南极半岛是南美洲对岸的西南极洲上的一个半岛，为南极洲唯一的一个在南极圈外的领土。南极洲的最高峰文森峰亦位于南极半岛。相较于南极洲的其他地区，南极半岛气候较为温和，因此大量科学考察站设立于南极半岛及其周边岛屿。

南极半岛于1820年被探险家首次发现，其后英国、阿根廷、智利均对其提出了领土要求。直到1961年6月通过《南极条约》，冻结了所有国家对南极领土的主权要求。但至今，智利与其余六个主张有南极洲部份地区主权的国家一样，仍未完全放弃在南极上的主权，并把南极半岛创建「南极智利省」，由麦哲伦-智利南极大区管辖。

The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica, located at the base of the Southern Hemisphere. At the surface, it is the biggest, most prominent peninsula in Antarctica as it extends 1300 km (800 miles) from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet which covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined together by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, lies only about 1000 km (620 miles) away across the Drake Passage.