37 Facts About Saint Helena

1.

Saint Helena is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean.

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2.

St Saint Helena is the United Kingdom's second-oldest overseas territory after Bermuda.

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3.

Saint Helena is known for being the site of Napoleon's second exile, following his final defeat in 1815.

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4.

Saint Helena's pilots entered the island onto their charts and it has been suggested that this event was likely decisive in leading to the utilisation of the island as a regular stopover for rest and replenishment for ships en route from India to Europe, from that date until well into the seventeenth century.

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5.

Saint Helena continued to subsidise the community because of the island's strategic location.

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6.

Edmond Halley visited Saint Helena on leaving the University of Oxford in 1676, and set up an astronomical observatory with a 7.

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7.

Between 1791 and 1833, Saint Helena became the site of a series of experiments in conservation, reforestation, and attempts to boost rainfall artificially.

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8.

Saint Helena departed on 20 April 1898 for the final leg of his circumnavigation, having been extended hospitality by the governor, Sir R A Standale.

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9.

Saint Helena presented two lectures on his voyage and was invited to Longwood by the French Consular agent.

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10.

Climate of Saint Helena is tropical, marine and mild, tempered by the Benguela Current and trade winds that blow almost continuously.

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11.

Saint Helena is divided into eight districts, with the majority housing a community centre.

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12.

In 1840, Saint Helena became a provisioning station for the British West Africa Squadron, preventing the transportation of slaves to Brazil, and many thousands of slaves were freed on the island.

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13.

Executive authority in Saint Helena is vested in King Charles III and is exercised on his behalf by the Governor of Saint Helena.

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14.

Saint Helena has one police station, Coleman House, named after PC Leonard John Coleman who died in the line of duty on 2 December 1982.

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15.

Saint Helena has long been known for its high proportion of endemic birds and vascular plants.

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16.

Saint Helena's biodiversity includes marine vertebrates, invertebrates, fungi, non-vascular plants, seaweeds and other biological groups.

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17.

Saint Helena's economy is developing, but is almost entirely sustained by aid from the British government.

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18.

The document represents a 10-year plan to kick-start the economy after Saint Helena established air access and fibre connectivity and moved away from relying purely on tourism for growth, announcing a desire to "increase exports, and decrease imports".

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19.

Some of Saint Helena's exported tuna has been served in restaurants in Cape Town.

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20.

Saint Helena has its own currency since 1976, the Saint Helena pound, which is at parity with the pound sterling and is the currency of Ascension Island.

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21.

The government of Saint Helena produces its own coinage, banknotes since 1976 and circulation coins since 1984.

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22.

St Saint Helena Tourism updated its tourism marketing strategy in 2018.

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23.

An item posted on 4 March 2021 on the UK Government website stated that "all arrivals to St Helena are required to have had a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours before travelling" and with a few exceptions, non-Saints were not allowed to visit.

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24.

Saint Helena's berthed offshore in James Bay, Saint Helena, approximately 30 times per year, and passengers and freight were transferred by small boats ashore.

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25.

The first commercial flight ever to land at Saint Helena was a charter flight carried out by Airlink of South Africa on Wednesday, 3 May 2017 from Cape Town via Mocamedes, Angola, using the Avro RJ85 ZS-SSH .

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26.

The flight picked up passengers of RMS St Saint Helena stranded on the island when St Saint Helena suffered propeller damage.

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27.

Saint Helena's monopoly is based on a contract with the government that is in force until 31 December 2022.

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28.

The release suggested that St Saint Helena might get broadband service "as early as August 2021" if all went well with the installation project.

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29.

Saint Helena FM provided a local radio service for the island which was available on Internet radio and relayed in Ascension Island.

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30.

Saint Helena Island Info is an online resource featuring the history of St Helena from its discovery to the present day, plus photographs and information about life on St Helena today.

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31.

Saint Helena Government is the official mouthpiece of the island's governing body.

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32.

Saint Helena Tourism is a website aimed at the tourist trade with advice on accommodation, transport, food and drink, events and the like.

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33.

Saint Helena has the international calling code +290, which Tristan da Cunha has shared since 2006.

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34.

In practice several sites dedicated to aspects of life on Saint Helena are run from elsewhere in the world, so they use other TLDs.

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35.

In 2017, St Saint Helena Government developed its Digital Strategy, drafted by the Assistant Chief Secretary at the time, Paul McGinnety.

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36.

In February 2018, the government of St Saint Helena launched the project to attract operators of satellite ground stations to the island who would lease capacity on the planned submarine cable for backhauling and so contribute to the operational costs of the latter.

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37.

Saint Helena is a member of the International Island Games Association.

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