Welcome to King Edward Point!
Grytviken is a former whaling station on South Georgia Island. It was founded in 1904 as it had the best harbour on this storm-wracked island, with flat ice-free terrain and a fresh water supply. It became South Georgia's principal station and settlement, and a port-of-call for ships heading to Antarctica. The name is Swedish for "Pot Bay" as the settlers found big pots in which earlier parties had boiled up seal fat to extract the oil. 20th-century whaling destroyed the whale populations, and Grytviken was abandoned in 1966. It now has no resident population, but a few staff stay here in summer to manage visitors.
2022 is the centenary of the explorer Ernest Shackleton's last visit. He died on 5 Jan 1922 aboard his ship anchored at Grytviken, and was buried here on 5 March.
King Edward Point (also known as KEP) is a permanent British Antarctic Survey research station on South Georgia island and is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is situated in Cumberland East Bay on the northeastern coast of the island. The settlement is the smallest capital in the world by population. It is sometimes confusingly referred to as Grytviken, which is the site of the disused whaling station, nearby at the head of King Edward Cove.