View source for Tristan da Cunha

{{Short description|Group of islands in the South Atlantic}}
{{About|the South Atlantic island group|the Portuguese explorer|Tristão da Cunha}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox dependency
| name = Tristan da Cunha
| settlement_type = [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha|Constituent part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]]
| linking_name = Tristan da Cunha
| image_flag = Flag of Tristan da Cunha.svg
| flag_size = 130px
| flag_link = Flag of Tristan da Cunha
| image_seal = Coat of arms of Tristan da Cunha.svg
| seal_size = 80px
| seal_type = Coat of arms
| seal_link = Coat of arms of Tristan da Cunha
| motto = "Our faith is our strength"
| anthem = "[[God Save the King]]"{{Efn|"God Save the King" is the [[national anthem]] by custom, not statute, and there is no authorised version. Typically only the first verse is usually sung, although the second verse is also often sung as well at state and public events.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Anthem |url=https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/national-anthem |access-date=10 April 2024 |website=The Royal Family |archive-date=20 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520130352/https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/national-anthem |url-status=live }}</ref> The words ''King, he, him, his'', used at present, are replaced by ''Queen, she, her'' when the monarch is female.}}<br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:United States Navy Band - God Save the Queen.ogg|God Save the King / Queen <!-- Do not change file name due to computer error without ensuring that the file is playable. -->]]</div>
| image_map = Tristan Map.png
| mapsize = 290px
| map_alt = Map of Tristan da Cunha
| map_caption = Map of Tristan da Cunha
| image_map2 = {{Location map+ |South Atlantic
  |width      = 290
  |float      = center
  |caption    =
  |places     =
    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=Redpoint2.svg
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      |lat_deg=37 |lat_min=4 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=12 |lon_min=19 |lon_dir=W
  }}
    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=BSicon lHST.svg
      |marksize=3
      |lat_deg=37 |lat_min=4 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=12 |lon_min=19 |lon_dir=W
  }}
    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=BSicon lHST.svg
      |marksize=3
      |lat_deg=37 |lat_min=25 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=12 |lon_min=29 |lon_dir=W
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    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=BSicon lHST.svg
      |marksize=3
      |lat_deg=37 |lat_min=25 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=12 |lon_min=29 |lon_dir=W
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    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=BSicon lHST.svg
      |marksize=3
      |lat_deg=37 |lat_min=18 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=12 |lon_min=41 |lon_dir=W
  }}
    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=Redpoint2.svg
      |marksize=5
      |lat_deg= 40 |lat_min=19 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=9 |lon_min=56 |lon_dir=W
  }}
    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
      |mark=BSicon lHST.svg
      |marksize=3
      |lat_deg=40 |lat_min=19 |lat_dir=S |lon_deg=9 |lon_min=56 |lon_dir=W
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    {{Location map~ |South Atlantic
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}}
| mapsize2 = 290px
| map_alt2 = Location of Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the southern Atlantic Ocean
| map_caption2 = Location of Tristan da Cunha archipelago (circled in red) in the southern [[Atlantic Ocean]]
| subdivision_type = [[Sovereign state]]
| subdivision_name = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| established_title = First settlement
| established_date = 1810
| established_title2 = Dependency of [[Cape Colony]]
| established_date2 = 14 August 1816<ref name="Crawford1982">{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Allan |title=Tristan da Cunha and the Roaring Forties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fIuAQAAIAAJ |access-date=13 August 2013 |year=1982 |publisher=Charles Skilton |page=20 |isbn=9780284985897}}</ref>
| established_title3 = Dependency of Saint Helena
| established_date3 = 12 January 1938
| established_title4 =[[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha#Constitution|Current constitution]]
| established_date4 = 1 September 2009
| official_languages = [[English language|English]]
| capital = [[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|37|4|3|S|12|18|40|W|type:city}}
| largest_settlement = capital
| largest_settlement_type = largest settlement
| ethnic_groups = Tristanians (mostly of [[British people|British]] and [[Italian British|Italian]] descent)
| demonym = Tristanian
| government_type = [[Devolution|Devolved]] [[Local government|locally governing]] [[Dependent territory|dependency]] under a [[constitutional monarchy]]
| leader_title1 = [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Monarch]]
| leader_name1 = [[Charles III]]
| leader_title2 = [[Governor of Tristan da Cunha|Governor]]
| leader_name2 = [[Nigel Phillips]]
| leader_title3 = [[Administrator of Tristan da Cunha|Administrator]]
| leader_name3 = Philip Kendall<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2023-09-26-philipkendallasi.php |title=Philip Kendall sworn-in as Tristan Administrator |first=Richard |last=Grundy |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=2 October 2023 |archive-date=11 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011014324/https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2023-09-26-philipkendallasi.php |url-status=live}}</ref>
| leader_title4 = [[Tristan da Cunha Island Council|Chief Islander]]
| leader_name4 = [[Ian Lavarello]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=2025 Election Day |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2025-03-05-electionday.php |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.tristandc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>
| legislature = [[Tristan da Cunha Island Council|Island Council]]
| national_representation = [[Government of the United Kingdom]]
| national_representation_type1 = [[Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories|Minister]]
| national_representation1 = [[Stephen Doughty]]
| area_km2 = 207
| area_label2 = Main island
| area_data2 = {{cvt|98|km2|sqmi}}
| elevation_max_m = 2,062
| population_estimate = 238<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Population Update |first=Cynthia |last=Green |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=28 November 2019 |archive-date=28 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128111631/https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |url-status=live}}</ref>
| population_estimate_year = 2023
| population_estimate_rank =
| population_census = 293<ref name="census2016">{{cite web |url=http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Census-2016-summary-report.pdf |title=Census 2016 – summary report |publisher=St. Helena Government |page=9 |date=June 2016 |access-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192624/http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Census-2016-summary-report.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| population_census_year = 2016
| population_density_km2 = 1.4
| population_density_sq_mi = 3.7
| population_density_rank =
| currency = [[Pound sterling]] (£)
| currency_code = GBP
| timezone = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]
| utc_offset = ±00:00
| date_format = dd/mm/yyyy
| drives_on = left
| calling_code = +44 20 (''assigned [[Telephone numbers in Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha|+290]]'')
| postal_code_type = [[Postcodes in the United Kingdom#British Overseas Territories|UK postcode]]
| postal_code = TDCU 1ZZ
| iso_code = [[ISO 3166-2:SH|SH-TA]]
| cctld = {{hlist|[[.sh]]|[[.uk]]}}
}}
'''Tristan da Cunha''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|r|ɪ|s|t|ən|_|d|ə|_|ˈ|k|uː|n|(|j|)|ə}}), colloquially '''Tristan''', is a remote group of [[volcano|volcanic]] islands in the [[South Atlantic Ocean]]. It is one of three constituent parts of the [[British Overseas Territories|British Overseas Territory]] of [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]], with its own constitution.<ref name="Constitution">{{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1751/schedule/made |title=The St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 |year=2009 |website=The National Archives |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=11 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511202653/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1751/schedule/made |url-status=live}}</ref>

