'Adélie Land' is the portion of the
Antarctic coast between
Pourquoi Pas Point at and
Point Alden at , with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland extending as a
sector about 2,600 km toward the
South Pole. It is one of five districts of the
French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The land area, mostly ice covered, is estimated at 432,000 km².
Since January 12, 1956, there has been a permanently staffed
French research base at ,
Dumont d'Urville Station, with a winter population of 33, which goes up to 78 in the Antarctic summer. The first French station,
Port Martin, was built April 9, 1950 at , but destroyed by fire the night of January 23 to 24, 1952. Port Martin hosted a winter population of 11 in 1950 and of 17 in 1951.
France has also maintained an inland station on the Antarctic
ice sheet, 320 km from the coast and from Dumont d'Urville Station, at an
elevation of 2400 meters,
Charcot Station (named after
Jean-Baptiste Charcot) at , built for the
IGY 1957/1958, in operation from January 1957 to 1960, which housed only three men. The station was largely dug into the snow to protect it against the strong winds.
Adélie Land borders on the
Australian Antarctic Territory both West and East, namely on
Claire Land (part of
Wilkes Land) in the West, and
George V Land in the East.
The coast was discovered in 1837 by French explorer Jules Sébastien César
Dumont d'Urville, who named it after his wife, Adélie.
See also
★
List of places named after people
External links
★ http://www.discoverfrance.net/Colonies/Terre_Adelie.shtml
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