Between the end of June and the middle of July 1831, underwater volcanic activity gave rise to a new island in the Mediterranean, in the Sicilian Channel across from Tunisia. While sailors and coastal dwellers feared the awakening of a sea monster, the nascent land aroused the curiosity of scientists and the desire of European powers amid their colonial expansion.
Within weeks, the island was claimed for its strategic position by Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, among others. The rivalry, however, was short-lived: barely six months after its appearance, the newly formed island vanished beneath the waves of the Mediterranean. Its many names remain recorded in European archives, “Ferdinandea” for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in honour of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, “Julia” for the French in reference to the July Monarchy, and “Graham” for the British after Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty. Still resting today a few metres below the surface, the basaltic rock is closely monitored by seismologists. Could a fresh eruption cause it to rise again, and once more provoke geopolitical manoeuvres, and the logics of exploitation and exclusion wielded by imperial powers?
Clement Cogitore © Kenza Wadimoff
Between the end of June and the middle of July 1831, underwater volcanic activity gave rise to a new island in the Mediterranean, in the Sicilian Channel across from Tunisia. While sailors and coastal dwellers feared the awakening of a sea monster, the nascent land aroused the curiosity of scientists and the desire of European powers amid their colonial expansion.
Within weeks, the island was claimed for its strategic position by Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, among others. The rivalry, however, was short-lived: barely six months after its appearance, the newly formed island vanished beneath the waves of the Mediterranean. Its many names remain recorded in European archives, “Ferdinandea” for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in honour of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon, “Julia” for the French in reference to the July Monarchy, and “Graham” for the British after Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty. Still resting today a few metres below the surface, the basaltic rock is closely monitored by seismologists. Could a fresh eruption cause it to rise again, and once more provoke geopolitical manoeuvres, and the logics of exploitation and exclusion wielded by imperial powers?
Clement Cogitore © Kenza Wadimoff
