Bouvet Island island was claimed for the British Crown by George Norris, who named it Liverpool Island. He also reported Thompson Island as nearby, although this was later shown to be a phantom island. The first "Norvegia" expedition landed on the island in 1927 and claimed it for Norway. At this time the island was named "Bouvet Island", or "Bouvetøya" in Norwegian. After a dispute with the United Kingdom, it was declared a Norwegian dependency in 1930. It became a nature reserve in 1971. The island was discovered on 1 January 1739 by Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, commander of the French
Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier island which was named Bouvet Island after him; however, he mislabeled the coordinates for the island, causing it to be lost until it was rediscovered seven decades later in 1808. Shortly afterwards, he had to abandon the expedition because most of his crew had fallen ill; his ship then called at the Cape of Good Hope and returned to France. Ten years after his expedition, Bouvet de Lozier was appointed governor of the Mascarene Islands twice, once from 1750 to 1752 and a second time from 1757 to 1763. Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier Jean Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier