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The French Southern Territories (long name: Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, French: Territoire des Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises or TAAF) are antarctic, volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Africa and about equidistant between Africa, Antarctica, and Australia.
1 Admninistration
The French Southern Territories form an overseas territory of FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. (French: territoire d'outre-merA Territoire d'outre-mer TOM French for "Overseas territory") is an administrative divisions of France. The term is currently only applied to the French Southern Territories. Former territoires d'outre-mer French Polynesia, from 1946 to 2003, now a pays d).
It has been an overseas territory of FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. since 19551955 is a common year starting on Saturday. see link for calendar) Events January events January 2 Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated. January 19 The Scrabble board game debuts. February events February 8 Nikolai Bulganin ousts Georgi Mal, administered from ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to by High Commissioner of the Republic François Garde (since May 24May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). There are 221 days remaining. Events 1153 Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland. 1218 The Fifth Crusade leaves for Egypt. 1430 Joan of Arc is captured at Compiegne. 1487 Im, 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri), assisted by Secretary General Jean-Yves Hermoso.
Several countries do not recognize the French claim to "Adelie Land", and France's territorial claim is suspended in accordance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty.
2 Geography
The territory includes Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul , Îles Crozet, and Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean near 43°S, 67°E, along with the French-claimed sector of Antarctica, Adélie Land (French Terre Adélie) , named by French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville after his wife.
The "Adélie Land" of about 500,000 km² and the islands, totaling 7781 km², have no indigenous inhabitants, though in 1997 there were about 100 researchers whose numbers varied from winter (July) to summer (January). France maintains the Dumont d'Urville scientific station on Adélie Land".
Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul are extinct volcanoes; the highest point in the territory is Mont Ross on Îles Kerguelen at 1850 meters. There are no airstrips on the islands and the 1232 kilometers of coastline have no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorages. However, the territory has a merchant marine fleet totaling (in 1999) 2,892,911 GRT/5,165,713 DWT, including seven bulk carriers, five cargo ships, ten chemical tankers, nine container ships, six liquified gas carriers, 24 petroleum tankers, one refrigerated cargo ship, and ten roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) carriers. This fleet is maintained as a subset of the French register that allowing French-owned ships to operate under more liberal taxation and manning regulations than permissible under the main French register.
