Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox islands {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}), also known as Amsterdam Island or New Amsterdam (Template:Langx), is an island of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the southern Indian Ocean that together with neighbouring Île Saint-Paul Template:Convert to the south forms one of the five districts of the territory.
The island is roughly equidistant to the land masses of Madagascar, Australia, and AntarcticaTemplate:Sndas well as the British Indian Ocean Territory and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (about Template:Convert from each). It is the northernmost volcanic island within the Antarctic Plate.<ref name=gvp>Template:Cite gvp</ref>
The research station at {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, first called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and then {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, is the only settlement on the island and is the seasonal home to about thirty researchers and staff studying biology, meteorology, and geomagnetics.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
The first person known to have sighted the island was the Spanish explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano, on 18 March 1522, during his circumnavigation of the world. Elcano called it {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Lit), because he couldn't find a safe place to land and his crew was desperate for water after 40 days of sailing from Timor. On 17 June 1633, Dutch colonial governor and mariner Anthonie van Diemen sighted the island, and named it after his ship, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name="btinternet.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first recorded landing on the island occurred in December 1696, led by the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh.<ref>Het Scheepvaartmuseum – Maritieme Kalender Template:Webarchive</ref>
French mariner Pierre François Péron wrote that he was marooned on the island between 1792 and 1795. Péron's {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, in which he describes his experiences, were published in a limited edition, now an expensive collectors' item.<ref>Statewide County HI Archives: News, USGenWeb Archives Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Forum Rare Books: In the news, Antiquariaat Forum Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} were often confused at the time, and Péron may have been marooned on Saint-Paul.
Amsterdam and St. Paul islands were recommended in 1786 for a convict settlement by Alexander Dalrymple, the Examiner of Sea-Journals for the East India Company, when the British government was considering New South Wales and Norfolk Island for such a settlement.<ref>Alexander Dalrymple, A Serious Admonition to the Publick on the Intended Thief Colony at Botany Bay, London, Sewell, October 1786.</ref> An investigation of those islands was subsequently undertaken in December 1792 and January 1793 by George Lord Macartney, Britain's first ambassador to China, during his voyage to that country, and he concluded that they were not suitable for settlement.<ref>Helen H. Robbins, Our First Ambassador to China, London, Murray, 1908, pp. 197–210.</ref>
Sealers are said to have landed on the island, for the first time, in 1789.<ref name="hea18">Template:Cite bookTemplate:ISBN missing</ref>Template:Rp Between that date and 1876, 47 sealing vessels are recorded at the island, 9 of which were wrecked. Relics of the sealing era can still be found.<ref name="hea18" />Template:Rp
The island was a stop on the British Macartney Embassy on its voyage to China in 1793.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
On 11 October 1833, the British barque Lady Munro was wrecked at the island. Of the 97 persons aboard, 21 survivors were picked up two weeks later by a US sealing schooner, General Jackson.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
John Balleny in command of the exploration and sealing vessel Template:Ship visited the island in November 1838 in search of seals. He returned with a few fish and reported having seen the remains of a hut and the carcass of a whale.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp
The islands of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} were first claimed by France in June 1843. A decree of 8 June 1843 mandated the Polish captain Adam Mieroslawski to take into possession and administer in the name of France both islands. The decree as well as the ship's log from Olympe from 1 and 3 July 1843, stating that the islands had been taken into possession by Mieroslawski, are still preserved.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="btinternet.com"/>
However, the French government renounced its possession of the islands in 1853.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In January 1871 an attempt to settle the island was made by a party led by Heurtin, a French resident of Réunion. After seven months, their attempts to raise cattle and grow crops were fruitless, and they returned to Réunion, abandoning the cattle on the island.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In May 1880 Template:HMS circumnavigated the island searching for missing ship Knowsley Hall. A cutter and gig were despatched to the island to search for signs of habitation. There was a flagpole on Hoskin Point and Template:Convert north were two huts, one of which had an intact roof and contained three bunks, empty casks, an iron pot and the eggshells and feathers of sea-birds. There was also an upturned serviceable boat in the other hut, believed to belong to the fishermen who visited the island.<ref name="cman109">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1892, the crew of the French sloop Bourdonnais, followed by the ship L'Eure in 1893, again took possession of Saint-Paul and Amsterdam Island in the name of the French government.
