Saint Helena is a volcanic island in the South Atlantic. Together
with Ascension Island and the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, it forms
the British Overseas Territory of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan
da Cunha.
The island of Saint Helena is 1859 km from Africa
(Angola) and 3286 km from South America (Recife, Brazil). It lies on
the African Plate. The distance from Jamestown to Georgetown on
Ascension is 1297 km, from Jamestown to Edinburgh of the Seven Seas
on Tristan da Cunha is 2442 km.
places
In addition to the
places whose names correspond to those of the districts, there are a
few other places such as Ruperts and Scotland. The largest town is
not the capital Jamestown with 629 inhabitants (as of 2016), but its
suburb Half Tree Hollow with 984 inhabitants (as of 2016).
Collectively, this "capital region" comprises about 35 percent of
the island's population.
side islands
Numerous minor
islands, islets and rocks lie along the coast, including Castle
Rock, Speery Island, The Needle, Lower Black Rock, Upper Black Rock
(south), Bird Island (southwest), Black Rock, Thompson's Valley
Island, Peaked Island, Egg Island , Lady's Chair, Lighter Rock
(West), Long Ledge (Northwest), Shore Island, George Island, Rough
Rock Island, Flat Rock (East), The Buoys, Sandy Bay Island, The
Chimney, White Bird Island and Frightus Rock (Southeast ), all
within a distance of one kilometer from the coast.
Landscape and environment
See also: List
of mountains in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
The
highest elevation of the 123.28 km² island is the 818 m high Diana's
Peak; however, there are other peaks over 500 m high.
The
island's isolated location - just a step away from a satellite colony in
space, according to Edward O. Wilson - has given rise to a flora and
fauna characterized by a high number of endemic species and genera. More
than 400 species exclusively native to St. Helena are known to date;
alone among the flowering plants on St. Helena there are 36 endemic
species.
After the discovery of the uninhabited island at the
beginning of the 16th century, human influence led to increasing
destruction of the natural vegetation. Several phases can be
distinguished here:
1502–1659: The vegetation at lower elevations was
disturbed by grazing by introduced mammals, primarily goats
1659–1750: Destruction of the Commidendrum forests due to the settlers'
need for timber and firewood
1860–1930: Clearing of the tree fern and
melanodendron stocks at altitudes over 600 m in favor of Phormium tenax
plantations
1930–present: Displacement of native species by further
spread of introduced species such as Phormium tenax, Buddleja
madagascariensis and Fuchsia coccinea
Plant species endemic to
the island include St. Helena Redwood (Trochetiopis erythroxylon),
Baby's Toes (Hydrodea cryptantha) and Black Cabbage (Melanodendron
integrifolium). Some other endemic plant species have died out in
historical times, such as the moor bells Wahlenbergia roxburghii and now
also the St. Helena olive tree (Nesiota elliptica), the last specimens
of which died from fungal diseases.
Also extinct are introduced
coconut palms that once grew in Jamestown and Sandy Bay. In 1985, a
shipload of 100 coconuts was reintroduced from the Caribbean island of
Antigua and planted in Rupert's Bay. They needed special protection from
the whitefly (Aleurotrachelus atratus). However, in 2002 they fell ill
and today there are no more coconut palms on St. Helena.
The
island's only endemic vertebrate is the St. Helena Plover (Charadrius
sanctaehelenae), nicknamed the Wirebird by the islanders. It is also the
national and heraldic animal of the island. Some of the endemic animal
species have gone extinct in recent years, such as the world's largest
earwig, the St. Helena's giant earwig.
Today the island is mainly
covered with grass and bushes. Efforts are being made to protect what
little remains of native vegetation on the island's higher elevations.
In 1996, the Diana's Peak area was declared a national park. Due to its
ecological uniqueness, the island has been on the UNESCO World Heritage
List since January 2012.
St. Helena was an uninhabited island until the 16th century because
of its remoteness and cliffs. In May 1502 she was discovered by the
Galician navigator João da Nova as commodore of a Portuguese fleet of
four naos returning from India. He named the island after St. Helena,
the saintly mother of Emperor Constantine, on whose name day the
discovery fell. The Portuguese anchored in what is now James Bay, landed
and built some houses and a chapel. They left their sick, but did not
establish a permanent settlement on the island, and reached Lisbon in
September of the same year. The island's existence and location were
kept secret for some time to ensure its strategic importance. The first
permanent resident of the island became a Portuguese soldier, Fernão
Lopes, who had been severely punished for treason by the Goan governor.
This was exposed on the way back to Portugal in 1516 during a stopover
at St. Helena. He remained alone on the island and died there around
1546.
The first Englishman on the island was Thomas Cavendish,
who on June 8, 1588 coming from the Pacific with his ship Desire threw
anchor off St. Helena and stayed twelve days. He described the island as
an "earthly paradise"; it was no longer a secret from now on. In 1591
James Lancaster reached the island. Around 1600 the Portuguese abandoned
St. Helena. Immediately afterwards it was occupied by the Dutch. The
Dutch occupation lasted until 1651. In 1659 the British East India
Company took possession of the island and established the fort
(Jamestown) and a garrison. In 1673 the Dutch reoccupied St. Helena but
were soon driven out by the English. The company that officially owned
the island established large farms employing many blacks and Chinese.
The wealth of St. Helena increased because of the safe location, large
amounts of gold were kept and rich merchants resided on the island.
Among the governors there were also Huguenots like Stéphane Poirier, who
tried in vain to grow wine. The astronomer Edmond Halley visited the
island at this time. Halley's Mount was named after him.
From the
17th century onwards, a culture of excessive drinking, especially of
arrack and arrack-based punches, developed on St. Helena, in connection
with which the mortality and disease rates on the island reached high
levels. During the Christmas season of 1783 and 1811, soldiers of the
garrison rebelled against government measures to curb excessive alcohol
consumption. In both cases, the uprisings were put down and many of
those involved were executed.