Saint Helena Island
Saint Helena (in English Saint Helena) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, located more than 1,800 kilometers off the west coast of Angola, in Africa. Administratively, it is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristán de Cuna.
The island is widely known because it served as a military prison for the exiled Emperor Napoleon I of France, from his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 until his death in 1821.
History
The island of Santa Elena was discovered on May 21, 1502 by Juan de Nova, a Spanish navigator in the service of the King of Portugal, who was returning from a trip from India, and named it after Helena of Constantinople. Although the island was uninhabited, there were plenty of forests and fresh water on it. They imported cattle, vegetables and fruit trees, built a chapel and several houses, where they left the sick to take them home on the next boat if they recovered, but without actually forming a permanent settlement. The Portuguese kept the location of the island a secret, mainly because of its geographical position. Its first permanent resident was Fernando López, a Portuguese from India who turned traitor and was mutilated on the orders of Alfonso de Albuquerque, the Governor of Goa. López preferred to be in exile than return to Portugal in poor condition, and was sent to Saint Helena in 1513. By royal order, López visited Portugal soon after, but returned to the island, where he died in 1530.
The first Englishmen to arrive on Saint Helena were Thomas Cavendish, who landed in June 1588, during his round-the-world voyage; the English captain Abraham Kendall, who visited the island in 1591; and sir James Lancaster in 1593, stopping over on his way to England from the East, returning to the island in 1603 on his first voyage for the British East India Company.
The island remained uninhabited until the arrival of Dutch settlers in 1645. In 1651 Saint Helena was transferred to the British East India Company, which established a detachment on the island and built a fort in 1658, named Jamestown. in honor of the Duke of York, James II. In 1673 the Dutch took possession of the island again, but were expelled a few months later.
At that time, about half of the inhabitants were slaves. In 1810 the Company began importing Chinese from Canton. During the Company's tenure, the island prospered economically until 1870, when the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 facilitated maritime communications between Europe and Asia bypassing navigation around Africa, a route on which Saint Helena served as a stopover point. fundamental.
Santa Elena, due to its remoteness and inaccessibility, served as a prison for great personalities in history. Napoleon Bonaparte spent the last years of his life in deportation on the island from 1815 until his death on May 5, 1821. General Piet Cronje and other prisoners of the Anglo-Boer wars were transferred to this territory, which also served as a place of exile to some Zulu chiefs, including Dinizulu.
Since 1854, Emperor Napoleon III negotiated with the British government for the purchase of a small part of the island that included the house of Longwood and the valley of the Tomb, converted into French properties in 1858 under the name of «dominions French of Saint Helena" and managed since then by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Briars Pavilion, the Emperor's first home on the island, was added to the domain in 1959, when its last owner donated it to France, a process that was completed in 2007. Despite the name "French domains", the three properties are not They do not constitute a dependency of France, but are private properties of that country within the British Isle.
Government and politics
Executive authority in Santa Elena rests with King Carlos III and is exercised on his behalf by the Governor of Santa Elena. The Governor is appointed by the King on the advice of the British government. Defense and foreign relations remain the responsibility of the United Kingdom.
There are 15 seats in the Saint Helena Legislative Council, a unicameral legislative assembly, plus a President and Vice President. Twelve of the 15 members are chosen in elections that are held every four years. The three members appointed in their own right are the Principal Secretary, the Finance Secretary and the Attorney General, currently Susan O'Bey, Dax Richards and Allen Cansick respectively. The Executive Council is chaired by the Governor and is composed of three officers appointed in their own right and five elected members of the Legislative Council appointed by the Governor. There is no elected Chief Minister, and the Governor acts as the head of government. In January 2013 it was proposed that the Executive Council be led by a Senior Councilor who would be elected by the members of the Legislative Council and would propose the other members of the Executive Council. These proposals were submitted to a referendum on March 23, 2013, where they were defeated by 158 votes to 42, with a 10% turnout.
Both Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha Island have an Administrator appointed to represent the Governor of Saint Helena.
Territorial organization
Santa Elena is one of the areas that make up the overseas territory of Santa Elena, Ascensión and Tristán de Acuña.
The administrative area of Santa Elena is divided into eight districts:
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Geography
Located in the South Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, more than 2,000 kilometers from the nearest landmass, Saint Helena is one of the most remote places in the world. The nearest mainland port is Moçâmedes, in southern Angola; connections with Cape Town in South Africa are used for most shipping needs, such as the cargo ship that serves the island, the MS Helena.
