| Charcot Island | |
| Map: | Antarctic Peninsula |
| Location: | Antarctica |
| Area Km2: | 2576 |
| Length Km: | 56 |
| Width Km: | 46 |
| Population: | Uninhabited |
| Country: | None |
| Treaty System: | Antarctic Treaty System |
Charcot Island or Charcot Land is an island administered under the Antarctic Treaty System, 300NaN0 long and 250NaN0 wide, which is ice covered except for prominent mountains overlooking the north coast. Charcot Island lies within the Bellingshausen Sea, 550NaN0 west of Alexander Island, and about 310NaN0 north of Latady Island. A notable landmark of the island is its northernmost point, Cape Byrd.
Charcot Island was discovered on 11 January 1910 by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, who, at the insistence of his crew and the recommendation of Edwin S. Balch and others, named it Charcot Land. He did so with the stated intention of honoring his father, Jean-Martin Charcot, a famous French physician.https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&dq=Charcot+island+Jean-Martin&pg=PA135 The insularity of Charcot Land was proved by Sir Hubert Wilkins, who flew around it on 29 December 1929.
The ice bridge holding the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the Antarctic coastline and Charcot Island was 250NaN0 long but only 500m (1,600feet) wide at its narrowest point – in 1950 it was 620NaN0 It shattered in April 2009 over an area measuring 12.5miles1.5miles. The ice bridge collapsed rapidly, turning into hundreds of icebergs.[1]