South Sandwich Islands

The blue ensign carries the badge of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Its colours are blue for ice, silver for snow, and green for grass. The reindeer crest recalls the two reindeer herds on South Georgia.

Actively volcanic uninhabited British Dependent Territory in the South Atlantic; area 337 sq km/130 sq mi. Along with South Georgia, 750 km/470 mi to the northwest, it is administered from the Falkland Islands. They were claimed by Captain Cook in 1775 and named after his patron John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. The islands were annexed by the UK in 1908 and 1917. They were first formally claimed by Argentina in 1948. In December 1976, 50 Argentine ‘scientists’ landed on Southern Thule and were removed in June 1982. There is an ice-free port off Cumberland Bay. Over 21 million penguins breed on Zavadovski Island.