Saint Helena – a remote Atlantic island at the crossroads of history
Saint Helena was uninhabited when Portuguese sailors reached it in the early 16th century; according to tradition it was found in 1502 by João da Nova and named after Saint Helena of Constantinople. For decades the island served as a secret watering and provisioning stop for ships returning from the Indies.
In 1659 the English East India Company took possession of the island and founded Jamestown. Settlers, soldiers and enslaved people from Africa and Asia came to live there, and the island became an important port of call on the route to India. Slavery was gradually restricted and ended in the first half of the 19th century. Saint Helena's most famous resident was Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled here by the British from 1815 until his death in 1821. In 1834 the island passed from the Company to the British Crown.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 reduced the number of passing ships, and the island's economy declined. Later it served as a place of detention for prisoners such as Boer soldiers around 1900. For much of the 20th century the island relied on flax production and support from Britain, and for many years it could only be reached by sea. An airport opened in the 2010s, bringing the island a little closer to the world.
Today Saint Helena, part of a British overseas territory with Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, is shaped by its isolation, its close-knit community and its unique natural heritage.
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