The island was attached to the French colony of Madagascar from 21 November 1924 until 6 August 1955 when the French Southern and Antarctic Lands was formed. (Madagascar gained independence in 1958.)
The first French base on {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was established in 1949, and was originally called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. It is now the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} research station, named after Paul de Martin de Viviès who, with twenty-three others, spent the winter of 1949 on the island. The station was originally named Camp Heurtin and has been in operation since 1 January 1981, superseding the first station, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name=":0" />
The Global Atmosphere Watch still maintains a presence on Île Amsterdam.
On 15 January 2025, a wildfire broke out on the island, forcing the evacuation of all 31 residents by boat to Réunion. Due to the island's remote location, the fire spread unchecked. By 10 February, 45% of the island's area had been affected, while water supply and telecommunications infrastructure at the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} research station was damaged.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Amateur radioEdit
From 1987 to 1998, there were frequent amateur radio operations from Amsterdam Island. There was a resident radio amateur operator in the 1950s, using callsign FB8ZZ.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In January 2014 Clublog listed Amsterdam and St Paul Islands as the seventh most-wanted DXCC entity.<ref>Clublog Most wanted list, updated Monthly Template:Webarchive</ref> On 25 January 2014 a DX-pedition landed on Amsterdam Island using MV Braveheart and began amateur radio operations from two separate locations using callsign FT5ZM. The DX-pedition remained active until 12 February and achieved over 170,000 two-way contacts with amateur radio stations worldwide.
EnvironmentEdit
GeographyEdit
The island is a potentially active volcano.<ref name=gvp/> It has an area of Template:Convert,<ref name="USGS"/> measuring about Template:Convert on its longest side, and reaches as high as Template:Convert at the Mont de la Dives. The high central area of the island, at an elevation of over Template:Convert, containing its peaks and caldera, is known as the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Translation). The cliffs that characterise the western coastline of the island, rising to over Template:Convert, are known as the Falaises d'Entrecasteaux after the 18th-century French navigator Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.<ref name="bli">BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Falaises d'Entrecasteaux. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-01-08. Template:Webarchive</ref>
GeologyEdit
Template:Maplink No historical eruptions are known, although the fresh morphology of the latest volcanism at Dumas Craters on the northeastern flank suggests it may have occurred as recently as the late 19th century.<ref name=gvp/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> All the rocks are tholeiitic basalt and the oldest basalt sampled is no more than 720,000 years old.<ref name=Doucet2003>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp
There are two stratovolcanoes being {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} which dominates and is younger and Le Mount du Fernand. Vents manifest as either cones or craters include Cratere Antonelli, Le Brulot, Le Chaudron, Le Cyclope, Crateres Dumas, Le Forneau, Cratere Inferieur, Grande Marmite, Cratere Hebert, Museau De Tanche, Cratere de l'Olympe, Cratere Superieur, Crateres Venus, and Cratere Vulcain (see map on this page).<ref name=gvp/>
The island is located on the mainly undersea Amsterdam–Saint Paul Plateau which is of volcanic hotspot origin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp There is a magma chamber located at between Template:Cvt depth below Amsterdam Island.<ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Rp</ref> The plateau which extends north west towards the Nieuw Amsterdam Fracture Zone (Amsterdam Fracture Zone) and south to beyond the island of St Paul with its presently known active area being delimited by the St. Paul Fracture Zone,<ref name =Kumar2023s>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Rp</ref> is a Template:Cvt feature of the sea floor near the Southeast Indian Ridge, which is an active spreading center between the Antarctic plate that the island lies on, and the Australian Plate.<ref name=Doucet2003/>Template:Rp Helium isotopic compositional studies are consistent with its formation from the combined effects of accretion at the mid-ocean ridge ridge and mantle plume activity of a hot spot.<ref name=Doucet2003/>Template:Rp This is either the Kerguelen hotspot or a potentially separate Amsterdam-Saint Paul hotspot but resolution of this issue is complicated by the recent volcanism on the island due to it being adjacent to the Southeast Indian Ridge.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Recent authors have favoured a separate Amsterdam and St. Paul hotspot.<ref name =Kumar2023s/> There has been evidence at Boomerang Seamount to the north east of the island that Kerguelen-type source mantle exists beneath the Amsterdam and St. Paul Plateau.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Which ever hot spot is responsible is moving south as Île Amsterdam rocks are older than St. Paul rocks.<ref name=Doucet2003/>Template:Rp The Amsterdam–St. Paul Plateau while formed in the last 10 million years, started this formation beneath the Australian Plate so the island is built on the components of two tectonic plates.<ref name =Kumar2023h>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Rp</ref>
ClimateEdit
Île Amsterdam has a mild, oceanic climate, Cfb under the Köppen climate classification, with a mean annual temperature of Template:Convert, annual rainfall of Template:Convert, persistent westerly winds and high levels of humidity.<ref>Ile Amsterdam Template:Webarchive</ref> Under the Trewartha climate classification the island is well inside the maritime subtropical zone due to its very low diurnal temperature variation keeping means high.
