Today, 21 May 2002, marks 500 years to the day that St. Helena was discovered by Portuguese navigator, João da Nova Castella.
If you didn’t know St Helena is a one of the most geographical isolated islands in the world. It is more than 1100 kilometres from its nearest neighbour and almost 2000 kilometres from the west coast of Africa.
It has no airport. The only way to get there is by ship (the RMS St Helena), which travels there only 25 times a year.
St Helena has had some quite famous residents and visitors. Napoleon was exiled there in 1815 after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. He died there 6 years later.
Charles Darwin visited in 1836. Captain James Cook dropped in briefly numerous times. Sir Edmund Halley visited to observe the Transit of Mercury and Venus.
The terrain on the island is quite hilly. There is only just room to fit a cricket pitch on the egde of the island. A local story is told of an outfielder making a spectacular catch and subsequently falling off the edge of a cliff. The scorecard for the player read “Retired, dead”.
For more information about St. Helena visit:
The St. Helena Government Website
The St. Helena 2002 Quincentenery Website