Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Loyal and Unshakeable" (St Helena) "Our faith is our strength" (Tristan da Cunha)
Anthem: "God Save the Queen"
Capital		Jamestown 15°56′S 5°43′W / 15.933°S 5.717°W / -15.933; -5.717
Official language(s)		English
Government		British Overseas Territory
-	Monarch	H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
-	Governor	Mark Andrew Capes
-	Administrator of Ascension Island	Colin Wells
-	Administrator of Tristan da Cunha	Sean Burns
Dependent territories of the United Kingdom
-	St Helena charter granted	1657
-	East India Company rule ends	22 April 1834[1]
-	Ascension added	12 September 1922
-	Tristan da Cunha added	12 January 1938
-	Current constitution	1 September 2009
Area
-	Total	420 km2  162 sq mi
Population
-	2008 census	5,661 (219th)
-	Density	13.4/km2  34.7/sq mi
Currency		Saint Helena pound (Pound sterling in Tristan da Cunha) (SHP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC+0)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		SH
Internet TLD		.sh and .ac
Calling code		290 247 (on Ascension)

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha^[2] is a British overseas territory consisting of the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the Tristan da Cunha group. It was previously known as Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force giving the three islands equal status within the territory.^[3]

Administrative divisions[link]

Administratively (and geographically) the territory is divided into three parts, each governed by a council. The Governor of the territory presides over the St Helena Legislative Council, while he is represented by an Administrator each on Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, presiding over the Island Councils of these two areas. (See the Constitution section below.)

Administrative Area	Area km2	Area sq mi	Population	Administrative centre	ISO code alpha-2	ISO code alpha-3
Saint Helena	122	47	4,255	Jamestown	SH	SHN
Ascension Island	91	35	1,122	Georgetown	AC	ASC
Tristan da Cunha	207	80	284	Edinburgh of the Seven Seas	TA	TAA
Total	420	162	5,661	Jamestown	SH	SHN

The island of St Helena is then further divided into 8 districts.^[4]

History[link]

Geologically each of volcanic origin, the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and Tristan da Cunha were all formerly separate colonies of the English crown, though separately discovered by several Portuguese explorers by 1502 – 1504.

Portuguese discovery[link]

The Portuguese found Saint Helena uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and fresh water. They imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Though they formed no permanent settlement, the island became crucially important for the collection of food and as a rendezvous point for homebound voyages from Asia. Englishman Sir Francis Drake very probably located the island on the final lap of his circumnavigation of the world (1577–1580).^[5] Further visits by other English explorers followed, and, once St Helena’s location was more widely known, English warships began to lie in wait in the area to attack Portuguese carracks on their way home from India. In developing their Far East trade, the Dutch also began to frequent the island and made a formal claim to it in 1633, but did not settle the isle and by 1651 largely abandoned it in favour of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope.

English and British colonisation[link]

'A View of the Town and Island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the English East India Company', engraving c. 1790

In 1657, the English East India Company was granted a charter to govern Saint Helena by Oliver Cromwell,^[6] and the following year the Company decided to fortify and colonise the island with planters. The first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, and it is from this date that St Helena claims to be Britain’s second oldest (remaining) colony (after Bermuda). A fort was completed and a number of houses were built. After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a Royal Charter giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York and heir apparent, later King James II of England.

In subsequent geopolitical developments, all the islands eventually passed formally to the United Kingdom as the British Empire grew into a global great power. (England having become part of the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1801.) The most important and first settled, the island of Saint Helena, had been governed by the East India Company since 1659. It became internationally known as the British government's chosen place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was detained on the island from October 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821, and it was made a British crown colony in 1834 by the Government of India Act 1833.^[1] Unoccupied Ascension Island was garrisoned by the Royal Navy on 22 October 1815, shortly after which the end of the Age of Sail made its difficult location in the equatorial doldrums less important relative to its strategic importance as a centrally positioned naval coaling station. For similar reasons Tristan da Cunha was annexed as a dependency of the Cape Colony (British South Africa) on 14 August 1816 at the settlement of the Napoleonic wars. For a short period just prior, Tristan da Cunha had been inhabited by a private American expedition who named the territory the Islands of Refreshment.

