Country Profiles: Bouvet Island

Bouvet Island is located in Antarctica. A territory of Norway, this uninhabited, volcanic island is almost entirely covered in glaciers. Discovered in 1739 by the French naval officer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, Bouvet was not actually claimed until 1825, when the UK raised their flag over it. The UK waived its claim in 1928, in favor of Norway. In 1971, it was designated a nature reserve. With an area of 49 sq km, it is about a third of the size of Washington, D.C.

Bouvet Island is located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is mostly volcanic, and the coast is mostly inaccessible.

Bouvet Island is completely uninhabited. As a nature reserve, it does not have any of the usual aspects of other countries, such as a constitution, capital, currency, etc. It also uses the Norway flag.

All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...

Bouvet Island, CIA World Factbook

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