page_title: Wilkes Land
section_title: Name
hierarchical_section_title: Wilkes Land / Name
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Charles Wilkes by Thomas Sully Русский: Чарльз Уилкс, американский морской офицер.
context_page_description: Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica, formally claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, though the validity of this claim has been placed for the period of the operation of the Antarctic Treaty, to which Australia is a signatory.
context_section_description: Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (later a rear admiral), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the continental margin over a distance of 2,400 km (1,500 miles) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that Antarctica is a continent. This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E, George V Land, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.
caption: Wilkes Land gets its name from Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition
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