St. Helena 1918-1945







Tristan da Cunha, 1816-1938



Tristan da Cunha was discovered by the Portuguese in 1506. In 1656 the V.O.C. sent a ship to the island to see if it was suitable for the establishment of a military post, but it was deemed unsuitable due to the lack of a natural harbour. The island was briefly inhabited by British sailors 1790-1791, and from 1810 onward by British and U.S. sailors, who made a living by a combination of growing crops, keeping livestock and hunting seal. In 1812, Britain and the U.S. being at war, the U.S. Fleet used Tristan da Cunha as a base from where to strike against British vessels (for which the route around the Cape of Good Hope was of major importance).
The island was annexed by Great Britain in 1816; Tristan was garisoned 1816-1817. In 1827 the first women were brought in. Seal-fishing was the most lucrative occupation; the island was visited by whalers; whaling peaked from 1830 to 1860. In 1856 a quarter of the island population (25 out of 100) emigrated to the U.S., in 1857 a further 45 emigrated to the Cape Colony. The arrival of rats in 1885 negatively affected the growing of crops. The population of the island group ranged between about 60 and about 100, many of the young becoming sailors or migrating to the Cape Colony / South Africa.
Statesman's Year Book 1895 : The population consists mainly of the families of shipwrecked sailors and wives from St. Helena, and numbered about 61 in 1894. There are 600 head of cattle and about 500 sheep on the island, and both beef and mutton are excellent. Beans, potatoes and apples are grown. The only dwellings are a few cottages on one side of the mountain..
In 1938, Tristan da Cunha administratively was placed under St. Helena.
The issuance of postage stamps for Tristan da Cunha began in 1952.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article History of Tristan da Cunha, from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Article : Tristan da Cunha, in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 p.196, 1898 p.199 [G]
Article : St. Helena : Tristan da Cunha, in : Statesman's Year Book 1901 pp.222-223, 1902 p.231, 1905 p.242, 1910 p.184, 1919 p.195, 1924 p.204, 1925 p.208, 1926 p.212, 1928 p.210, 1929 p.211, 1932 p.214, 1937 p.233, 1942 p.229, 1943 p.225 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on September 3rd 2007

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