History of Saint Helena

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The history of Saint Helena begins in 1502 with its discovery by the Portuguese. Uninhabited when first discovered, the Portuguese named it for Helena of Constantinople. The island now known as Saint Helena was garrisoned by the British during the 17th century. It became famous as the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's exile, from 1815 until his death in 1821.

Contents 1 Discovery and early years 2 British East India Company 3 Napoleon's exile, 1815-1821 4 British East India Company, 1821-1834 5 British rule, 1833 till now 6 References

[edit] Discovery and early years

The island was discovered on May 21, 1502 by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova, on his voyage home from India, and he named it "Saint Helena". The Portuguese found it uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and fresh water. They imported livestock (mainly goats), fruit trees and vegetables, built a chapel and one or two houses, and left their sick there to be taken home, if they recovered, by the next ship, but they formed no permanent settlement. The Portuguese kept the location of the island a secret. They wanted to keep this strategically-placed watering place to themselves. Its first known permanent resident was Portuguese, Fernão Lopez who had turned traitor in India and had been mutilated by order of Albuquerque, the Governor of Goa. Fernando Lopes preferred being marooned to returning to Portugal in his maimed condition, and lived on Saint Helena from 1513. By royal command Lopez did visit Portugal some time later, but returned to Saint Helena, where he died in 1530.

When the island was discovered, it was covered with unique (indigenous) vegetation, including many tropical trees. The island's interior must have been a dense tropical forest but the coastal areas were probably quite green as well. The modern landscape is very different, with a lot of naked rock in the lower areas, and a high interior that is green—but mainly of imported vegetation. The dramatic change in landscape must be contributed to the introduction of goats and the introduction of new vegetation.

In 1584 two Japanese ambassadors to Rome landed at the island. The first Englishman known to have visited it was Thomas Cavendish, who touched there in June 1588 during his voyage round the world. Another English seaman, Captain Kendall, visited Saint Helena in 1591, and in 1593 Sir James Lancaster stopped at the island on his way home from the East. In 1603 Lancaster again visited Saint Helena on his return from the first voyage equipped by the British East India Company.

From about 1600 the island was well known by captains from Portugal, England, France and the United Provinces. The island was used for collecting food and as a rendez-vous point but at homebound voyages from Asia only: during outbound voyages the ships sailed hundreds of kilometres west of Saint Helena. Sometimes ships waited near the island, when their captains were hoping to pirate hostile richly-loaded ships. For example, the Italian merchant Fransesco Carletti, sailing on board a Portuguese ship, was robbed of his valuable possessions by Dutch (or more precise, Zeeuws) mariners in 1602 [1 in his autobiography entitled My voyage around the world: The chronicles of a 16th Century Florentine Merchant and his story is confirmed in Dutch archives].

After about 1610 the Portuguese seem to have given up calling at the island, which appears to have been occupied by the Dutch in about 1645. The Dutch occupation was temporary and ceased in 1651, the year before they founded Cape Town.

[edit] British East India Company

The British East India Company appropriated the island immediately after the departure of the Dutch, and they were confirmed in possession by a clause in their charter of 1661.

The company built a fort (1658), named "Jamestown" after the Duke of York (later James II), and established a garrison on the island. In 1673 the Dutch succeeded in obtaining possession, but were ejected after a few months' occupation. Since that date St Helena has been in the undisturbed possession of Great Britain, though in 1706, two ships anchored off Jamestown were carried off by the French. In 1673 the Dutch had been expelled by the forces of the Crown, but by a new charter granted in December 1673 the East India Company were declared the true and absolute lords and proprietors of the island.

At this time nearly half the inhabitants were negro slaves. In 1810 the company began the importation of Chinese from their factory at Canton, China. During the company's rule the island prospered, thousands of homeward-bound vessels anchored in the roadstead every year, staying for considerable periods, refitting and revictualling. Large sums of money were thus expended in the island, where wealthy merchants and officials had their residence. The plantations were worked by the slaves, who were subjected to very barbarous laws until 1792, when a new code of regulations ensured their humane treatment and prohibited the importation of any new slaves. Later it was enacted that all children of slaves born on or after Christmas Day 1818 should be free, and between 1826 and 1836 all slaves were manumitted.

Among the governors appointed by the company to rule at Saint Helena was one of the Huguenot refugees, Captain Stephen Poirier (1697 - 1707), who attempted unsuccessfully to introduce the cultivation of the grape vine. A later governor (1741-1742) was Robert Jenkins of "War of Jenkins's Ear" fame. William Dampier visited the island twice, in 1691 and 1701; Halley's Mount commemorates the visit paid by the astronomer Edmund Halley in 1676 - 1678 - the first of a number of scientific men who pursued their studies on the island.

[edit] Napoleon's exile, 1815-1821

In 1815 the British government selected Saint Helena as the place of detention of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was brought to the island in October 1815 and lodged at Longwood, where he died in May 1821. During this period the island was strongly garrisoned by regular troops, and the governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, was nominated by the Crown. In fact, the island was heavily overpopulated with thousands of soldiers and dozens of VIPs, including some French aristocratic families belonging to Napeleon's household and many British officers with their families. A lot of food had to be imported and even fish was becoming scarce. Many soldiers died on the island as result of poor sanitory conditions. Foreign ships were not very welcome any more. For more details about Napeleon on Saint Helena, see Exile in Saint Helena and death

[edit] British East India Company, 1821-1834

After Napoleon's death the thousands of temporary visitors were soon withdrawn. The East India Company resumed full control of Saint Helena and life returned to the pre-1815 standards - apart from the gradual emancipation of the slaves. As a result of an act passen in the British Parliament in 1833, on April 22, 1834 the rule of the East India Company was discontinued and Saint Helena became a British Crown colony.

[edit] British rule, 1833 till now

As a port of call the island continued to enjoy a fair measure of prosperity until about 1870. For example, around the 1840s and 1850s the island was an important basis for the suppression of the illegal slave trade. From about 1870 the number of vessels visiting Jamestown went sharply down, depriving the islanders of their principal means of subsistence. When steamers began to replace sailing vessels and when the Suez Canal opened (in 1869) fewer ships passed the island, while of those that still passed, the majority were so well supplied that they found it unnecessary to call. The withdrawal in 1906 of the small garrison, hitherto maintained by the imperial government, was another cause of depression.

The British sometimes use the island to lodge prisoners of war. For example, in the 1890s some Zulu chiefs, including Dinizulu, lived in exile on the island. During the Second Anglo-Boer war of 1899 - 1902 some thousands of Boer prisoners were detained at Saint Helena.

[edit] References

• Weider, Ben & Hapgood, David The Murder of Napoleon (1999) ISBN 1-58348-150-8 contains descriptions of the island and its inhabitants at the time of Napoleon's incarceration.
• Gosse, Philip, Saint Helena, 1502-1938 ISBN 0-904614-39-5
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.