The islands were discovered by British mariner
William Smith, in , in 1819, although Dutch mariner
Dirck Gerritsz in 1599 or Spanish Admiral
Gabriel de Castilla in 1603 might have sighted the South Shetlands, or North or South American sealers might have visited the
archipelago before Smith. Smith's discovery was well documented and had wider historical implications beyond its geographic significance. Chilean scientists have claimed that
Amerinds have visited the islands, due to stone artifacts recovered from bottom-sampling operations in
Admiralty Bay,
King George Island, and Discovery Bay,
Greenwich Island; however, the artifacts – two arrowheads – were later found to have been planted. In 1818,
Juan Pedro de Aguirre obtained permission from the
Buenos Aires authorities to establish a base for sealing on "some of the uninhabited islands near the South Pole". Captain William Smith in the British merchant brig
Williams, while sailing to
Valparaíso, Chile, in 1819, deviated from his route south of
Cape Horn, and on 19 February 1819 sighted
Williams Point, the northeast extremity of
Livingston Island. Thus, Livingston Island became the first land ever discovered farther than 60° south. Smith revisited the South Shetlands, landed on
King George Island on 16 October 1819, and claimed possession for Britain. Meanwhile, the Spanish Navy ship
San Telmo sank in September 1819 whilst trying to go through the
Drake Passage. Parts of her presumed wreckage were found months later by sealers on the north coast of Livingston Island. The crew of
San Telmo and the troops onboard, led by
Brigadier Rosendo Porlier (a total of 644 men), are believed to be the first known humans to land in Antarctica. From December 1819 to January 1820, the islands were surveyed and mapped by Lieutenant
Edward Bransfield on board the
Williams, which had been chartered by the
Royal Navy. On 15 November 1819, the United States agent in Valparaíso, Jeremy Robinson, informed the
United States Secretary of State John Quincy Adams of Smith's discovery and Bransfield's forthcoming mission, and suggested dispatching a
United States Navy ship to explore the islands, where "new sources of wealth, power, and happiness would be disclosed and science itself be benefited thereby". The discovery of the islands attracted British and American sealers. The first
sealing ship to operate in the area was the brig
Espirito Santo, chartered by British merchants in
Buenos Aires. The ship arrived at
Rugged Island off Livingston Island, where its British crew landed on Christmas Day 1819, and claimed the islands for King George III. A narrative of the events was published by the brig's master, Joseph Herring, in the July 1820 edition of the
Imperial Magazine. The
Espirito Santo was followed from the
Falkland Islands by the American brig
Hersilia, commanded by Captain James Sheffield (with second mate
Nathaniel Palmer), the first US sealer in the South Shetlands. The first wintering over in Antarctica took place on the South Shetlands, when at the end of the 1820–1821 summer season, 11 British men from the ship
Lord Melville failed to leave King George Island, and survived the winter to be rescued at the beginning of the next season. Having circumnavigated the
Antarctic continent, the
Russian Antarctic Expedition of
Fabian von Bellingshausen and
Mikhail Lazarev arrived at the South Shetlands in January 1821. The Russians surveyed the islands and named them, landing on both King George Island and
Elephant Island. While sailing between
Deception and
Livingston Islands, Bellingshausen was visited by
Nathaniel Palmer, master of the American brig
Hero, who informed him of the activities of dozens of American and British sealing ships in the area. The name "New South Britain" was used briefly, but was soon changed to South Shetland Islands (in reference to the
Shetland Islands in the north of
Scotland). The name South Shetland Islands is now established in international usage. The two island groups lie at similar distances from the
Equator; the Scottish Shetland Islands are 60°N, and warmed by the
Gulf Stream, but the South Shetlands at 62°S are much colder.
Seal hunting and
whaling were conducted on the islands during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The sealing era lasted from 1820 to 1908 during which time 197 vessels are recorded as having visiting the islands. Twelve of those vessels were wrecked. Relics of the sealing era include iron try pots, hut ruins, and inscriptions. Beginning in 1908, the islands were governed as part of the
Falkland Islands Dependency, but they have only been permanently occupied by humans since the establishment of a scientific research station in 1944. The archipelago, together with the nearby
Antarctic Peninsula and
South Georgia Island, is an increasingly popular
tourist destination during the southern summer. == Geography ==