South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Flag of South Georgia

The islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich chain are a collection of remote and deeply inhospitable islands in the south Atlantic.There is no native population of the islands, the only population consists of the British government officer, the postmaster, and members of the British Antarctic Survey.

Britain initially claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775, and also claim the South Sandwich islands in 1908.

The island of South Georgia did host a small but semi-permanent population during the 19th century, when several whaling and seal hunting bases where maintained on the island. The first of which was established by Carl Anton Larsen of Norway. He established the community of Grytviken. However, whaling and seal hunting ended in the 1960's, and the bases where abandoned soon after. The community of Grytviken now lies abandoned, and apart from a few buildings which have been preserved...

...sees many of the buildings and various states of decay.

During the 1920's, Argentina laid claim to the island of South Georgia, and then in the 1930's, to the South Sandwich islands. And during the Falklands war, the islands fell under the control of Argentina when a detachment of Argentinian marines took control of the offices of the British Antarctic Survey team by landing on the island posing as scrap metal merchants. 

The islands themselves are very bleak and during the winter the islands are covered in snow and ice. 

During the summer, the lands are free from snow and ice up to about 300 metres, where the snow line begins. However, the South Sandwich islands lie further south, and feature far more severe weather.

Because there is no settled population, the vast majority of the income is in terms of grants from the British government. Also, the islands make a lot of money from the sale of fishing licences, as well as the sale of stamps.

Before 1985, the islands where governed directly from the Falkland islands, and then in 1985, the territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands was created, and issued with its own coat of arms. 

The shield features a gold rampant lion holding a torch, representative of the UK, and discovery. The lion is placed on a green triangle, and overlaid a sequence of blue and white diamonds. Taken from Captain James Cook's family arms. The supporters are a seal, and penguin. Animals native to the islands. The crest is a Reindeer, from the 2 herds found on the island of South Georgia.

The flag was also issued at the same time. Like all other British overseas territories, a Blue ensign. Initially featuring the coat of arms within a white disc, in 2002, the flag was altered to remove the disc, and enlarge the coat of arms.