (67 sq km/26 sq mi) in the southern seas. It is administered from Paris, France.
Port-aux-Français on Kerguelen is the chief centre, with several research stations. There are also research stations on Nouvelle Amsterdam and in Adélie Land, and a meteorological station on Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago. St Paul is uninhabited. In 1988 French workers, who were illegally building an airstrip, thus violating a United Nations treaty on Antarctica, attacked Greenpeace workers.
| French Antarctic possessions were previously administered (from 1924) as dependencies of Madagascar. |
