The UK isn’t the only country in the world to use the Great British Pound – and one is nearly 8,000 miles away. A British Overseas Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is located off the coast of South America.
However, despite the enormous distance to the UK, it still makes use of the same currency.
This is despite the fact a large portion of its population is made up of animals unlikely to be passing notes and coins back and forth – penguins.
The hugely biodiverse islands are home to no human beings – but dozens of species of birds, surrounded by marine animals.
The oldest currency in continuous use, GBP is also the fourth most traded currency in the foreign exchange market.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, 7,810 miles from the UK, isn’t the only faraway country to make use of the currency, with Britain itself being just one of nine countries paying in quid. Other distant countries using it include the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha – all of which are in the south Atlantic Ocean.
However, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is particularly unique in that it is completely inhospitable. It comprises the 165 kilometre long South Georgia and a collection of smaller islands.
The islands are hugely biodiverse and are full of a wide variety of birds. This includes albatross, along with petrels, prions, shags, skuas, gulls and terns.
It is also home to a large colony of king penguins, Macaroni penguins and penguins of various other species. It’s surrounding marine life is even more varied, and is considered one of the most biodiverse areas in the world.
Sea spiders the size of dinner plates and two-meter-long ribbon worms that eat prey several times their own size are among the 1,400-plus species counted by the British Atlantic Survey (BAS). Many of the species are found nowhere else on Earth.
Seals and whales are also often seen in the waters around the islands.
A very small non-permanent human population stays in South Georgia. BAS operates two bases on the island, one of which is staffed with eight BAs personnel, two island officers and their spouses.
Meanwhile, so-called “Bird Island”, just off the coast of South Georgia, has four BAS officers working year round to monitor seabirds and marine mammals.
While there are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the country, cruise liner visits are increasingly popular, and several thousand visit every summer. Cruise ships typically visit as part of a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula.
Yacht visits also take place beginning in the Falkland Islands and visit remote harbours of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, lasting between four and six weeks.
The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775, and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The official territory of “South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands” was formed in 1985
Argentina continues to claim the territory, however, and briefly occupied South Georgia during the Falklands War in 1982.