The political union between these colonies began to take shape on 12 September 1922, when by letters patent Ascension Island became a dependency of Saint Helena. Lightly populated Tristan da Cunha, even today little more than an outpost with a population of less than three hundred, followed suit on 12 January 1938. The three island groups shared this constitutional relationship until 1 September 2009, when the dependencies were raised to equal status with St. Helena and the territory changed its name from "Saint Helena and Dependencies" to "Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha".

World War II and military presence since[link]

During the Battle of the Atlantic of World War II and the following several years of u-boat warfare in the Atlantic, both St. Helena and Ascension Island were used by the Allies to base patrolling anti-surface-commerce-raider and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) forces against the Axis powers' naval units. Initially long range naval patrol flying boats were used in the effort, and later in the war during the struggle to improve air coverage over the commercially important sea lanes, air strips were built to support land based aircraft which supplied, augmented and complemented the PBY Catalina patrol planes in the vitally important ASW mission.

The United States and Great Britain still jointly operate the airfield (RAF Ascension Island) on Ascension, which also serves as a space-based communications, signals intelligence and navigation nexus and hub (Ground station). One of only five Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite ground stations is located there.

Geography[link]

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on Tristan da Cunha

The territory stretches across a huge distance of the South Atlantic Ocean with the northern-most island, Ascension, having a latitude of 7° 56′ S of the equator and the southern-most island, Gough Island, at 40° 19′ S. Between Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha is the Tropic of Capricorn. The distance between the northern tip of Ascension Island and the southern tip of Gough Island is 2,263 miles (3,642 km) (an equivalent distance between London and the Dead Sea). The whole territory lies in the Western Hemisphere and has the same time zone: Greenwich Mean Time (daylight saving time is not observed).

Ascension has a tropical and wet climate, whilst St Helena is more moderated (and arid near the coasts) and Tristan much cooler. The highest point of the territory is Queen Mary's Peak on the island of Tristan da Cunha, with an elevation of 2,062 metres (6,765 ft) above sea level. The mountain is listed as an ultra prominent peak.

Although all three parts of the territory were formed by volcanic activity, only the Tristan da Cunha group of islands are volcanically active at the moment.

Territorial waters[link]

The territorial waters of the islands extend out to 12 nautical miles (22 km) from their coastal baselines. The Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) extend 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the islands' baselines. Despite their size, the three EEZs do not overlap or touch one another, nor do they reach the EEZs of any other country or territory. The territory has the largest EEZ of any of the British overseas territories (indeed larger than the United Kingdom's) and if included in the ranking of countries by size of EEZ, the territory would be 21st, behind Portugal and ahead of the Philippines. Neither the islands nor their EEZs are the subject of any current international dispute.

An application was made in 2008 by the United Kingdom to the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend the limit of the continental shelf claim of Ascension Island beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km). The Commission recommended in 2010 that the limit not be extended beyond the standard limit, based on scientific surveys.^[8]

Constitution[link]

Ascension Government House

The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 (an Order in Council of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom) enforced a new constitution for the territory, which came into effect on 1 September 2009. Although raising Ascension and Tristan da Cunha to equal parts of the territory along with St Helena, the constitution is divided into three chapters, one for each part of the territory. St Helena has a Governor and a Legislative Council, whilst Tristan da Cunha and Ascension each have an Administrator and an Island Council. Notably the constitution includes (for each part of the territory) the "fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals".^[3]

Part	Crown representative	Council
Saint Helena	Governor of Saint Helena	Legislative Council of Saint Helena
Ascension Island	Administrator of Ascension Island	Ascension Island Council
Tristan da Cunha	Administrator of Tristan da Cunha	Tristan da Cunha Island Council

Saint Helena also has an Executive Council. The Governor of Saint Helena is the British monarch's representative across the territory. The three parts of the territory share the same Attorney General, and the same Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

European Union[link]

The territory is an Overseas Country or Territory of the European Union, with limited aspects of European Union membership applied to its administration, its laws and its citizens. It does not however form part of the European Union (the only British overseas territory that does is Gibraltar).

