Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is the main settlement of the island of

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the Extreme points of Earth, most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town, Sou ...

, in

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 wa ...

, an overseas territory of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. Locally, it is referred to as The Settlement or The Village. Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is regarded as the most remote permanent settlement on Earth, located over 1,500 miles (2400 kilometres) from the nearest human settlement, on

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...

History

The settlement was founded on the island of Tristan da Cunha in 1816 by a Sergeant

William Glass William Glass (11 May 1786 – 1853) was a Scottish Corporal and settler. He established the settlement that would become Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the main settlement on Tristan da Cunha. Early life William Glass was born William Glasgow i ...

from

Kelso, Scottish Borders Kelso ( sco, Kelsae gd, Cealsaidh) is a market town in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire, it lies where the rivers Tweed and Teviot have their confluence. The town has a p ...

after the UK annexed Tristan da Cunha. A military garrison was maintained on the islands as a guard against any French attempts to rescue

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, who was imprisoned on

. The military garrison remained until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It is named after

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1 ...

, the second son of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, in honour of his visit to the island in 1867. Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is the only major settlement of Tristan da Cunha, and contains a small port, the Administrator's residence, and the post office. It was damaged in a volcanic eruption on the island in 1961, which forced the entire population to abandon the settlement and evacuate to Calshot,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

in the UK. The eruption destroyed the settlement's

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, m ...

factory. After the return of most of the islanders in 1963, the settlement was rebuilt. The harbour at Edinburgh was named Calshot Harbour, after their temporary home during the eruption.

Geography

Climate

The archipelago has a wet

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

under the Köppen system with mild temperatures, but consistent moderate to heavy rainfall and very limited sunshine, due to the persistent westerly winds. Under the Trewartha classification, Tristan da Cunha has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

due to the lack of cold weather, and it has a mild

(''Cfb'') according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

, with an absence of extreme temperatures. The number of rainy days is comparable to the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

at a much higher latitude in the northern hemisphere, while sunshine hours are comparable to

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the ...

, 20° farther from the equator. Frost is unknown below elevations of and summer temperatures are similarly mild, never reaching . Sandy Point on the east coast is reputed to be the warmest and driest place on the island, being in the lee of the

prevailing wind In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point o ...

Transport

There is one road, the M1, which connects the town with

Potato Patches Potato Patches, also known as Patches Plain or, colloquially, ''The Patches'', is an agricultural area and uninhabited rural settlement in Tristan da Cunha, in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, an overseas territory of the United Ki ...

(or ''The Patches''), the primary agricultural area, and is used by the few private cars on the island. Paved paths provide walking access to buildings around town. A bus service called Potato Patches Flier (using a 24-seat Isuzu mini school bus from South Africa) is available to pensioners in town to travel to places around the island. All motor vehicles on the island have Tristan da Cunha plates consisting of letters TDC and 2 or 3 numbers. The town has a small harbour with berths accessible by small vessels only. The island has around 10 scheduled ship visits per year for tourists and island residents to travel to/from the island on multi-day trips from South Africa or Namibia.

Gallery

File:Edinburgh-Tristan.jpg File:Edinburgh of the Seven Seas 01.jpg File:Edinburgh of the Seven Seas 03.jpg File:Supermarket, Tristan da Cunha.jpg File:Maria S. Merian vor Tristan da Cunha.jpg File:St Joseph's Catholic church.jpg File:Surroundings of Infrasound Station IS49 Tristan de Cunha, UK (13288640063).jpg File:Tristan da Cunha4.jpg File:Tristan da Cunha - Mabel Clark Guest house.jpg File:Tristan da Cunha - Longboats in front of the administrator's residence.jpg

Art

Graphic artist

Rolf Weijburg Rolf Weijburg (born 1952 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands) is a graphic artist, specialized in the art of etching. Biography At the age of 18 Weijburg moved to Utrecht to study at Utrecht University and enrolled for Social Geography. Here his fas ...

produced an etch of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas and other places on the island of

Local government

The island's local affairs are managed by the Island Council, a 14-member administration that meets six times a year and is elected every three years.

Government services

The town is home to the island's emergency services, which comprise one ambulance (a

Toyota Hilux The , stylized as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as pickup truck or cab chassis variants, although th ...

operated by Camogli Hospital), one fire engine (a

Land Rover Defender The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pick-up truck, pickup ...

with a small ladder) and one police car (

Land Rover Series The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as ''series'' Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models) are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Thoug ...

). The town administration also has a vehicle for official use.

Places of interest and attractions

Most buildings in town are single story, with the largest being the factory and the tallest being St Joseph's Church. * St. Mary's Anglican Church – built 1923 * St. Joseph Catholic Church – built 1995–96 and replaced earlier church from 1983 * St Mary's School – built 1975 *

Camogli Hospital The Camogli Hospital is a public hospital located in Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on Tristan da Cunha. The building was replaced by a new build in 2017 to meet NHS standards. History Throughout the 19th Century, the islands had no resident hea ...

– built in 1971 to replace Station Hospital (c. 1940s) *

Calshot Harbour Calshot is a coastal village in Hampshire, England at the west corner of Southampton Water where it joins the Solent.OS Explorer Map, New Forest, Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). History In 1539, Henry VIII or ...

– built 1967 * Prince Philip Hall and the Albatross Bar * Tristan Thatched House Museum * Agriculture Department warehouse * Tristan Island Store – only supermarket on the island * Tristan Post Office, Tourism Centre and Café da Cunha – opened 2009 * Administration Building – home to Island Council * Crayfish Canning Factory – built 1963 * Park 61 – volcanic park site * The Patches – an area with potato farms have been used for over 150 years. In the area are camping huts.

Notable people

(1786-1853), founder of the settlement *

Conrad Glass Conrad Jack Glass (born 20 January 1961) is a Tristanian police inspector and civil servant who was Tristan da Cunha's former Chief Islander from 2007 to 2010. Glass is the first islander to have written a book about the island: ''Rockhopper ...

(b. 1961), police officer

References

External links

Description of the settlement

Tourism Information (Archived)
{{coord, 37, 04, S, 12, 19, W, display=title Tristan da Cunha Populated places established in 1816 Populated places in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha 1816 establishments in the British Empire 1816 establishments in Africa