A series of volcanic West African islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, also known as just Saint Helena, are a British Overseas Territory, the only one in Africa. It was originally known as Saint Helena and Dependencies until the 1st of September, 2009, when a new constitution came into force and gave the two islands (Saint Helena and Ascension) and the one archipelago (Tristan da Cunhanote ) equal status within the territory, and the islands were all formerly separate colonies of the English crown. The territory officially uses the British Union Jack as its flag, being one of the only two British Overseas Territories without their own flagnote , although each of the three islands/archipelago has its own unique official flag.
The islands were separately discovered by several Portuguese explorers between 1502 and 1504, and Saint Helena became crucially important for the collection of food and as a rendezvous point for homebound voyages from Asia for the Portuguese. The English East India Company arrived in Saint Helena in 1658, and colonized and fortified the territory in 1660 after receiving a Royal Charter giving it the sole right to fortify and colonize the islandnote . Ascension and Tristan da Cunha were later garrisoned by the British in 1815 and 1816 respectively, and Saint Helena was made a British crown colony in 1834, with Ascension Island becoming a dependency of Saint Helena in 1922 and Tristan da Cunha following suit in 1938.
One of the things the territory is most known for is being the British government's chosen place of exile for Napoléon Bonaparte, who was detained on the island of Saint Helena from October 1815 until his death on the 5th of May, 1821. His remains were brought back to France in 1840.
As a point of interest, the main village on Tristan da Cunha, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, holds the record for most remote permanent settlement on Earth, with the nearest other population center being over 1,500 miles away on Saint Helena.
The British National Anthem
The Saint Helenian National Song
The Tristanian National Song
Government
- Devolved locally governing dependency under a constitutional monarchy
- Monarch: Charles III
- Governor: Nigel Phillips
- Administrator of Ascension: Simon Minshull
- Administrator of Tristan da Cunha: Philip Kendall
Miscellaneous
- Capital: Jamestown
- Largest city: Half Tree Hollow
- Population: 5,633note
- Area: 394 km² (152 sq mi)
- Currency: Saint Helena pound (£) (SHP) (Saint Helena and Ascension), Pound sterling (£) (GBP) (Tristan da Cunha)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: SH
