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Tristan da Cunha
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Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km (1,750 miles) from South Africa and 3,360 km (2,088 miles) from South America. It is a dependency of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, 2,430 km (1,510 miles) to the north.
The territory consists of the main island, Tristan da Cunha (area: 98 km², 38 sq mi), as well as several uninhabited islands: Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands. Gough Island (area: 91 km², 35 sq mi), situated 395 km (245 mi) southeast of the main island, is also considered part of the territory.
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world.
History
The islands were first sighted in 1506 by a Portuguese sailor, Tristão da Cunha, although rough seas prevented a landing.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km (1,750 miles) from South Africa and 3,360 km (2,088 miles) from South America. It is a dependency of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, 2,430 km (1,510 miles) to the north.
The territory consists of the main island, Tristan da Cunha (area: 98 km², 38 sq mi), as well as several uninhabited islands: Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands. Gough Island (area: 91 km², 35 sq mi), situated 395 km (245 mi) southeast of the main island, is also considered part of the territory.
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world.
History
The islands were first sighted in 1506 by a Portuguese sailor, Tristão da Cunha, although rough seas prevented a landing. 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, United States, who arrived at the islands in December 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 1816 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 colonize 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, increased the isolation of the islands, as they were no longer needed as a stopping port for journeys from Europe to the Far East.
In 1867, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, visited the island. The main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas was named in honour of his visit. 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. 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.
On 12 January 1938, by Letters Patent, the islands were declared a dependency of Saint Helena. Prior to this, passing ships stopped irregularly at the island for a period of mere hours.
During World War II, the islands were used as a Royal Navy station. Atlantic Isle was established to monitor German shipping movements in the South Atlantic Ocean. The first Administrator was appointed by the British Government during this time.
In 1958, as part of Operation Argus, the United States Navy exploded an atomic bomb 200 kilometres high in the upper atmosphere, 115 kilometres southeast of the island.
In 1961, a volcanic eruption forced the evacuation of the entire population to wooden huts in the disused Pendell Army Camp in Merstham, Surrey, England before moving to a more permanent site at a former Royal Air Force station in Calshot near Southampton, England, living mainly in a road called Tristan Close. In 1962, a Royal Society expedition went to the island to assess the damage, and reported that the settlement Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had been affected only marginally. Most families returned in 1963 led by Willie Repetto (head of the ten-person island council) and Allan Crawford (the former island welfare officer).
In 2005, the island was given a United Kingdom post code (TDCU 1ZZ) to make it easier for the residents to order goods online.
Recent events
On 4 December 2007 an outbreak of an acute viral-induced asthma was reported. This outbreak was compounded by Tristan's lack of suitable medical supplies. The British coastguard in Falmouth co-ordinated international efforts to get appropriate medicines to Tristan in order to treat the virus. Tristan’s elderly population and the very young were most at risk; however, only four elderly people were hospitalized. Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessel RFA Gold Rover upon reaching the island with the required medical supplies found no emergency and the islanders in good general health.
On February 13, 2008, fire destroyed the fishing factory and the two generators that supply power to the island. Backup generators were used to power the hospital and give power for part of the day to the rest of the island. Power was on during the day and early evening and candlelight was used the rest of the time. On March 14, 2008 new generators were installed and 24/7 power was restored. This fire was devastating to the island because fishing is a mainstay of the economy. Royal Engineers from the British Army are working on the harbour to help maintain it as everything comes and goes by boat.
Politics and law
Executive authority is vested in the Queen, who is represented in the territory by the Governor of Saint Helena. As the Governor resides permanently in Saint Helena, an Administrator is appointed to represent the Governor in the islands. The Administrator acts as the local head of government, and takes advice from the Island Council, made up of eight elected and three appointed members. Policing in Tristan da Cunha is undertaken by one full-time police officer and three special constables. Tristan da Cunha has its own legislation, but the law of Saint Helena applies to the extent that it is not inconsistent with local law, insofar as it is suitable for local circumstances and subject to such modifications as local circumstances make necessary.
Geography
The name "Tristan da Cunha" is also used for the archipelago, which consists of the following islands (areas given in km²):
- the main island Tristan da Cunha and its surrounding islands
- Gough Island (Diego Alvarez) (area: 68 km², 26 sq mi)
Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands are located 35 km (22 mi) southwest of the main island, while Gough Island is located 395 km (245 mi) south-southeast. The main island is quite mountainous; the only flat area is the location of the capital, Edinburgh, on the northwest coast (sometimes known as "Edinburgh of the Seven Seas"). The highest point is a volcano called Queen Mary's Peak (2,062 m, 6,765 ft); it is covered by snow in winter. The climate is marine subtropical with small temperature differences between summer and winter and between day and night. The other islands of the group are uninhabited, except for Gough Island Weather Station on the namesake island, which has been operated by South Africa since 1956 (since 1963 at its present location at Transvaal Bay on the southeast coast), with a staff of six. Tristan da Cunha is the nesting place of Tristan Albatrosses.
Tristan da Cunha is thought to have formed by a long-lived centre of upwelling magma called the Tristan hotspot.
Economy
All Tristan families are farmers, owning their own stock. All land is communally owned. Livestock numbers are strictly controlled to conserve pasture and to prevent better-off families accumulating wealth. No outsiders are allowed to buy land or settle on Tristan.
