Saint Helena in the context of Namibia


Saint Helena in the context of Namibia

Saint Helena Study page number 1 of 2

Play TriviaQuestions Online!

or

Skip to study material about Saint Helena in the context of "Namibia"


⭐ Core Definition: Saint Helena

Saint Helena (/ˌsɛnt (h)ɪˈlnə, ˌsɪnt-, sənt-/, US: /ˌsnt-/; US: /ˌsnt ˈhɛlənə/ ) is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km (1,165 miles) west of the mainland of the continent of Africa, with the Southern African nations of Angola and Namibia on its southeastern coast being the closest nations geographically. The island is around 1,950 km (1,210 mi) west of the coast of southwestern Angola, and 4,000 km (2,500 mi) east of the major seaport city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in South America. It is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory.

Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 km (10 by 5 mi) and had a population of 4,439 in the 2021 census. It was named after Saint Helena (AD c.246/248–330), the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great. (A.D 272–337, reigned 306–337), of the ancient Roman Empire. It is one of the most remote major islands in the world and was uninhabited until the 16th century, when it was discovered by the Portuguese explorers/traders en route southward around the continent of Africa, then east across the Indian Ocean to the Indian subcontinent (India) of South Asia in 1502. For about the next four centuries, the island was an important stopover for ships between Europe and Asia sailing around the African continent and its southern Cape of Good Hope, before the opening of the shortcut Suez Canal in 1869, in Egypt between the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Saint Helena is the United Kingdom's second-oldest overseas territory of the old British Empire, after the islands of Bermuda, off the southeast coast of North America.

↓ Menu
HINT:

In this Dossier

Saint Helena in the context of Exile

Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suffer exile, but sometimes social entities like institutions (e.g. the papacy or a government) are forced from their homeland.

In Roman law, exsilium denoted both voluntary exile and banishment as a capital punishment alternative to death. Deportation was forced exile, and entailed the lifelong loss of citizenship and property. Relegation was a milder form of deportation, which preserved the subject's citizenship and property.

View the full Wikipedia page for Exile
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of First French Empire

The French Empire (French: Empire français; Latin: Imperium Francicum), known retroactively as the First French Empire, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena.

Historians refer to Napoleon's regime as the "First Empire" to distinguish it from the restorationist Second Empire (1852–1870) ruled by his nephew Napoleon III. Neither should be confused with the French colonial empire, which refers to France's various colonies, protectorates and mandate territories all throughout its history, regardless of political system (including, by some definitions, some or all of France's current overseas territories).

View the full Wikipedia page for First French Empire
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Ascension Island

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 960 miles (1,540 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.

Ascension Island was possibly discovered by the Portuguese seafarer João da Nova in 1501, before being named Ascension by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1503 on Ascension Day. Ascension Island was garrisoned by the British Admiralty from 22 October 1815 to 1922 and was an important refuelling stop for ships and commercial airliners in the days of international air travel by flying boats. During World War II, it was an important naval and air station, especially providing antisubmarine warfare bases in the Battle of the Atlantic.

View the full Wikipedia page for Ascension Island
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of War of the Seventh Coalition

The Hundred Days (French: les Cent-Jours IPA: [le sɑ̃ ʒuʁ]), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (French: Guerre de la Septième Coalition), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 110 days). This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo campaign and the Neapolitan War as well as several other minor campaigns. The phrase les Cent Jours (the Hundred Days) was first used by the prefect of Paris, Gaspard, comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the king back to Paris on 8 July.

Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting. On 13 March, seven days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw, and on 25 March, Austria, Prussia, Russia and the United Kingdom, the four Great Powers and key members of the Seventh Coalition, bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. This set the stage for the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the second restoration of the French kingdom, and the permanent exile of Napoleon to the distant island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.

View the full Wikipedia page for War of the Seventh Coalition
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Military career of Napoleon

The military career of Napoleon spanned over 20 years. He led French armies in the French Revolutionary Wars and later, as emperor, in the Napoleonic Wars. Despite his comprehensive battle-winning record, Napoleon ended his career in defeat. Nevertheless, European history has since regarded Napoleon as a military genius and one of the finest commanders in history. His battles, campaigns and wars have been studied at military schools worldwide. Such campaigns as the Italian campaign of 1796–1797, the Ulm campaign and the Six Days' Campaign demonstrated his strategic and tactical genius. He fought more than 80 battles, losing only ten, mostly towards the end when the French army was not as dominant. As historian Alexander Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky observed, Napoleon was a "despotic sovereign of the battlefield, in whose presence but few generals ventured to maneuver, striving only to ward off his blows." Napoleon never sought refuge behind ridges, redoubts, etc.; he was a proponent of the offensive principle.

The French dominion collapsed rapidly after the invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon was defeated in 1814 and exiled to the island of Elba, before returning to France. He was finally defeated in 1815 at Waterloo. He spent his remaining days in British custody on the remote volcanic tropical island of Saint Helena. In his long military career, Bonaparte celebrated 64 victories and suffered 10 defeats; 6 battles ended with an uncertain outcome.

View the full Wikipedia page for Military career of Napoleon
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Falkland Islanders

Falkland Islanders, also called Falklanders, are the people of the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in South America.

