They were discovered in December 1821 by Captain George Powell, a British sealer in the sloop James Monroe, though it is possible they are the "Seal Islands" seen by Nathaniel Palmer a year earlier.

[1] They are considered part of the British Antarctic Territory by the United Kingdom and part of the Province of Tierra del Fuego by Argentina.

The islands have been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support a large breeding colony of southern fulmars (50,000 pairs).

[2] This article incorporates public domain material from "Inaccessible Islands".

This South Orkney Islands location article is a stub.