Currency[link]

St Helena used sterling currency as in the United Kingdom until 1976 when it began to issue its own banknotes at par with sterling. In 1984, the territory also began to issue its own coinage, similar to the coinage of the United Kingdom but with different designs on the reverse. The St Helena currency also circulates on Ascension Island, but not in the other part of the territory, Tristan da Cunha, where UK currency circulates.

The Currency Commissioners, part of the Government of Saint Helena, issue the St Helena pound banknotes and coins. There is no central bank, with the currency pegged to pound sterling which is controlled by the Bank of England in London. The Bank of Saint Helena is the territory's only bank. The bank sets its own deposit and lending rates and has branches in Jamestown on St Helena and Georgetown on Ascension Island. Although the bank does not have a physical presence on Tristan da Cunha, the residents of Tristan are entitled to use its services.^[9]

Communications[link]

RMS St Helena in James Bay, off St Helena

Each of the three main islands has a harbour or small port, situated in the islands' chief settlement (Georgetown, Jamestown and Edinburgh). A military airfield exists on Ascension Island (RAF Ascension Island) with regular flights between RAF Brize Norton in the UK and RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. These are primarily for RAF use, though some civilian use is permitted. Ascension Island is also used by the US military (who supply the base using MV Ascension) and is a designated emergency landing site for Space Shuttle program. At present there is no airfield on Saint Helena island, but a civilian airport is proposed and is scheduled to open in 2015, with flights to and from South Africa.^[10] The islands of Tristan da Cunha are connected only by sea.

Telecommunications[link]

Cable and Wireless provide the telecommunications service in the territory. Saint Helena has the international calling code +290 which, since 2006, Tristan da Cunha shares. Telephone numbers are 4 digits long. Numbers start with 1-9, with 8xxx being reserved for Tristan da Cunha numbers and 2xxx for Jamestown.^[11] Ascension Island has the calling code +247 and also has 4 digit numbers on the island.^[12] Ascension Island also held an extensive broadcast facility for international shortwave transmissions to Africa and South America.

Mail[link]

Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and Saint Helena all issue their own postage stamps, which provide a significant income. The three main islands of the territory each has their own Royal Mail postal code:

• Ascension Island: ASCN 1ZZ
• Saint Helena STHL 1ZZ
• Tristan da Cunha: TDCU 1ZZ

The last operating Royal Mail Ship — RMS St Helena — runs to and from Cape Town (and less frequently to and from the UK, and sometimes via Walvis Bay in Namibia) to the islands. It is expected to continue until the construction of the airport on St Helena island.

Vehicular traffic[link]

Saint Helena has 138 kilometres (86 mi) — 118 kilometres (73 mi) paved and 20 kilometres (12 mi) unpaved — of roads. Tristan da Cunha has approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of paved roads, while Ascension has around 40 kilometres (25 mi) paved.^[13] Each island has its own vehicle registration plate system. Traffic drives on the left in all three parts of the territory, as is the case in the United Kingdom itself. Indeed, two of the nearest countries to the islands — South Africa and Namibia — also drive on the left.

Maps[link]

• St Helena & Dependencies Map.gif

  Map showing all of the islands

• 

  Location of Saint Helena and Ascension Island

• 

  Map of St Helena island

• 

  Another map of St Helena

• 

  Map of Ascension Island

• 

  Another map of Ascension Island

• 

  Map of Tristan da Cunha group

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Africa portal
	United Kingdom portal

• Bibliography of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• British Overseas Territories
• List of towns in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• Public holidays in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

• The Official Government Website of Saint Helena
• The Official Government Website of Ascension Island
• The Official Tristan da Cunha Website
• Radio Saint FM (live broadcasting from Saint Helena)
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha entry at The World Factbook

v t e British overseas territory of  Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha  Saint Helena Ascension Island  Tristan da Cunha Jamestown (capital) Half Tree Hollow Saint Paul's Longwood Georgetown (chief settlement) Two Boats Village RAF Ascension Island Edinburgh of the Seven Seas Gough Island

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Tristan and Iseult as depicted by Herbert James Draper
(1864 -1920).

