브라질 (PY) 동쪽 대서양에 위치한 브라질령 섬   <HL1XP>

This island group is situated at 0°55' North and 20°20' West in the Atlantic Ocean about 950 km off Natal on the Brasilian coast. The distance to Guinea- Bissau in Africa is approximately 1800 km. Within an area of 350m x 200m you can find 11 rocks, the biggest 23m high. This rock has a lighthouse on it, which was built in 1933 but has now only ruins left. The next island is 625 km away.

These islands are uninhabitated, there is no vegetation and drinking water. The rocks are of volcanic origin and belong to Brasil.

Today one cannot say exactly who discovered these rocks. It could have been Juan da Nova de Castello who saw them first in 1513, other sources say it was Capitán Manuel de Castro Alcoforado who arrived there already in 1511. Even the origin of the name is unknown. When the French adventurer Laperouse visited these rocks in 1738 the name "Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo" was already in use. The first scientific expedition was conducted by Charles Darwin in 1832.

Amateur radio: own DXCC entity, prefix PY0S, locator HJ50HW, IOTA SA-014, DIB 03, DFB OC-01. Several DXpeditions are operating from here irregularly. PY0S is on rank 42 on the German List of Most Wanted DXCC Entities.    <DX-NL 1231 - February 12, 2001>