The "Ile aux Crabes" (Crab Island) is part, along with "Roches Vertes", of the Glorioso Islands archipelago located north of Madagascar, which have an exclusive economic zone of 48,350 km₂. These two islands have an area of ​​2km₂.

Together they form part of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean (French Îles Éparses de l'Ocean Indien) which are a group of small coral islands located in the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean (except the island of Tromelin). They do not form any single administrative geographical group, since all belong to France and are one of the five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. These islands are claimed by neighboring countries Madagascar and Mauritius.

The islands are considered natural reserves and are uninhabited.

Jules Sébastien César Admiral Dumont d'Urville (Normandy May 23, 1790 - Meudon-Paris, May 8, 1842) was a renowned naval officer, geographer, explorer and collector French botanist. Throughout his life he carried out several expeditions aboard the corvette Astrolabe. Their findings contributed to the enrichment of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

He received the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society of which he became president and was a member of the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Literature of Caen.

Several geographical features were named in his honor as the "sea of ​​Urville" and "Island Urville" in Antarctica, and Cape Urville in Indonesia, among others, and published numerous works in life, whereas today one of the two bases that France maintained in Antarctica bears his name.