Tristan da Cunha
Islands are attractive destinations, especially after several days of Atlantic swell. Tristan is one of the remotest inhabited islands in the world, given name recognition by the plight of the islanders - 264 of them - at the time of the 1961 eruption of their volcanic home. The island was discovered by the eponymous Portuguese admiral in 1506, part of the great age of discovery that catapulted sleepy Portugal into the position of the maritime superpower. Portugal was the first European country to establish a colonial presence in Africa, and the last to leave. They did not settle Tristan however, simply recorded it on their charts as a precaution.
It was not until Corporal Glass and company were stationed on the island by the British in 1816 that a settlement commenced. Their purpose was to act as southern sentry station – there was a similar station on Ascension Island to the north – to the famous prisoner on St Helena. When Napoleon died in 1821, Corporal Glass opted to remain on the island rather than return to Britain and his descendants are still prominent on the island today, one of the seven surnames that comprise the community of some 270 souls.
And what a successful community it is. A well-managed crayfish fishery – the famous Tristan "rock lobster" – supplies top-notch restaurants in South Africa and the United States. Philately has boomed ever since an early island penny postage stamp was printed with a local value of four potatoes. Potatoes were the unit of exchange in the old subsistence economy of the island but with tourism bringing in additional revenue, the island is now relatively prosperous. The tourists can sample rock lobster at the Post Office-cum-Tourist Centre (a fine new building), purchase stamps and postcards to put them on, and then take trips – by bus or on foot – out to the potato patches. These communal allotments have assumed a social significance greater than their current economic value.
What does the future hold? With satellite TV and the entire village – its official name is Edinburgh-of-the-Seven-Seas but the locals call it simply, "The Settlement" – on wi-fi, one wonders what effect constant communication with the physically inaccessible outside world will have on the younger generation. Nothing adverse so far, by all accounts. In conversation we heard of youngsters who had trained and worked off the island keen to return. We are living through a communications revolution that has so many ramifications. So far, Tristan seems to be a beneficiary and not a loser in that process and that fits the mood of the place: proud, self-reliant, positive, a good-vibes island.
