Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

**Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha** is a British Overseas Territory. It is in the South Atlantic Ocean and is made up of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the island group called Tristan da Cunha. In total, there are eight islands and the main is St Helena with a total area for the territory of .

It was known as **Saint Helena and Dependencies** until 1 September 2009. At that time a new constitution gave an equal status to all the islands in the territory.

## History

Of volcanic origin, the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha were all formerly separate colonies of the English crown, though separately discovered by several Portuguese explorers between 1502 and 1504.

### Portuguese discovery

Going to India, in May 1501, the Portuguese admiral João da Nova saw the Ascension island in the South Atlantic.  On his return journey, Nova is said to have discovered the South Atlantic island of St Helena on 21 May 1502, the feast day of Helena of Constantinople.

Another Portuguese, Tristan da Cunha () discovered a group of islands in 1506 and gave its name to the principal island of the group () but it was soon changed to _Tristan da Cunha_.

The Portuguese found that nobody was living in the St Helena island, with forests and fresh water. They built a timber chapel in the valley where later Jamestown was built.Though they formed no permanent settlement, the island became very important for ships coming from Asia and going back to Europe.

### English and British colonisation

During the first years of the 16th century, the island of St Helena was used as a place to stop by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French on their way to India and other Asian countries.

The Netherlands took St Helena from 1645 to 1659. In 1657, the English East India Company was given a permit to govern St Helena by Oliver Cromwell, and the following year the Company decided to colonise the island with farmers. The first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, and it is from this date that St Helena claims to be Britain’s second oldest (remaining) colony (after Bermuda). A fort was completed and a number of houses were built. After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a Royal permit to start a colony in the island. The fort was named _James Fort_ and the town _Jamestown_, in honour of the Duke of York, later King James II of England.

In 1815, the British government decided to use the island of St. Helena as a place of detention for Napoleon Bonaparte. To prevent any attempt to escape from the nearby islands, they formally annexed the islands of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. In 1821, Napoleon died on the island of St Helena.

On 22 April 1834, the island of St Helena became a colony of the British crown. In 1922, the Ascension then was attached as a dependency followed by the Tristan da Cunha Island 12 January 1938 .

During the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the island of St. Helena served as camp for about 5,000 prisoners of war.

During the Second World War, the Ascension was leased to the United States who established a base for their airplanes.

In 1961, a volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha forced authorities to evacuate the entire population of the island to the United Kingdom. The people of Tristan da Cunha could not return to the island until 1963.

## Geography

There is a huge distance between the northern and the southern points of the territory. The northern-most island, Ascension, is at latitude  of the equator and the southern-most island, Gough Island is at . Between St Helena and Tristan da Cunha is the Tropic of Capricorn. The distance between the northern tip of Ascension Island and the southern tip of Gough Island is . The whole territory lies in the Western Hemisphere and has the same time zone: Greenwich Mean Time. Daylight saving time is not observed.

There are eight islands in the Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha territory:
- Saint Helena Island
- Ascension Island at  to the north-west
- the Tristan da Cunha archipelago at  to the south, with six islands:
    - Tristan da Cunha Island
    - Inaccessible Island
    - Nightingale Islands
        - Nightingale Island
        - Middle Island
        - Stoltenhoff Island
    - Gough

Ascension has a warm, arid climate, but it is more moderated (and arid near the sea) in St Helena; Tristan da Cunha is much cooler. The highest point of the territory is Queen Mary's Peak on the island of Tristan da Cunha, with an elevation of  above sea level.

Although all three parts of the territory were formed by volcanic activity, only the Tristan da Cunha group of islands are active at the moment.

## Administrative divisions

Administratively, the territory is divided into the same three parts as the territory's geography, namely Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Each is governed by a council. The Governor of the territory is the representative of the British monarch across the territory and presides over the St Helena Legislative Council, while he or she is represented by an Administrator on Ascension Island and an Administrator on Tristan da Cunha that preside over these two areas' Island Councils.

|Administrative area|Area (km²) !! Area sq mi !! Population <small>Census 2008</small>|Administrative centre|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||122|47|4 255|Jamestown|
||88|35|1 122|Georgetown|
||98|80|284|Edinburgh of the Seven Seas|
|**Total**|**420**|**162**|**6 563**|**Jamestown**|

The island of St Helena is divided into eight districts.

## People

With a population of 6,567 inhabitants in the census of 1998 (estimated to be 7,754 in 2013), the territory appears as one of the least populated British territory. The largest city of the territory is the capital, Jamestown, with a population of 1,000 in 2009.

Approximately 50% of the population are of African origin while the descendants of Europeans (British and Scandinavian) and Chinese each represent a quarter of the population.

The inhabitants are mostly Anglicans, but there are Baptists, Adventists and Catholics.

## Economy

The islands had a very simple economy the mid-1960s, mainly based on the culture of New Zealand flax, a plant of the genus _Phormium_, that was used to produce fibers and ropes. Agriculture is now mainly for food, except for a bit of coffee.

Fishing remains the only really important activity on the island, but the territory is almost entirely supported by the help from United Kingdom, particularly through the U.S. and British facilities in the Ascension Island, which employ about 25% of the population.

The tourism industry in St Helena is not well developed and is based on the fact that Napoleon lived and died here.

## Related pages

- List of World Heritage Sites of the United Kingdom

## Other websites

- St Helena Government
- Ascension Government
- Tristan da Cunha Government

## Infobox (country)

- **conventional long name**: Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- **common name**: Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- **image flag**: Flag of the United Kingdom (1-2).svg
- **image map**: Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha on the Globe (in the United Kingdom).svg
- **national anthem**: _God Save the Queen_
- **official languages**: English
- **capital**: Jamestown, Saint Helena, Jamestown
- **leader title1**: Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Monarch
- **leader name1**: Charles III
- **leader title2**: Governor of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Governor
- **leader name2**: Mark Andrew Capes
- **leader title3**: Administrator of Ascension Island
- **leader name3**: Colin Wells (administrator), Colin Wells
- **leader title4**: Administrator of Tristan da Cunha
- **leader name4**: Sean Burns (politician), Sean Burns
- **leader title5**: Responsible Minister<sup>a</sup> (UK government, UK)
- **area km2**: 420
- **area sq mi**: 162
- **population census**: 7,728
- **population census year**: 2012
- **population census rank**: 219th
- **population density km2**: 13.4
- **established event1**: St Helena charter granted
- **established date1**: 1657
- **established event2**: East India Company rule ends
- **established date2**: 22 April 1834
- **established event3**: Ascension added
- **established date3**: 12 September 1922
- **established event4**: Tristan da Cunha added
- **established date4**: 12 January 1938
- **established date5**: 1 September 2009
- **currency code**: SHP
- **time zone**: GMT
- **utc offset**: +0
- **drives on**: left
- **footnote a**: For the British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories
- **footnote b**: Tristan da Cunha