1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Amsterdam (Island)

AMSTERDAM (New Amsterdam), an uninhabited and almost inaccessible island in the Indian Ocean, in 37° 47′ S., and 77° 34′ E., about 60 m. N. of St Paul Island, and nearly midway between the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania. It is an extinct volcano, rising 2989 ft. from the sea. It was discovered by Anthony van Diemen in 1633, and annexed by France in 1893. It may have been sighted by the companions of Magellan returning to Europe in 1522, and by a Dutch vessel, the “Zeewolf,” in 1617. In 1871 the British frigate “Megaera” was wrecked here, and most of the 400 persons on board had to remain upwards of three months on the island. The Mémoires of a Frenchman, Captain Francois Péron (Paris, 1824), who was marooned three years on the island (1792–1795), are of much interest.