Category: Geography & Environment

Ascension Island, grouped with St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha islands, is one of fourteen British ‘overseas territories’. It is the tip of an underwater volcanic system in tropical mid-Atlantic, naturally arid with almost no native vegetation, and was once home to millions of sea birds.

The British were the first people to settle there in 1815 and Charles Darwin (1809-82) visited in 1836. His friend, the botanist Sir James Hooker (1817-1911) made his own trip there in 1843 and on his recommendation, trees and shrubs started to be imported from 1850 onwards in order to make settlement more feasible.

Today, the Island is dominated by a USA military airbase along with various tracking, transmitting and listening stations. In 1982 the Island suddenly hosted an immense increase in traffic, both airborne and maritime, when it became a stopping-off and refuelling point for those involved in the Falklands Conflict.

There is so much that is strange about this island, as this BBC article explains. It is not currently possible to fly to Ascension as a tourist other than from Johannesburg via St. Helena once a month and with a valid entry permit.

(Top image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz MD at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Within the British Isles there are three Crown Dependencies, namely:-

• the Bailiwick of Jersey
• the Bailiwick of Guernsey (including Alderney, Sark and other islands)
• the Isle of Man

Together the two Bailiwicks are known as the Channel Islands.

The Crown Dependencies are self-governing possessions of the British monarchy. In the Isle of Man the royal incumbent is called the ‘Lord of Mann’ and in the Channel Islands he or she is called the ‘Duke of Normandy’. Strange but true!

The Crown Dependencies have a special status in that they are neither their own countries nor are they part of the UK and UK law does not apply to them. Instead, they have their own legal, immigration and healthcare systems, albeit with a degree of oversight by the Crown’s representatives. However, their international and defence affairs are looked after by the UK. This situation is very similar to that of the 14 British Overseas Territories, the difference being that the BOTs are geographically well outside of the British Isles.

The featured photograph is of the Parliament (Tynwald) building, known locally as the ‘Wedding Cake’, in Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man.

(Top image: Andy Stephenson at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)