Prior to the start of the 19th century, the Falkland Islands were uninhabited, as Native Americans never discovered the islands. The modern Falkland Islander population derives from various origins. Earliest among these are the numerically small but internationally diverse early 19th century inhabitants of the Islands, comprising and descended in part from settlers brought by Luis Vernet, and English and American sealers; South American gauchos who settled in the 1840s and 1850s; and since the late 1830s, settlers largely from Britain (especially Scotland and Wales) with a minority from other European countries. More recently, there been significant levels of immigration from Saint Helena, Chile, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe.

View the full Wikipedia page for Falkland Islanders
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic and consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha (including Gough Island). Its name was Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force, giving the three islands equal status as three territories, with a grouping under the Crown.

View the full Wikipedia page for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of João da Nova

João da Nova (Galician: Xoán de Novoa, Joam de Nôvoa; Spanish: Juan de Nova; Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈɐ̃w ˈnɔvɐ]; c. 1460 in Maceda, Ourense, Galicia, Spain – July 16, 1509, in Kochi, India) was a Galician-born explorer in the service of Portugal. He is credited as the discoverer of Ascension and Saint Helena islands.

The Juan de Nova Island, in the Mozambique Channel, is named after him. The Farquhar atoll (in the Seychelles) was, for a long time, known as the João da Nova islands. It is sometimes thought that the Agaléga islands (in the Indian Ocean) were also named after him (although it is almost certain he never visited them).

View the full Wikipedia page for João da Nova
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of RAF Ascension Island

RAF Ascension Island (IATA: ASI, ICAO: FHAW), also known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Auxiliary Field, is a military airfield and facility located on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The airfield is jointly operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Space Force (USSF). Under the terms of an international agreement between the UK and US governments, only state aircraft (e.g. military and diplomatic flights) are authorised to land at Ascension, with the sole exception being civil aviation between Ascension and Saint Helena.

The facility is home to a U.S. Space Force ground tracking station in support of the Eastern Range and rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

View the full Wikipedia page for RAF Ascension Island
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Edmond Halley

Edmond (or Edmund) Halley FRS (/ˈhæli/; 8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 – 25 January 1742 [O.S. 14 January 1741]) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.

From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Halley catalogued the southern celestial hemisphere and recorded a transit of Mercury across the Sun. He realised that a similar transit of Venus could be used to determine the distances between Earth, Venus, and the Sun. Upon his return to England, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and with the help of King Charles II, was granted a master's degree from Oxford.

View the full Wikipedia page for Edmond Halley
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is headed by the Secretary of State for Justice, an office held concurrently by the Lord Chancellor. Its stated priorities are to reduce re-offending and protect the public, to provide access to justice, to increase confidence in the justice system, and to uphold people's civil liberties. The Secretary of State is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system, prisons, and probation in England and Wales, with some additional UK-wide responsibilities, e.g., the UK Supreme Court and judicial appointments by the Crown. The department is also responsible for areas of constitutional policy not transferred in 2010 to the Deputy Prime Minister, human rights law, and information rights law across the UK.

The British Ministry of Justice may also oversee the administration of justice in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man (which are Crown Dependencies), as well as Saint Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, and the Falkland Islands (which are British Overseas Territories). Gibraltar, another British overseas territory, has its own Ministry of Justice.

View the full Wikipedia page for Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Henri Gatien Bertrand

Henri-Gatien Bertrand (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi ɡasjɛ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃]; 22 March 1773 – 31 January 1844) was a French general who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Under the Empire he was the third and last Grand marshal of the palace, the head of the Military Household of emperor Napoleon, whom he followed in both the exiles to Elba and Saint Helena.

View the full Wikipedia page for Henri Gatien Bertrand
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Eastern Telegraph

Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications). The company later offered cable TV to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL (now Virgin Media) in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the Caribbean, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

The company split in March 2010, with its international division demerging to form Cable & Wireless Communications, acquired by Liberty Global in 2015, and since spun-off in 2018 from Liberty Global to Liberty Latin America, while the remainder of the Cable & Wireless business became Cable & Wireless Worldwide and was acquired by Vodafone in 2012.

View the full Wikipedia page for Eastern Telegraph
↑ Return to Menu

Saint Helena in the context of Napoleon I's second abdication

Napoleon abdicated on 22 June 1815, in favour of his son Napoleon II. On 24 June, the Provisional Government then proclaimed his abdication to France and the rest of the world.

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon returned to Paris, seeking to maintain political backing for his position as Emperor of the French. Assuming his political base to be secured, he aspired to continue the war. However, the parliament (formed according to the Charter of 1815) created a Provisional Government and demanded Napoleon's abdication. Napoleon initially considered a coup d'état similar to Eighteenth of Brumaire, but ultimately discarded this idea. On 25 June, after a stay at the Palace of Malmaison, Napoleon left Paris towards the coast, hoping to reach the United States of America. Meanwhile, the Provisional Government deposed his son and attempted negotiating a conditional surrender with the Coalition powers. As they failed obtaining concessions from the Coalition, which insisted on a military surrender and the restoration of Louis XVIII, Napoleon realised he could not evade the Royal Navy and surrendered to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, placing himself under his protection aboard HMS Bellerophon. The British Government refused Napoleon to set foot in England and arranged for his exile to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he lived until his death in 1821.

View the full Wikipedia page for Napoleon I's second abdication
↑ Return to Menu