Antarctic Peninsula

Antarctic Peninsula, northernmost tip of Antarctica, directly south of South America, flanked on the east by Weddell Sea and on the west by Bellingshausen Sea. The peninsula is separated from the South Shetland Islands on the north by the Bransfield Strait. Marguerite Bay indents the west coast. To the south, Mount Jackson rises to 4,189 m (13,745 ft), the highest point on the peninsula. Tour operators guide visitors through the magnificent scenery of the Antarctic Peninsula during the short southern summer, but many of the scientific bases consider this practice an environmental threat and a disruption to their scientific research. The many islands and floating ice shelves flanking the coast make navigation difficult.

The Antarctic Peninsula was explored in 1820 by American Nathaniel Palmer. Until 1964 the peninsula was called the Palmer Peninsula by the United States and Graham Land by the United Kingdom, which claimed it as part of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) dependencies. Today, the northern part of the peninsula is called Graham Land; the southern part, Palmer Land. Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom all claim sovereignty over the peninsula.