Talk:South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mahagaja (talk | contribs) at 00:41, 2 September 2005 (Inhabited or not?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Latest comment: 20 years ago by Angr in topic Inhabited or not?

Is there a Bird Island in both South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands? While talking about SG, the page claims that the Antarctic Survey have a post on Bird Island. It also states that the SSI are uninhabited. Fair enough. But then later on we're told that the SSI include a Bird Island. If it's the same Bird Island, then all three facts cannot be true.

Bird Island is off the northwest end of South Georgia, I'll update the article to remove the confusion. Orourkek 16:27, 31 Oct 2003 (UTC)

How does an uninhabited area have a constitution?

Who ratified it and whom does it affect? Personnel serving at the scientific stations and summer tourists? Governance of an uninhabited territory would seem to be solely an executive function; it would hard to constitute a legislature or find a jury for a court (which would seem to be required as information states that it is a common law jurisdiction). Rlquall 02:03, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

South Georgia is essentially a dictatorship. It is ruled in its entirity by Howard Pearce, Governor of the Falkland Islands. This is, of course, not really a problem, since no-one except a few scientists live there. As for a 'constitution' - as far as I'm aware, the closest thing would be the "South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Order", an Order-in-Council, in 1985.

lost people

10 years ago 40 people were in a ship, the ship sunk and they had to live 3 months before english realised. kinda control they have

Inhabited or not?

A question above presupposes that SGSSI is uninhabited, but the article doesn't make that clear. Is there a permanent population of South Georgia, as there is of the Falklands, or are there only research stations, as on Antarctica? Either way, the article should be clearer about the issue. --Angr/tɔk mi 22:42, 1 September 2005 (UTC)Reply

I think it is generally accepted that a base, staffed by military, or science researchers, doesn't count as an inhabitation. That kind of temporary staff, don't count as inhabitants. That is the convention followed by the CIA fact book. -- Geo Swan 23:21, 1 September 2005 (UTC)Reply

That's fine, but unless I missed something, the article never explicitly says there is no permanent settlement. I came to this article curious as to whether anyone actually lives permanently on the island, and got no answer until I followed the link to the CIA fact book. --Angr/tɔk mi 00:41, 2 September 2005 (UTC)Reply