Saint Helena History
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History
It is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It was named after Saint Helena of Constantinople. Saint Helena is Britain's second-oldest overseas territory after Bermuda.
It is one of the most remote islands in the world, and was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. It was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa for centuries. Napoleon was imprisoned there in exile by the British. Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo was also imprisoned there for leading a Zulu army against British rule and more than 5,000 Boers taken prisoner during the Second Boer War.
Saint Helena is Britain's second-oldest overseas territory after Bermuda.
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Timeline
1633 - The Dutch Republic formally claimed Saint Helena, although there is no evidence that they ever occupied, colonized, or fortified it
1651 - The Dutch had mainly abandoned the island in favor of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope
1657 - Oliver Cromwell granted the English East India Company a charter to govern Saint Helena and, the following year, the company decided to fortify the island and colonize it with planters
1673 - The Dutch East India Company forcibly took the island, before English reinforcements restored English East India Company control
1810 - Coolie labourers arrived and many were allowed to stay, and their descendants became integrated into the population
1815 - 1834 After Napoleon's death, the thousands of temporary visitors were withdrawn and the East India Company resumed full control of Saint Helena
1833 - Under the provisions of the India Act, control of Saint Helena passed from the East India Company to the British Crown, and it became a crown colony
1840 - 1849 A British naval station established to suppress the African slave trade was based on the island, and over 15,000 freed slaves, known as Liberated Africans, were landed there
1900 - 1901 Over 6,000 Boer prisoners were held on the island
1981 - The British Nationality Act reclassified Saint Helena and the other Crown colonies as British Dependent Territories. The islanders lost their right of abode in Britain
2002 - T the British Overseas Territories Act granted full British citizenship to the islanders, and renamed the dependent territories, including Saint Helena the British Overseas Territories
2009 - Saint Helena and its two territories received equal status under a new constitution, and the British Overseas Territory was renamed Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Links
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Saint Helena island South Africa Ocean.
- Wikpedia History of Saint Helena.
- British Library Endangered Archives Banns of Marriage [1849-1924]