Ascension Island
Categories: British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies | Saint Helena | Ascension Island | Philately by country | Mountains and hills of British overseas territories
Ascension Island is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, and includes tiny satellite islands and rocks such as Boatswain Bird Island, Boatswain Bird Rock (East), White Rocks (South), and Tartar Rock (West, at the shore of Georgetown). It is a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom. It is one of a number of hotspot oceanic islands in the South Atlantic (which include the sister islands of Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha). The capital is Georgetown.
Contents |
Physical
The main island has an area of approximately 35 square miles. A volcanic peak rising from just west of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, much of the island is a wasteland of lava flows and cinder cones; no less than 44 distinct craters have been identified. While it was barren with very few plants as recently as 1843, Ascension Island's Green Mountain is now one of the few large-scale artificial forests, and is gradually growing with each year. Its highest point is at 2817 ft.
Ascension's climate is subtropical, with temperatures at the coast ranging from about 68 to 88 Fahrenheit, and about 10 degrees cooler at the highest point. Rain showers may occur at any time during the year, but tend to be heavier between January and April.
History
The Portuguese explorer Joao da Nova Castelia was apparently the first to discover the island (in 1501), but did not report it. So when in 1503 Alphonse d'Albuquerque saw the island on Ascension Day, he named it for the day of its sighting. Dry and barren, it had little appeal for passing ships, and remained uninhabited until 1815, when the British garrisoned it as a precaution after imprisoning Napoleon I of France on St Helena to the southeast. The Royal Navy officially designated the island as "HMS Ascension" with the classification of "Sloop of War of the smaller class". A Stone ship was a naval nickname for such land based establishments.
Once established, the British found it to be a handy victualling station for ships, particularly those of the West Africa Squadron working against the slave trade, and was taken over by the Royal Marines in 1923. In 1922, Royal Letters Patent made Ascension a dependency of St Helena, with the island being managed by the Eastern Telegraph Company (until 1964).
The BBC World Service broadcasts its programmes to Africa from the island. The British telecommunications company Cable & Wireless (the successor to Eastern Telegraph Co since 1934) also maintains a presence on the island; both are sources of revenue for Ascension.
Population
There are five settlements, the capital being Georgetown:
- Georgetown (pop. 560)
- Cat Hill (Main Base, the U.S. base, pop. 150)
- The Residency
- Traveller's Hill (Wideawake, the Royal Air Force base, pop. 200)
- Two Boats Village
Additionally, there are some cottages on Green Mountain.
Military
The island is home to Wideawake Field, built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, as a refueling and staging station for aircraft flying between the Americas and Africa. Patrol aircraft based at Wideawake played an important role in anti-submarine warfare in the South Atlantic. A large garbage dump, consisting mostly of rusting metal, remains from the World War II activity. Wideawake is also used by the RAF as a bridge to the Falkland Islands. The United States also maintains a GPS monitor station and missile tracking sites on the island. The island served as a refueling station for the British Royal Navy during the Falklands War.
When Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands in 1982, Ascension Island proved essential to British forces in their efforts to retake the islands from Argentina. For a time, Wideawake airfield became the busiest airport in the world as the RAF flew in supplies to aid their task force. A squadron of RAF Harriers was based on the island to repel any possible Argentine attack, and RAF Vulcan bombers flew a series of long-range bombing attacks from the island against Argentinian forces in the Falklands during Operation Black Buck.
Sounding rockets have been launched from Ascension since 1963. The launch pad, which is mainly used for Arcas launches is situated at 7° 58′ 52″ S, 14° 24′ 49″ W.
Communications
The island has an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of .ac.
Wildlife
Green turtles are perhaps the most notable of the wildlife, coming ashore to lay their eggs on the beaches from January to May. The sooty tern or "wideawake" nests in great numbers, along with boobies, petrels, noddies, Ascension frigate birds, and boatswain birds. On land are found canaries, francolins, mynahs, sparrows, and waxbills. A variety of mammals have been introduced, while reptiles consist of two species of lizards.
Offshore, there is a variety of open-ocean fish, including sharks, wahoo, tuna, bonita, barracuda, marlin, and sailfish.
Postal history
Originally mail was carried on an irregular basis as ships called. A datestamp was in use from February 1858, and in 1863 the Union Steamship Co. began regular carriage of mail, continuing until 1977. On 3 March 1867 British postage stamps became valid for Ascension mail, and continued in use until 1922, when Ascension became a dependency of Saint Helena.
On 2 November 1922, nine stamps of St. Helena overprinted "ASCENSION" replaced British stamps. These were followed up in 1924 by a series of 12 using the St. Helena design, but inscribed for Ascension. In 1934 a pictorial series of ten engraved stamps depicted various views of the island.
In 1938 the pictorials were re-issued with a portrait of George VI replacing his father's image. Various colour, perforation, and watermark changes ensued, with the last being issued in February 1953.
A new definitive series of 13 in 1956 resembled the previous stamps, but was a little taller, and used maps and pictures of native animals in addition to local scenes. No further stamps were issued until 1963, when there was a series of 14 featuring birds.
From 1963 on, commemorative and special issues started to appear more frequently; in the 1990s, typical policy was to issue 5-6 sets per year, each consisting of 4-5 designs.
References
- Ascension Island Government
- Siebert, L. and T. Simkin (2002-). Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information Series, GVP-3. URL: http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/
External links
de:Ascension es:Isla Ascensión fr:Ascension (île) gl:Illa de Ascensión nl:Ascension ja:アセンション島 no:Ascension pl:Wyspa Wniebowstąpienia pt:Ascensão sl:Ascension sv:Ascension zh:阿森松岛