St Helena is an island, about as far away from a continent as you can get. We are situated roughly mid-way between South America and Africa, in the South Atlantic Ocean.  It is a very small island, a satellite image would show a footprint of only 122 square km, with axes of 16km by 10km. This however hides the fact that St Helena is very 'wrinkled'. The island has very little flat land, you're either going up or coming down, usually very steeply. Apart from the V shaped erosion cut valleys that drop to sea level, the island is surrounded by wave cut cliffs to a height 500m in places.

 

  

 

The island was formed by two major volcanic events about 13 and 8 million years ago.  The surrounding ocean depth of 5000m or so plus the 823m of St Helena that rises above sea level gives an idea of how major these volcanoes were. Man first arrived here in 1502. Since then it has been claimed and reclaimed a number of times by different countries.  Perhaps the most famous 'visitor' was Napoleon Bonaparte, incarcerated here by the British in the early 19th century. Currently the island is an Overseas Territory of the UK.

 

 
 

Five hundred years of human activity have severely savaged the island's natural environment. Fortunately some small pockets of the island's endemic plants, insects, fish and one bird remain, and human activity has now been modified to try to conserve rather than further exploit these unique species. 

 
 

 

The island's latitude places it in the subtropical belt. The climate is tempered by the year round prevailing south east trade winds from Cape Town. Coupled with the island's extreme relief,  this moist warm ocean wind provides many varied microclimates within the island.

'Saints', the inhabitants of St Helena are as varied as the climate. During its time as a strategic staging port for the world's sailing ships St Helena absorbed people from many countries, including Africa, Europe and the Far East. Sadly the shortage of natural resources and employment opportunities locally has resulted in many Saints leaving the island over the past few years.  

 

  

 

Currently an ocean passage is the only way to visit St Helena. The island has a dedicated passenger/freight/mail ship, one of the last Royal Mail ships in the world, the St Helena, or RMS as she's called here.  Future hopes are pinned on the completion of an airport (2010) and the opportunities, primarily in tourism, that may evolve.