Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Loyal and Unshakeable" (St Helena) "Our faith is our strength" (Tristan da Cunha)
Anthem: "God Save the Queen"
Capital		Jamestown 15°56′S 5°43′W
Official language(s)		English
Government		British Overseas Territory
-	Monarch	H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
-	Governor	Mark Andrew Capes
-	Administrator of Ascension Island	Colin Wells
-	Administrator of Tristan da Cunha	Sean Burns
Dependent territories of the United Kingdom
-	St Helena charter granted	1657
-	East India Company rule ends	22 April 1834
-	Ascension added	12 September 1922
-	Tristan da Cunha added	12 January 1938
-	Current constitution	1 September 2009
Area
-	Total	420 km2  162 sq mi
Population
-	2008 census	5,661 (219th)
-	Density	13.4/km2  34.7/sq mi
Currency		Saint Helena pound (Pound sterling in Tristan da Cunha) (SHP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC+0)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		SH
Internet TLD		.sh and .ac
Calling code		290 247 (on Ascension)

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British overseas territory consisting of the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the Tristan da Cunha group. It was previously known as Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force giving the three islands equal status within the territory.

Administrative divisions

Administratively (and geographically) the territory is divided into three parts, each governed by a council. The Governor of the territory presides over the St Helena Legislative Council, while he is represented by an Administrator each on Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, presiding over the Island Councils of these two areas. (See the Constitution section below.)

Administrative Area	Area km2	Area sq mi	Population	Administrative centre	ISO code alpha-2	ISO code alpha-3
Saint Helena	122	47	4,255	Jamestown	SH	SHN
Ascension Island	91	35	1,122	Georgetown	AC	ASC
Tristan da Cunha	207	80	284	Edinburgh of the Seven Seas	TA	TAA
Total	420	162	5,661	Jamestown	SH	SHN

The island of St Helena is then further divided into 8 districts.

History

See also: History of Saint Helena

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

Portuguese discovery

The Portuguese found Saint Helena uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and fresh water. They imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Though they formed no permanent settlement, the island became crucially important for the collection of food and as a rendezvous point for homebound voyages from Asia. Englishman Sir Francis Drake very probably located the island on the final lap of his circumnavigation of the world (1577–1580). Further visits by other English explorers followed, and, once St Helena’s location was more widely known, English warships began to lie in wait in the area to attack Portuguese carracks on their way home from India. In developing their Far East trade, the Dutch also began to frequent the island and made a formal claim to it in 1633, but did not settle the isle and by 1651 largely abandoned it in favour of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope.

English and British colonisation

'A View of the Town and Island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the English East India Company', engraving c. 1790

In 1657, the English East India Company was granted a charter to govern Saint Helena by Oliver Cromwell, and the following year the Company decided to fortify and colonise the island with planters. 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 Charter giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York and heir apparent, later King James II of England.

In subsequent geopolitical developments, all the islands eventually passed formally to the United Kingdom as the British Empire grew into a global great power. (England having become part of the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1801.) The most important and first settled, the island of Saint Helena, had been governed by the East India Company since 1659. It became internationally known as the British government's chosen place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was detained on the island from October 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821, and it was made a British crown colony in 1834 by the Government of India Act 1833. Unoccupied Ascension Island was garrisoned by the Royal Navy on 22 October 1815, shortly after which the end of the Age of Sail made its difficult location in the equatorial doldrums less important relative to its strategic importance as a centrally positioned naval coaling station. For similar reasons Tristan da Cunha was annexed as a dependency of the Cape Colony (British South Africa) on 14 August 1816 at the settlement of the Napoleonic wars. For a short period just prior, Tristan da Cunha had been inhabited by a private American expedition who named the territory the Islands of Refreshment.

The political union between these colonies began to take shape on 12 September 1922, when by letters patent Ascension Island became a dependency of Saint Helena. Lightly populated Tristan da Cunha, even today little more than an outpost with a population of less than three hundred, followed suit on 12 January 1938. The three island groups shared this constitutional relationship until 1 September 2009, when the dependencies were raised to equal status with St. Helena and the territory changed its name from "Saint Helena and Dependencies" to "Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha".

World War II and military presence since

During the Battle of the Atlantic of World War II and the following several years of u-boat warfare in the Atlantic, both St. Helena and Ascension Island were used by the Allies to base patrolling anti-surface-commerce-raider and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) forces against the Axis powers' naval units. Initially long range naval patrol flying boats were used in the effort, and later in the war during the struggle to improve air coverage over the commercially important sea lanes, air strips were built to support land based aircraft which supplied, augmented and complemented the PBY Catalina patrol planes in the vitally important ASW mission.

The United States and Great Britain still jointly operate the airfield (RAF Ascension Island) on Ascension, which also serves as a space-based communications, signals intelligence and navigation nexus and hub (Ground station). One of only five Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite ground stations is located there.

Geography

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on Tristan da Cunha

See also: Category:Geography of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and List of mountains and hills of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

The territory stretches across a huge distance of the South Atlantic Ocean with the northern-most island, Ascension, having a latitude of 7° 56′ S of the equator and the southern-most island, Gough Island, at 40° 19′ S. Between Saint 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 2,263 miles (3,642 km) (an equivalent distance between London and the Dead Sea). The whole territory lies in the Western Hemisphere and has the same time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (daylight saving time is not observed).

Ascension has a tropical and wet climate, whilst St Helena is more moderated (and arid near the coasts) and Tristan much cooler. The highest point of the territory is Queen Mary's Peak on the island of Tristan da Cunha, with an elevation of 2,062 metres (6,765 ft) above sea level. The mountain is listed as an ultra prominent peak.

