AMSTERDAM (NEw AMSTERDAM)  , an uninhabited and almost inaccessible island in the Indian Ocean, in 370 47' S., and 770 34' E., about 6o m . N. of St Paul Island, and nearly midway between the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania . It is an extinct volcano, rising 2989 ft. from the sea . It was discovered by Anthony van Diemen in 1633, and annexed by France in 1893 . It may have been sighted by the companions of Magellan returning to Europe in 1522, and by a Dutch vessel, the " Zeewolf, " in 1617 . In 1871 the British frigate " Megaera " was wrecked here, and most of the 400 persons on board had to remain upwards of three months on the island . The Memoires of a Frenchman, Captain Francois Peron (Paris, 1824), who was marooned three years on the island (1792-1795), are of much interest .