The islands' main source of foreign income is the lobster factory and the sale of postage stamps and coins to overseas collectors. Most people have dual occupations, often working for the local government. Many inhabitants have plots of land (at the patches) on which they grow potatoes.
The 1961 volcanic eruption destroyed the Tristan da Cunha canned crayfish factory, which was rebuilt a short time later. The crayfish farmers work for the South African company Ovenstone, which has an exclusive contract to sell crayfish to the United States and Japan. Even though Tristan da Cunha is a UK overseas territory, it is not permitted direct access to European Union markets. Recently the decline in interest in Tristan crayfish in the United States has meant that the islanders have had to borrow from their reserves. The islands' financial problems may cause delays in updating communication equipment and improving education on the island.
The fire of February 13, 2008, (see history above) has resulted in major economic disruption.
Demographics
The islands have a population of 271 people. The main settlement is Edinburgh of the Seven Seas (known locally as "The Settlement"). The main religion is Christianity, with denominations of Anglican and Roman Catholic. There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy, including asthma and glaucoma, largely because of the inevitable marriages among closely related couples, for example marriages between second degree cousins, that comes with having such a small gene pool.
The current population is thought to have descended from 15 ancestors, eight males and seven females who arrived on the island at various times between 1816 and 1908. The male founders originated from Scotland, England, Holland, the USA and Italy.. There is a very high incidence of asthma among the population and research by Dr. Noe Zamel of the University of Toronto has led to discoveries about the genetic nature of the disease . Three of the original settlers of the island were sufferers.
The remote location of the islands makes transport to the outside world difficult. There is no airport, so the islands can only be reached by boat. Fishing boats from South Africa regularly service the islands. The RMS Saint Helena formerly connected the islands to South Africa, and the United Kingdom via Saint Helena and Ascension Island, but she no longer calls at Tristan da Cunha.
Society
On Tristan da Cunha the population of 271 people share just seven surnames: Glass, Green, Hagan, Lavarello (a typical Ligurian surname), Repetto (another typical Ligurian surname), Rogers and Swain. There are 80 families on the island.
Health care is free, but, with just one resident doctor from South Africa and five nurses, the delivery and surgery are limited and serious injury can necessitate sending signals to passing fishing vessels, so that the injured person can be transferred to Cape Town. As of late 2007 IBM and Beacon Equity Partners, co-operating with Medweb, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the government of Tristan da Cunha on ”Project Tristan”, has availed the island doctor with access to long distance tele-medical help, making it possible to send EKG and x-ray pictures to doctors in other countries for instant consultation.
Television did not arrive on the island until 2001, and the sole channel available is the British Forces Broadcasting Service from the Falkland Islands. Education is rudimentary; children leave school at fifteen, and although it is possible to take GCSEs a year later, results are poor.
Tristan da Cunha's isolation has led to an unusual, patois-like dialect of English. Bill Bryson documents some examples of the island's dialect in his book, The Mother Tongue.
In literature
Hervé Bazin's novel Les Bienheureux de la Désolation (1970) describes the 1961 forced exile of the population to England and their subsequent return.
Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838), Chapter 12, has a detailed history and description.
Zinnie Harris' play Further Than the Furthest Thing (2000) is inspired by events on the island, notably the 1961 volcanic eruption and evacuation of the islanders.
Raoul Schrott's novel Tristan da Cunha oder die Hälfte der Erde (2003) is almost entirely set on Tristan da Cunha and Gough islands and chronicles the history of the archipelago.
In Patrick O'Brian's "The Mauritius Command" reference is made to the huge Albatross (Diomedea exulans) colony in chapter four.
In Fletcher Knebel's novel "Vanished" Tristan da Cuhna plays an important part in world events.
Roy Campbell has dedicated a long, moving elegy to the island, entitled "Tristan Da Cunha."
In music
German trance artist ATB named a song on his Trilogy album "Tristan da Cunha". The song is instrumental, and appears on disc 2, track 9.
British artist David Lowe's debut album "Memories of a Forgotten Summer" contained the song "My Heart Will Always Be In Tristan da Cunha", recalling Lowe's early childhood on the island.
Norwegian artist Deathprod released an album entitled "Imaginary Songs from Tristan da Cunha" in 1996 (dBUT Records, re-released in 2004 by Rune Grammofon.
See also
- Wildlife of Saint Helena and its dependencies
Further reading
- Barrow, Kathleen Mary. (1910). Three Years in Tristan da Cunha. 280 pp. London: Skeffington & Son Ltd. Reprinted (2005) by Echo Library. ISBN 1846378664.
- Brander, J. (1940). Tristan da Cunha: 1506–1902. London: Allen & Unwin.
- Crawford, Allan B. (1941). I Went to Tristan. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.
- Hosegood, Nancy. (1964). The Glass Island: The Story of Tristan da Cunha. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 192 pp.
- Crawford, Allan B. (1982). Tristan Da Cunha and the Roaring Forties. Edinburgh: Charles Skilton Ltd. ISBN 0284985899.
- Crawford, Allan B. (1999). Penguins, lol hand Postage Stamps: a Tristan Da Cunha Chronicle. Oswestry, Shropshire: Anthony Nelson. ISBN 0904614689
- Rose Ann Rogers (1927). "The Lonely Island" Published by Ancestry24ISBN 1-86918-039-9
External links
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- – BBC News
- – Account of the island from 1856
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- Tristan Times, 14 November 2007
- IBM press release, Armonk, NY - 14 November 2007
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