The island is associated with two other isolated islands in the South Atlantic, also British territories: Ascension Island, about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) to the northwest, in more equatorial waters, and Tristan da Cunha, which is far away from the tropics, 2,430 kilometers (1,510 miles) to the south. The island is located in the Western Hemisphere and is the same length as Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Despite its remote location, the United Nations classifies it as situated in West Africa.
The island of Saint Helena has an area of 121 km². Within the administrative area of Santa Elena, small satellite islets and rocks such as Castle Rock, Speerd Island, The Needle, Lower Black Rock, Upper Black Rock (South), Bird Island (Southwest), Rock Black, Thompson Valley Island, Peaked Island, Egg Island, Lady's Chair, Lighter's Rock (West), Long Ledge (Northwest), Shore Island, George Island, Rough Rock Island, Flat Rock (East), Los Buoys, Sandy Bay Island, Los Chimneys, White Bird Island and Frightus Rock (Southeast), which together add up to 1 km².
On the island there are at least forty kinds of plant species unknown in any other part of the world. It constitutes by itself the ecoregion called mount and scrub of Santa Elena.
Climate
Saint Helena's climate is tropical, marine, and mild, tempered by the Benguela Current and almost continuous trade winds. The climate varies greatly throughout the island. Temperatures in Jamestown, on the north leeward shore, range from 70-82°F (21-28°C) in summer (January-April) and 63-75°F (17-24°C).) during the rest of the year. Temperatures in the central areas are, on average, 5-6 °C (9.0-10.8 °F) cooler. Jamestown also has very low annual precipitation, while 750–1,000 mm (30–39 in) falls per year in the higher ground and on the south coast, where it is also noticeably cloudier. There are weather recording stations in Longwood and Blue Hill districts.
 Average weather parameters of Jamestown, St. Helena Island | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 32 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 34 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 27 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 24 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 21 | 21 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | 17 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 14 |
| Total precipitation (mm) | 8 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 18 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 113 |
| Days of rain (≥ 1 mm) | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 1 | 41 |
| Source: BBC Weather | |||||||||||||
Economy
The island's economy is based mainly on the aid it receives from the United Kingdom and on fish exports, cattle raising and the sale of handicrafts. It currently has a small banking center.
The tourism that takes place in Santa Elena is developed mainly in the places where Napoleon was.
The issuance of postage stamps, mainly for collecting, is also an important source of income for its economy.
Tourism
Prior to the airport's completion, the main tour groups were dedicated daytrippers and retirees, as the required boat trip on the RMS Santa Elena took about two weeks round trip, making it unappealing to tourists. average tourists with regular jobs; hikers were willing to use about two weeks of leave to get to and from St. Helena, and retirees didn't care about travel times. With the airport completed, the island has acquired the potential to attract a wider range of tourists.
The government in Santa Elena updated its tourism marketing strategy in 2018. It outlined target markets, Santa Elena's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The island's unique selling points were also outlined, including nature (whale sharks and wire birds); religious culture; a quality environment; hiking and walking; diving, arts and crafts, the twinned destination with South Africa; photography of nature, history and heritage (the figure of Napoleon); stargazing and gastronomy.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Elena had been on track to meet its tourism goals of 12% annual growth, which are required to achieve more than 29,000 tourist visitors in the service's 25th year of operation.
The majority of arrivals to St. Helena are non-resident tourists, followed by those returning to visit friends and relatives, returning residents, and those arriving on business. About 37% of tourists are British, 21% South African, 13% European who are not British, German or French, and 9% American or Caribbean. In 2018 tourism contributed between £4 and £5 million to the economy, and in 2019 it increased by around £6 million.
Airport
In 2012, the UK government approved a £300 million investment to build St. Helena International Airport in such a way that it could offer an alternative to the five-day boat trip to the island from South Africa. few hours by plane.
The airport officially opened in June 2016. On May 3, 2017, almost a year after its official opening, the first commercial flight from Cape Town, South Africa landed; an Avro RJ86 operated by SA Airlink with 60 passengers.
Sports
Historically, the St Helena Turf Club hosted the island's first recorded sporting events in 1818 with a series of horse races at Deadwood. Saint Helena has sent teams to several Commonwealth Games. Santa Elena is a member of the International Association of Island Games.
The St. Helena cricket team made its international cricket debut, in the third tier of the African region of the World Cricket League, in 2012. The first tournament for the St. Helena football team was the St. Helena Football Tournament. the 2019 Inter Games, after which he was ranked 10th out of the top ten.
The Governor's Cup is a yacht race between Cape Town and the island of Saint Helena, held every two years, in December and January.
Jamestown hosts a timed run on Jacob's Ladder each year, with people coming from all over the world to participate.
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