Charcot Island or Charcot Land is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 of the British Antarctic Territory

British Antarctic Territory

The British Antarctic Territory is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes and , forming a wedge shape that extends to the South Pole...

, 30 miles (48 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide, which is ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

 covered except for prominent mountains overlooking the north coast, 55 miles (89 km) west of Alexander Island

Alexander Island

Alexander Island or Alexander I Island or Alexander I Land or Alexander Land is the largest island of Antarctica, with an area of lying in the Bellingshausen Sea west of the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Marguerite Bay and George VI Sound. Alexander Island lies off...

.

History

Charcot Island was discovered on January 11, 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

Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...

, a famous French physician.http://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=Charcot+island+Jean-Martin&source=bl&ots=hbH4zSCtji&sig=TPVR_iPdiGkYK6LPcmvbDUfa-mE&hl=en&ei=ma7ATM-wDsP68Abp85WZBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CDkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Charcot%20island%20Jean-Martin&f=false The insularity of Charcot Land was proved by Sir Hubert Wilkins

Hubert Wilkins

Sir Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer.-Early life:...

, who flew around it on December 29, 1929.

2009 Collapse of ice bridge

The ice bridge holding the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the Antarctic coastline and Charcot Island was 25 miles (40 km) long but only 500 metres (1,640 ft) wide at its narrowest point – in 1950 it was 62 miles (100 km) It shattered in April 2009 over an area measuring 12.5 by. The ice bridge collapsed rapidly, turning into hundreds of icebergs.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
  Scar
  Scars are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound results in...
  
  
• Territorial claims in Antarctica