Tristan /ˈtrɪstən/ (Latin/Brythonic: Drustanus; Welsh: Drystan, Trystan; also known as Tristran, Tristram /ˈtrɪstrəm/, etc.) is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain. He is the son of Blancheflor and Rivalen (in later versions Isabelle and Meliodas), and the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, sent to fetch Iseult back from Ireland to wed the king. However, he and Iseult accidentally consume a love potion while en route and fall helplessly in love. The pair undergo numerous trials that test their secret affair.

Tristan legend cycle[link]

Tristan makes his first medieval appearance in the early twelfth century in Celtic folklore circulating in the north of France, and Brittany in particular, which had close ancestral and cultural links with Cornwall by way of the ancient British kingdom of Dumnonia, as made clear in the story itself. Although the oldest stories concerning Tristan are lost, some of the derivatives still exist. Most early versions fall into one of two branches, the "courtly" branch represented in the retellings of the Anglo-Norman poet Thomas of Britain and his German successor Gottfried von Strassburg, and the "common" branch, including the works of the French poet Béroul and the German poet Eilhart von Oberge.

Arthurian romancier Chrétien de Troyes mentions in his poem Cligès that he composed his own account of the story; however, there are no surviving copies or records of any such text. In the thirteenth century, during the great period of prose romances, Tristan en prose or Prose Tristan appeared and was one of the most popular romances of its time. This long, sprawling, and often lyrical work (the modern edition takes up thirteen volumes) follows Tristan from the traditional legend into the realm of King Arthur where Tristan participates in the Quest for the Holy Grail. In the fifteenth century, Sir Thomas Malory shortened this French version into his own take, The Book of Sir Tristram de Lyones, found in his Le Morte D'Arthur.

Historical roots[link]

There are obscure aspects to Tristan; his Cornish or Breton name appears to mean "sadness", as it does in many Romance languages, including French, while the legendary Pictish Chronicle Drest or Drust frequently appears as the name of several ancient Pictish kings in modern Scotland far to the northwest; Drustanus is merely Drust rendered into Latin. It may have originated from an ancient legend regarding a Pictish king who slew a giant in the distant past, which had spread throughout the isles, or the name may also come from a sixth-century Pictish saint who bore another form of the name - or it may may have migrated upwards from the southwest due to the fame of the legends of King Arthur. In addition, there was a Tristan who bore witness to a legal document at the Swabian Abbey of Saint Gall in 807AD.

Another strange aspect is his kingdom, Lyonesse, for whose existence there is no evidence. However, there were two places called Leonais: one in Brittany, the other the Old French transcription of Lothian. However, the Isles of Scilly have also been proposed to be this place, since they were possibly one island until Roman times and several islands are interconnected at low tide. Regardless, Tristan being a prince of Lothian would make his name more sensible, Lothian being on the borderlands of the Pictish High-Kingship (and once was a part of Pictish territory; Tristan may in fact have been a Pictish prince under a British King). One other suggestion is that he could have been adopted into the family of Mark of Cornwall, a historical a practice attested in Roman law.

Possible evidence for his Cornish roots is the 5th century inscribed Tristan Stone, set beside the road leading to Fowey in Cornwall. It measures some 7 feet in height and has been set in a modern concrete base. Until the 1980s it was in its original position some yards from the coastal road in a field near the turn down to the small harbour of Polkerris. It was then closer to Castle Dore and may have been the origin of the association of this site with the story of the tragic love of Tristan and Iseult. There is a Tau cross on one side and a Latin inscription on the other side, now much worn, reading:^[1]

Drustanus Hic Lacit Cunomori Filius
Drustanus lies here, son of Cunomorus

It has been suggested, and is confidently asserted on the plaque by the stone, that the characters referred to are Tristan, of which Drustan is a variant, and Cynvawr Latinized to Cunomorus. Cynvawr, in turn, is said by the ninth-century author Nennius, who compiled an early pseudo-historical account of King Arthur, to be identified with King Mark.

