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Thatcher Peninsula

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 18, 2025
Entity authorityQ613738
Source-derived summary

Thatcher Peninsula (54°17′S 36°32′W) is a mountainous peninsula in north-central South Georgia. Its total area is approximately 5,640 hectares (13,900 acres), with roughly 1,620 ha (4,000 acres) covered in vegetation. It terminates to the north in Mai Point, rising between Cumberland West Bay to the west, and Cumberland East Bay and Moraine Fjord to the east. It is bounded to the southwest and south by Lyell Glacier and Hamberg Glacier. King Edward Cove on the east side of the peninsula is the site of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Grytviken station and the disused whaling station of the same name.

Thatcher Peninsula was named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1991, at the suggestion of members of the Royal Geographical Society, after Margaret Thatcher, British prime minister, 1979–90. She was described by Sir Vivian Fuchs, chair of the Foreign Office's Antarctic Place Names Committee, as 'a major figure in the history of South Georgia', for her role in the Falklands War. Thatcher was, according to friends, "flattered and amused" by the honour.

Geography

Many features on the coast of the peninsula have been individually charted and named. Features on the west coast are detailed as part of Cumberland West Bay, and those on the east coast are detailed as part of Cumberland East Bay.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Thatcher Peninsula” as south Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1991, 1979—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Thatcher, Peninsula and South can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as south Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q613738. Authority coordinates are -54.283, -36.533. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991 and 1979.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thatcher Peninsula”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thatcher Peninsula primary sources, Thatcher Peninsula archive and Thatcher research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thatcher Peninsula”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Thatcher Peninsula” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.