United Kingdom - Tristan da Cunha

Status: UK overseas territory

Population: 275 (2007)

Time: GMT

Geography

Tristan da Cunha lies 2,400km west of Cape Town. The island group also includes Inaccessible Island, the three Nightingale Islands (all uninhabited) and Gough Island, which has a weather station.

Area: 98 sq km

Main settlement: Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is the only permanent settlement.

Topography: Tristan da Cunha is a small, almost circular, volcanic island, rising to 2,060m.

Climate: The climate is warm-temperate, with 1,675mm average annual rainfall in Edinburgh.

Wildlife: The group of islands provides breeding grounds for albatrosses, rock-hopper penguins and seals, and a number of unique species, including the flightless land rail. Gough Island is a world heritage site.

Transport/Communications: Crawfish trawlers from Cape Town call about six times a year, and supplies are brought once a year both by RMS St Helena (from the UK) and Agulhas (from Cape Town). Several cruiseships also call each year. There is no airfield.

The international dialling code is 247. As of 2007, virtually all island homes had working telephones. There are permanent internet services.

Society

Population: 275 (2007), mainly of English origin.

Religion: An Anglican chaplain is provided from South Africa and a Roman Catholic priest from the UK.

Media: The Tristan Times is published weekly.

Education: free and compulsory from age five to 15 years, provided at one all-age school.

Health: The UK provides an optician and dentist (calling once each year), and a resident doctor.

Economy

Tristan da Cunha supports itself through a substantial fishing industry based around the Tristan rock lobster, including a fish-freezing plant. Some income is also earned from the sale of stamps to philatelists, and handicrafts. Apart from capital projects, it has been financially independent from the UK since 1980.

History

The islands were discovered in 1506 by a Portuguese admiral, Tristão de Cunha. The first occupation of the island was the British garrison placed there in 1816, some of whom elected to stay on after its withdrawal; by 1886 it had a population of 97. Missionaries provided services as priests, teachers, honorary commissioners and magistrates in the first half of the 20th century, but otherwise the islanders were virtually isolated until a meteorological and wireless station was built there during the Second World War. In 1948, a crawfish industry began, providing employment.

In 1961, a volcano erupted near the settlement of Edinburgh and the entire island had to be evacuated; a few have since settled in the UK but most islanders chose to return in 1963.

Administration

The Governor of St Helena is concurrently Governor of Tristan da Cunha. Locally, there is an administrator (also the magistrate), and an island council with three ex-officio and eight elected members, one of whom must be a woman.

Further information

Tristan Times (online news): http://www.tristantimes.com/