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

Territorial waters

The territorial waters of the islands extend out to 12 nautical miles (22 km) from their coastal baselines. The Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) extend 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the islands' baselines. Despite their size, the three EEZs do not overlap or touch one another, nor do they reach the EEZs of any other country or territory. The territory has the largest EEZ of any of the British overseas territories (indeed larger than the United Kingdom's) and if included in the ranking of countries by size of EEZ, the territory would be 21st, behind Portugal and ahead of the Philippines. Neither the islands nor their EEZs are the subject of any current international dispute.

Areas of EEZs of the territory and its three constituent parts

Part	km2	sq mi
Ascension Island	441,658	170,525
Saint Helena	444,916	171,783
Tristan da Cunha archipelago	754,720	291,400
Total	1,641,294	633,708

An application was made in 2008 by the United Kingdom to the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend the limit of the continental shelf claim of Ascension Island beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km). The Commission recommended in 2010 that the limit not be extended beyond the standard limit, based on scientific surveys.

Constitution

See also: Politics of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Ascension Government House

The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 (an Order in Council of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom) enforced a new constitution for the territory, which came into effect on 1 September 2009. Although raising Ascension and Tristan da Cunha to equal parts of the territory along with St Helena, the constitution is divided into three chapters, one for each part of the territory. St Helena has a Governor and a Legislative Council, whilst Tristan da Cunha and Ascension each have an Administrator and an Island Council. Notably the constitution includes (for each part of the territory) the "fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals".

Part	Crown representative	Council
Saint Helena	Governor of Saint Helena	Legislative Council of Saint Helena
Ascension Island	Administrator of Ascension Island	Ascension Island Council
Tristan da Cunha	Administrator of Tristan da Cunha	Tristan da Cunha Island Council

Saint Helena also has an Executive Council. The Governor of Saint Helena is the British monarch's representative across the territory. The three parts of the territory share the same Attorney General, and the same Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

European Union

The territory is an Overseas Country or Territory of the European Union, with limited aspects of European Union membership applied to its administration, its laws and its citizens. It does not however form part of the European Union (the only British overseas territory that does is Gibraltar).

Currency

Main article: Saint Helena pound

St Helena used sterling currency as in the United Kingdom until 1976 when it began to issue its own banknotes at par with sterling. In 1984, the territory also began to issue its own coinage, similar to the coinage of the United Kingdom but with different designs on the reverse. The St Helena currency also circulates on Ascension Island, but not in the other part of the territory, Tristan da Cunha, where UK currency circulates.

The Currency Commissioners, part of the Government of Saint Helena, issue the St Helena pound banknotes and coins. There is no central bank, with the currency pegged to pound sterling which is controlled by the Bank of England in London. The Bank of Saint Helena is the territory's only bank. The bank sets its own deposit and lending rates and has branches in Jamestown on St Helena and Georgetown on Ascension Island. Although the bank does not have a physical presence on Tristan da Cunha, the residents of Tristan are entitled to use its services.

Communications

See also: Transport on Saint Helena and Communications in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

RMS St Helena in James Bay, off St Helena

Each of the three main islands has a harbour or small port, situated in the islands' chief settlement (Georgetown, Jamestown and Edinburgh). A military airfield exists on Ascension Island (RAF Ascension Island) with regular flights between RAF Brize Norton in the UK and RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. These are primarily for RAF use, though some civilian use is permitted. Ascension Island is also used by the US military (who supply the base using MV Ascension) and is a designated emergency landing site for Space Shuttle program. At present there is no airfield on Saint Helena island, but a civilian airport is proposed and is scheduled to open in 2015, with flights to and from South Africa. The islands of Tristan da Cunha are connected only by sea.

Telecommunications

Cable and Wireless provide the telecommunications service in the territory. Saint Helena has the international calling code +290 which, since 2006, Tristan da Cunha shares. Telephone numbers are 4 digits long. Numbers start with 1-9, with 8xxx being reserved for Tristan da Cunha numbers and 2xxx for Jamestown. Ascension Island has the calling code +247 and also has 4 digit numbers on the island. Ascension Island also held an extensive broadcast facility for international shortwave transmissions to Africa and South America.

Mail

Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and Saint Helena all issue their own postage stamps, which provide a significant income. The three main islands of the territory each has their own Royal Mail postal code:

• Ascension Island: ASCN 1ZZ
• Saint Helena STHL 1ZZ
• Tristan da Cunha: TDCU 1ZZ

The last operating Royal Mail Ship — RMS St Helena — runs to and from Cape Town (and less frequently to and from the UK, and sometimes via Walvis Bay in Namibia) to the islands. It is expected to continue until the construction of the airport on St Helena island.

Vehicular traffic

Saint Helena has 138 kilometres (86 mi) — 118 kilometres (73 mi) paved and 20 kilometres (12 mi) unpaved — of roads. Tristan da Cunha has approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of paved roads, while Ascension has around 40 kilometres (25 mi) paved. Each island has its own vehicle registration plate system. Traffic drives on the left in all three parts of the territory, as is the case in the United Kingdom itself. Indeed, two of the nearest countries to the islands — South Africa and Namibia — also drive on the left.

Maps

• 

  Map showing all of the islands

• 

  Location of Saint Helena and Ascension Island

• 

  Map of St Helena island

• 

  Another map of St Helena

• 

  Map of Ascension Island

• 

  Another map of Ascension Island

• 

  Map of Tristan da Cunha group

See also

• Bibliography of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• British Overseas Territories
• List of towns in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• Public holidays in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

External links

• The Official Government Website of Saint Helena
• The Official Government Website of Ascension Island
• The Official Tristan da Cunha Website
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha entry at The World Factbook