The writer Sigmund Eisner concluded that the name Tristan comes from Drust, son of Talorc, but that the legend of Tristan as we know it, was gathered together by an Irish monk living in North Britain around the early eighth century.^[2] Eisner explains that Irish monks of this time would have been familiar with the Greek and Roman narratives that the legend borrows from such as Pyramus and Thisbe; they would also have been familiar with the Celtic elements of the story such as The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. Eisner concludes that “the author of the Tristan story used the names and some of the local traditions of his own recent past. To these figures he attached adventures which had been handed down from Roman and Greek mythology. He lived in the north of Britain, was associated with a monastery, and started the first rendition of the Tristan story on its travels to wherever it has been found.”^[3]

Modern adaptations[link]

From 1857 to 1859, Richard Wagner composed the opera Tristan and Isolde, now considered one of the most influential pieces of music of the 19th century. In his work, Tristan is portrayed as a doomed romantic figure.

Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote an epic poem Tristram of Lyonesse. The story has also been adapted into film many times. [1]

The legend of Tristan has also been represented through the song of the same name by English singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf, and was the lead single from his 2005 album, 'Wind in the Wires'.

Tristan plays a prominent role in the comic book series Camelot 3000, in which he is reincarnated in A.D. 3000, as a woman and subsequently struggles to come to terms with his new body, sexuality and identity, reconciling them in turn with his previous notions of gender roles.

In 1983, Russian composer Nikita Koshkin wrote a classical guitar solo entitled Tristan Playing the Lute, evoking the spirit of Tristan from the legend of "Tristan and Isolde", initially set in a playful adaptation of traditional English lute music. According to Koshkin:

"Tristan was written as a musical joke. It was a period when I was fond of all the stories about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Tristan was not only a great fighter, but he also played many musical instruments and had a beautiful singing voice. This is why I thought he could be the subject of a piece to suggest the process of improvising in a characteristic early style that then begins to change to futuristic musical ideas. The first section of the piece is clearly ancient in style; the second is more modern; then the third introduces elements of Eastern music as well as some rock riffs. The idea is that Tristan, during his improvising, is building musical bridges to the future."

The story has also been adapted into film many times. [2] In the 2004 film, King Arthur, based on the Sarmatian connection theory of origin for the Arthurian legends, Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen) is a prominent member of the knights, who are Sarmatians serving under a half-Roman Arthur in the 5th century. Tristan is a cavalry archer, able to make amazing shots with his bow, a Mongol/Eurasian style reflex composite bow. This bow has much greater range and accuracy than the Northern Longbow. In addition, its smaller size, easier handling and maneuverability, provide the ability to shoot from horseback without sacrificing its symmetrical shape. He uses a Chinese Beile Dao sword and holds true to the style, armour and weapons, of a Sarmatian mounted archer - who were much like Parthians, Mongols and other mounted warriors from the area surrounding and including the Eurasian Steppe. After many injuries, he dies a heroic death at the hand of the Saxon King Cerdic in single combat at the Battle of Badon Hill.

The 2006 film Tristan & Isolde starred James Franco as Tristan, Thomas Sangster as the child Tristan and Sophia Myles as Isolde. The film was produced by Tony and Ridley Scott, written by Dean Georgaris and directed by Kevin Reynolds.

See also[link]

• Auchinleck manuscript
• Palamedes
• List of Arthurian characters
• Medieval hunting (Terminology)
• Medieval French literature

References[link]

External links[link]

• Béroul: Le Roman de Tristan
• Thomas d'Angleterre : Tristan
• Tristan page from the Camelot Project
• Transcription and page images of the Auchinleck manuscript
• The libretto for Wagners opera, bilingual English and German
• Bibliography of Modern Tristaniana in English
• Tristan Waterkeyn
• Painting [3]^{[dead link]}
• Painting [4]^{[dead link]}
• English verse translation of Gottfried von Strassburg Tristan: [5]