Rothschild Island named for banking family, not owned by it | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·2 min read
A drone view of the edge of A23a, the world's largest iceberg located in the waters off Antarctica. Photo taken Dec. 1, 2023.

The claim: The Rothschild family owns an island in Antarctica

A Nov. 24 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows two men talking about a strange purchase supposedly made by a famous family.

"Everyone knows about Epstein Island, but have you heard about Rothschild's Island?" says one of the men, referencing the wealthy Jewish Rothschild family. " They bought an island off the coast of Antarctica."

The Instagram video includes a map of Antarctica that shows a small island off the coast labeled "Rothschild Island."

The post was liked more than 1,000 times in 11 days.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Our rating: False

Nobody owns any part of Antarctica under the terms of a 1959 treaty. The island referenced in the post was named for a member of the Rothschild family by a French explorer in the early 1900s.

Island named for financier, not owned by family

Rothschild Island is a rocky, 24-mile-long island in Antarctica spotted by the French Antarctic Expedition between 1908 and 1910. It was named by the expedition’s leader, Jean-Baptiste Charcot, for Baron Edouard de Rothschild, then the head of the du Rothschild Brothers Bank, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The expedition named several islands during its voyage, but the Antarctic Treaty holds that no state or individual may own land that is part of Antarctica. France was one of the first signers of the treaty in 1959.

Several countries have claimed parts of Antarctica, and the U.S. says it has a basis to make a claim if it chooses to. However, no territorial claims in Antarctica are recognized under the Antarctic Treaty, according to the State Department.

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The Rothschilds family has been the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming it has influenced world events for almost two centuries, according to the Anti-Defamation League. USA TODAY has debunked a claim that the family owns dozens of central banks around the world.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rothschild family not owner of island in Antarctica | Fact check