French Southern Territories

The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) is an uninhabited-in-the-permanent-sense overseas territory of France, administered directly from Paris through an appointed prefect-administrator based in Réunion. It comprises scattered sub-Antarctic islands (Kerguelen, Crozet, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam), the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean, and Adélie Land in Antarctica, the last of which falls under the Antarctic Treaty System that suspends sovereignty claims. The territory has no permanent population—only rotating scientists, military personnel, and support staff—and projects French presence and exclusive economic zone claims across the southern Indian Ocean. A durable fault line is the overlapping or contested sovereignty over the Scattered Islands, claimed by Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Comoros.