Pourquoi Pas Island

A mountainous Antarctic island off the west coast of Graham Land

Pourquoi Pas Island

Region: Antarctica

Destinations: Antarctic Peninsula

The size, place, and neighbors of Pourquoi Pas Island

Roughly 27 km (17 miles) long and anywhere from 8 to 18 km (5 to 11 miles) wide, Pourquoi Pas Island is situated between Bourgeois Fjord and Bigourdan Fjord off western Graham Land, Antarctica.

Pourquoi Pas Island’s discovery, exploration, and namesake

Pourquoi Pas was discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition of 1908 – 1910, led by Jean-Baptiste Charcot, then fully charted by the British Graham Land Expedition of 1934 – 1937, under Australian explorer John Rymill, who named Pourquoi Pas Island after Charcot’s ship, the (you guessed it) Pourquoi-Pas.

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