Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha is a group of remote islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2816 km (1750 miles) from South Africa and 3360 km (2088 miles) from South America. It is a dependency of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, 2161 km (1350 miles) to the north. more...

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The territory consists of the main island, Tristan da Cunha (98 km²), as well as several uninhabited islands: Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands. Gough Island, situated 395 km south east of the main island, is also part of the territory.

The territory is considered one of the most remote human settlements in the world.

History

The islands were first sighted in 1506 by a Portuguese mariner, Tristão da Cunha, although he did not land. He named the main island after himself, Ilha de Tristão da Cunha, which was later anglicised to Tristan da Cunha Island. The first survey of the archipelago was made by the French frigate L'Heure du Berger in 1767. Soundings were taken and a rough survey of the coastline was made. The presence of water at the large waterfall of Big Watron and in a lake on the north coast were noted, and the results of the survey were published by a Royal Navy hydrographer in 1781. The first permanent settler was Jonathan Lambert, from Salem, Massachusetts, who arrived at the islands in 1810. He declared the islands his property and named them the Islands of Refreshment. His rule was short lived, as he died in a boating accident in 1812.

In 1815 the United Kingdom formally annexed the islands, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa. This is reported to have primarily been a measure to ensure that the French would not be able to use the islands as a base for a rescue operation to free Napoleon Bonaparte from his prison on Saint Helena. The occupation also prevented the United States from using Tristan as a base, as they had during the War of 1812. Attempts to colonise Inaccessible Island failed.

The islands were occupied by a British military garrison, and a civilian population was gradually built up. Whalers also set up on the islands as a base for operations in the Southern Atlantic. However the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the move from sailing ships to coal fired steam ships, saw the increased isolation of the islands, as they were no longer needed as a stopping port for journeys from Europe to the Far East.

In 1867, The Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria visited the island. The main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas was named in honour of his visit. A second Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, visited the islands in 1957 as part of a world tour onboard the royal yacht Britannia. Lewis Carroll's youngest brother, the Rev. Edwin H. Dodgson, served as an Anglican missionary and school teacher in Tristan da Cunha in the 1880s.

On 12 January 1938, by Letters Patent, the islands were declared a dependency of St Helena.

Read more at Wikipedia.org