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Bouvet Island lies at latitude 54°26' S and longitude 3°24' E. It is 58.5 km² large and almost entirely covered by glaciers. It has no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorages, and is difficult to approach. The glaciers form a thick ice layer falling in high cliffs into the sea or onto the black beaches of volcanic sand. Also, the 29.6 km of coastline are often surrounded by an ice pack. The highest point on the island is called Olavtoppen and peaks to 780 m above sea level.
Bouvet Island is reputed to be the most remote island in the world. The nearest land is Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1,600 km away to the south.
The island was not sighted again until 1808Events January 1 Importation of slaves into the United States is banned February 11 Anthracite coal first burned as fuel, experimentally. February Russia issues an ultimatum to Sweden, to join France, Denmark and Russia and attacks Finland. March 26 Charl, when it was spotted by one Lindsay, who was the captain of a whaler. Though he didn't land, he was the first to correctly fix the island's position. The first successful landfall dates to 1822Events March 30 Florida becomes a United States territory. May 24 Battle of Pichincha: Simon Bolivar secures the independence of Quito. June 14 Charles Babbage proposes a Difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the, when a captain Morrell landed, hunting for seals. In 1825Events January 4 King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies dies and is succeeded by his son Francis I of the Two Sicilies. February 9 After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John, one captain Norris landed on the island, named it Liverpool Island and claimed it for the British Crown. In 1898, the German Valdivia expedition of Carl Chun visited the island, but didn't land. The first extended stay on the island was in 1927, when a Norwegian crew stayed for about a month; this is the basis for the territorial claim by Norway, who have named the island Bouvetøya (Bouvet Island in Norwegian). The UK waived its claim in favor of Norway the following year.
In 1971, Bouvet Island and the adjacent territorial waters were designated a nature reserve. The island remains uninhabited, although an automated weather station was set up there in 1977 by the Norwegians.
On September 22, 1979, a nuclear bomb test was conducted between Bouvet Island and Prince Edward Islands. The test was detected by orbiting satellites, which recorded a brief but intense burst of light, and radioactive debris was later detected by scientists in the Australian Antarctic Territory. No country has ever admitted responsibility for the test, though it is widely believed to have been carried out by South Africa.
Despite being uninhabited, Bouvet Island has the Internet top-level domain country code .bv.