<ref name="polp">Government of New Zealand, Dept. of Conservation (1999) ''[http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/about-doc/role/policies-and-plans/chatham-islands-cms.pdf Chatham IslandsConservation Management Strategy]''. Accessed on 2012-07-13.</ref>
TheĐảo islandđược wasđặt namedtheo after thetên [[surveytàu khảo shipsát]] [[HMS Chatham (1788)|HMS ''Chatham'']] which was the first European ship to locate the island in 1791.<ref name="Hooper2006">{{cite book|author=Steven Hooper|title=Pacific Encounters: Art & Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=b2S55LTEAogC&pg=PA119|accessdate=17 July 2012|date=30 July 2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3084-7|page=119}}</ref> It covers an area of {{Convert|920|km2|0}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/chatham-islands/1 |title=Story: Chatham Islands Page 1 – Overview |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=7 September 2012 |work=web page |publisher=The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |accessdate=15 December 2012}}</ref>
Đảo Chatham Islandcó cự liesly {{convert|650|km|0|abbr=on}} south-eastvề ofphía đông nam [[Capemũi Turnagain]], theđiểm nearestlục point of mainlandđịa New Zealand togần đảo thenày islandnhất.