ST. HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA by Alan Edwin Day (Editor) ( 9781851092727 )

Item Details

Title:

ST. HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£55.50
We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for further information.

ISBN 10:

1851092722

ISBN 13:

9781851092727

Publisher:

ABC-CLIO LTD

Series:

World Bibliographical S. v. 197

Pages:

260

Synopsis:

These three South Atlantic British dependent territories were all discovered by Portuguese seamen in the early sixteenth century. Following in the wake of the Portuguese, English and Dutch Eastindia men found the island a convenient port of call on the long haul home. After a brief struggle, St. Helena was tinder the direct rule of the East India Company from 1673 to 1834 when it became a Crown Colony. It is best known as the place f exile of Napoleon Bonaparte from 1815 to his death in 1821. With the opening of the Suez Canal, and the introduction of steamships, St. Helena's economy collapsed and the island has remained a quiet backwater ever since. Ascension and Tristan da Cunha were both occupied by a British garrison when Napoleon arrived on St. Helena in order to prevent any attempt at rescue. Ascension remained tinder Admiralty control as 'a stone frigate' until 1922 when it became a dependency of St. Helena. During the Second World War an American air base was constructed which was heavily used as a staging post for the British task force en route to recover the Falkland Islands in the 1982 South Atlantic War. The base continues to provide an essential link in the logistical support of the British garrison on the Falklands. A small number of families eked out a precarious and isolated existence on Tristan from 1826 to 1961 when its volcano, thought to be long extinct, suddenly erupted causing the islanders to be evacuated to England. There was a general amazement when most of them elected to return to their hard life in 1962. Today, they enjoy six calls a year by South African vessels from Cape Town in connection with the crawfish industry on the island, and an annual visitby a ship from England.

Illustrations:

map

Publication:

Imprint:

ABC-CLIO Ltd

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

A POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DICTIONARY OF EASTERN EUROPE