Flora and faunaEdit
VegetationTemplate:AnchorEdit
Phylica arborea trees occur on Amsterdam, which is the only place where they form a low forest, although the trees are also found on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island. It was called the Great Forest ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which covered the lowlands of the island until forest fires set by sealers cleared much of it in 1825. Only eight fragments remain.Template:Contradictory inline Sailors from Template:HMS, who visited the island on 27 May 1880, described the vegetation as:<ref name="cman109"/>
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Rough ground, grass several feet high, myrtle Template:Convert high in sheltered ravines, sedge, ferns (principally polypodium) and cabbages, grown into bushes with stumps several inches thick in the garden [...].{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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BirdsEdit
The island is home to the endemic Amsterdam albatross, which breeds only on the Plateau des Tourbières. Other rare species are the brown skua, Antarctic tern and western rockhopper penguin. The Amsterdam duck is now extinct, as are the local breeding populations of several petrels. There was once possibly a species of rail inhabiting the island, as a specimen was taken in the 1790s (which has been lost), but this was either extinct by 1800 or was a straggler of an extant species.<ref name=m&j/> The common waxbill has been introduced.<ref name="aiif">Amsterdam Island – Introduced fauna Template:Webarchive</ref> Both the Plateau des Tourbières and Falaises d'Entrecasteaux have been identified as Important Bird Areas by BirdLife International, the latter for its large breeding colony of Indian yellow-nosed albatrosses.<ref name=bli/>
MammalsEdit
There are no native land mammals. Subantarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals breed on the island. Introduced mammals include the house mouse, brown rat and feral cats.<ref name=aiif/> An eradication campaign of these invasive species was started in 2023, which plans to eradicate all cats and rats from the island by late 2024.<ref name="Libe2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A distinct breed of wild cattle, Amsterdam Island cattle, also inhabited the island from 1871 to 2010. They originated from the introduction of five animals by Heurtin during his brief attempt at settlement of the island in 1871<ref name=aiif/> and by 1988 had increased to an estimated 2,000. Following recognition that the cattle were damaging the island ecosystems, a fence was built restricting them to the northern part of the island.<ref name="m&j">Micol, T. & Jouventin, P. (1995). Restoration of Amsterdam Island, South Indian Ocean, following control of feral cattle. Biological Conservation 73(3): 199–206.Restoration of Amsterdam Island, South Indian Ocean, following control of feral cattle Template:Webarchive</ref> In 2007 it was decided to eradicate the population of cattle entirely, resulting in the slaughter of the cattle between 2008 and 2010.<ref name="L">Sophie Lautier: "Sur l'île Amsterdam, chlorophylle et miaulements".</ref>
See alsoEdit
- List of volcanoes in French Southern and Antarctic Lands
- French overseas departments and territories
- Administrative divisions of France
- List of French islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Cite gvp
- Ile Amsterdam visit (photos from a tourist's recent visit)
- French Colonies – Saint-Paul & Amsterdam Islands, Discover France
- French Southern and Antarctic Lands at the CIA World Factbook
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}
Template:Subject bar Template:French overseas departments and territories Template:Outlying territories of European countries