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Saint Helena is an island in the Atlantic Ocean 2,800 km off the west coast of Africa belonging to the United Kingdom. It is also the name of this island together with Ascension, Gough Island, Inaccessible Island, Nightingale Island , and Tristan da Cunha Island.
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| National motto: ? | |||||
| Official language | English | ||||
| Political status | Overseas territory of the UK | ||||
| Capital | JamestownJamestown (population ca. 800) is a harbor and the capital of Saint Helena. It was founded in 1659 by the East India Company. It is surrounded by steep cliffs. The town's most prominent feature is Jacob's Ladder with 699 steps, built in 1829 to connect Ja | ||||
| Governor and Commander-in-ChiefA governor is an official who heads the government of a colony, state or other sub-national state unit. Most countries in the world have some sort of official known as a governor, though in some countries, the heads of the states, provinces and regions ma | David Hollamby | ||||
| AreaThis article explains the meaning of area as a Physical quantity. Article area (geometry) is more mathematical. Area is a quantity expressing the size of a region of space. Surface area refers to the summation of the areas of the exposed sides of an objec | 410 km²To help compare different orders of magnitude and geographical regions, we list here areas between 100 km² and 1000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. Areas less than 100 km² 100 km² is equal to: a square with sides 10 km long 10,000 hectar | ||||
| PopulationFor the use of the word population in statistics, see statistical population. In the most common sense of the word, a population is the collection of people—or organisms of a particular species—living in a given geographic area. Populations are studied in
| 7,367 18/km² | ||||
| CurrencyFor exchange rates, see here. A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of goods and services. It is a form of money, where money is defined as a medium of exchange rather than e. a store of value. A currency zone is a country or region | Saint Helenian pound (SHP) at parity with the UK Pound Sterling (GBP) | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +0 | ||||
| National anthem | God Save the Queen, My St. Helena Island (unofficial) | ||||
| Internet TLD | .sh | ||||
| Calling Code | 290 | ||||
The island served as a strategic island for ships on their way to the Indian Ocean before the Suez Canal was built.
St. Helena has a small population that remains loyal to Britain. However, the island's diminutive size and geopolitical insignificance has led many Islanders to accuse the British government of ignoring the island. The island's economy was a one crop economy for many years, but is now very weak, and is almost entirely sustained solely on aid from London.
Napoleon Bonaparte spent the last part of his life in exile on St. Helena, and the St. Helena tourist industry is heavily based around the promotion of this particular aspect of the island's history. Two sites where Napoleon lived and the valley where he was buried are French territory.Prominent Anglo- Boer War prisoners, including General Piet Cronje were also detained on St. Helena.