On 4 December 2007 an outbreak of an acute virus-induced flu was reported. The new Constitution replaced the 1988 version and among other changes limited the Governor's powers, included a Bill of Rights, established independence of the judiciary and the public service and formally designated the Governor of St Helena as, concurrently, the Governor for Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Similar proposals were made and declined several times since the question was first mooted in 1886. A series of remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean will soon become one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in the world. The seven modern flags were not all as they were in the years when the settlers arrived - but can you name them all without looking them up? The island is part of the Nightingale Islands group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International as a breeding site for seabirds and endemic landbirds. Home to only 244 people, Tristan da Cunha is a volcanic island that provides refuge to exotic and rare wildlife. Woolley, was appointed by the British government during this time. Here a number of substantial stone cottages and a church were built. In 1827 they persuaded five coloured women (these were of mixed race: African, Asian and European) from Saint Helena to migrate to Tristan to become the wives of the five desperate bachelors then on the island. From there, the population began to flourish, whalers set up shop, and Tristan da Cunha started to look more and more like an actual civilization. At the same time a plague of rats —survivors of a shipwrecked vessel—wrought much havoc among the crops. [4] The Heemstede replenished their supplies with fresh water, fish, seals and penguins and left a wooden tablet with the inscription "Today, 17 February 1643, from the Dutch fluyt Heemstede, Claes Gerritsz Bierenbroodspot from Hoorn and Jan Coertsen van den Broec landed here.". Tristan was discovered in 1506 but not permanently settled until 1817. After the death of Glass, the head of the community for some time was a named Cotton, who had served on a man of war ship, and for three years had been guard over Napoleon at Saint Helena. Ascension Island is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the wider British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The first Administrator, Surgeon Lieutenant Commander E.J.S. In October 1873 the islands were carefully surveyed by the Challenger. A. G. Partridge (1929–1932), Rev. Glass ruled over the little community from 1817 to 1853 in patriarchal fashion. War having broken out in 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, the islands were largely used as a base by American cruisers sent to prey on British merchant ships. J. G. Barrow and his wife Katherine (1906–1909), Rev. The formal proclamation of annexation was made on 14 August 1816. The Inaccessible Island rail's affinities were a long-standing mystery; in 2018 its closest relative was identified as the South American dot-winged crake, and it was proposed that both species should be nested within the genus Laterallus. Needless to say, he named the main island after himself. The island was temporarily evacuated following a volcanic eruption in 1961, but now is a thriving modern community. The first survey of the archipelago was made by the French corvette Heure du Berger in 1767. The majority again refused, however, to desert the island, though offered allotments of land in Cape Colony. Some sources state that the Portuguese made the first landing on Tristan in 1520, when the Lás Rafael captained by Ruy Vaz Pereira called for water. John Patten, the master of an English merchant ship, and part of his crew lived on Tristan from August 1790 to April 1791, during which time they captured 3600 seals. Backup generators were used to power the hospital and give power for part of the day to the rest of the island. Inaccessible Island is fringed with sheer sea cliffs but can be landed on via a few boulder beaches. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the gradual transition from sailing ships to coal-fired steam ships, the isolation of the islands increased. They had been living on Inaccessible Island since November 1871. In 1958 as part of an experiment, Operation Argus, the United States Navy detonated an atomic bomb 160 kilometres (100 mi) high in the upper atmosphere [13] about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southeast of the main island. The group consists of six islands – Tristan da Cunha, Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle, Stoltenhoff, and Gough. Most families returned in 1963 led by Willie Repetto (head of the ten-person island council) and Allan Crawford (the former island welfare officer). The missionaries who served the island at various times from the 1850s brought with them medical supplies and provide some medical care for mostly minor ailments. It comprises a few landmasses, one of … The Tristan da Cunha Islands were discovered and the main island named by the Portuguese admiral Admiral Tristao da Cunha en route to the Cape of Good Hope in 1506. The next year 45 of the inhabitants removed to Cape Colony. 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. In 2005, the islands were given a United Kingdom post code (TDCU 1ZZ) to make it easier for the residents to order goods online. Harold Wilde (1934–1940). The main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, was named in honour of his visit. From time to time additional settlers arrived or shipwrecked mariners decided to remain. The Quincentenary of this event was celebrated by a series of events in 2006. On 13 February 2008, fire destroyed the fishing factory and the four generators that supplied power to the island. The island is 12.65 km2 (4.88 sq mi) in area, rising out of the South Atlantic Ocean 31 km (19 mi) south-west of Tristan da Cunha. Royal Engineers from the British Army worked on the harbour to help maintain it, as everything comes and goes by sea. In 1885 the islanders encountered disaster. It is about 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from the coast of Africa and 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) from the coast of Brazil. They left a wooden tablet themselves as well, like they also did on Nachtglas Eijland (now Inaccessible Island). The Nightingale Islands are a group of three islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, part of the Tristan da Cunha territory. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) to the southeast. Isolation & Hardship 1853 - 1942 . On 23 May 2001, the islands experienced an extratropical cyclone that generated winds up to 193 kilometres per hour (120 mph). At their own request William Glass (d. 1853), a Scottish corporal from Kelso in the Royal Artillery, was left behind with his wife, two children and, two masons. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha [1] and has a history going back to the beginning of the 16th century. Candlelight was used the rest of the archipelago in the Southern Atlantic through the canal for a period mere. February 2008, fire destroyed the fishing factory and the Cape, but the tristan da cunha history again refused however. 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