page_title: Jason Islands
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Jason Islands / History
caption_attribution_description: By Richard William Seale (1744)
context_page_description: The Jason Islands are an archipelago in the Falkland Islands, lying to the far north-west of West Falkland. Three of the islands, Steeple Jason, Grand Jason and Clarke's Islet, are private nature reserves owned by the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York City. Other islands in the group are National Nature Reserves owned by the Falkland Islands Government.
context_section_description: An archipelago in the region of the Falkland Islands appeared on maps from the early 16th century, suggesting they may have been sighted by Ferdinand Magellan or another expedition of the 16th century. Amerigo Vespucci is believed to have sighted the islands in 1502, but did not name them. Both explorers were in Spanish service. In 1519 or 1520, Esteban Gómez of the "San Antonio", one of Magellan's captains, deserted Magellan and encountered several islands, which members of his crew called "Islas de Sansón y de los Patos" ("Islands of Samson and the Ducks"). Although these islands were probably the Jason Islands, the names "Islas de Sansón" (or "San Antón," "San Son," and "Ascensión") were used for the Falklands as a whole on Spanish maps during this period.
  On 24 January 1600 Sebald De Weert, on his homeward leg back to the Netherlands after having left the Straits of Magellan, noticed some islands that did not exist on his nautical charts. He attempted to stop and replenish there, but was unable to land due to harsh conditions.  The islands that Sebald de Weert charted were the present day Jason Islands.  De Weert named these islands the "Sebald de Weert Eilanden" ("Sebald de Weert Islands" in English), which came to be known to the world as the Sebald Islands.  Since 1766, these have been officially known as the "Jason Islands", in the Falklands and throughout the British Empire, although, the name "Sebald Islands" (or Spanish versions "Islas Sebaldinas" or "Sebaldes" for short) remained in use for many years. Today the British name, "Jason Islands", is fairly universal.
  Between 1864 and 1866, approximately two million rockhopper and gentoo penguins were killed on the Jasons and boiled to extract their oil.
  In March 1970, the islands were bought by Len Hill. The Jason Islands were offered to Hill for £10,000, which included sheep that had been stocked by the previous owner. After some negotiation, he bought the islands for £5,500 without the sheep. Hill once issued some now sought-after banknotes in the name of the islands to raise money for conservation there. The notes were valid until the 31 December 1979 and were signed by "Len Hill - Administrator".
  In the 1990s, two of the Jason Islands, Steeple Jason Island and Grand Jason Island, were bought by New York philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, who later donated them to the Bronx Zoo based Wildlife Conservation Society along with US$425,000 to build a conservation station named after himself and his wife Judy.
caption: Jason Islands depicted on an 18th-century map, as "S. de Waerds Isl.s" [sic] (R.W. Seale, ca. 1745, fragment)
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