The territory consists of the inhabited island Tristan da Cunha, which has a diameter of roughly {{convert|11|km}} and an area of {{convert|98|km2}}; the wildlife reserves of [[Gough Island]] and [[Inaccessible Island]]; and the smaller, uninhabited [[Nightingale Islands]]. {{As of|October 2018}}, the main island had 250&nbsp;permanent inhabitants, who all hold [[British Overseas Territories citizen]]ship.<ref name="tristandc.com">{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Family News |url=https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |access-date=28 November 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121070744/https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |archive-date=21 November 2021}}</ref> The other islands are uninhabited, except for the South African personnel of a weather station on Gough Island.

As there is no [[airstrip]] on the island, the only way of travelling to or from Tristan is by ship. There are six-day journeys from [[Cape Town]], [[South Africa]], and some cruises offered departing from [[Ushuaia]], [[Argentina]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/tristan-da-cunha-a-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-ocean |title=Tristan da Cunha: a journey to the centre of the ocean |last=Corne |first=Lucy |website=Lonely Planet |access-date=9 April 2020 |archive-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605115824/https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/tristan-da-cunha-a-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-ocean |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
{{main|History of Tristan da Cunha}}

===Discovery===
[[File:Tristano da Acugna (Giovio Series) (cropped2).jpg|thumb|left|[[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] explorer and [[conquistador]] [[Tristão da Cunha]] is both the namesake of Tristan da Cunha and the first person to sight the island, in 1506.]]

The islands were first recorded as sighted in 1506 by [[Portugal|Portuguese]] explorer [[Tristão da Cunha]], though rough seas prevented a landing. He believed them to be uninhabited, and named the main island after himself, {{lang|pt|Ilha de Tristão da Cunha}}. It was later anglicised from its earliest mention on British [[Admiralty chart]]s to Tristan da Cunha Island. Some sources state that the Portuguese made the first landing in 1520, when ''Lás Rafael'', captained by Ruy Vaz Pereira, called at Tristan for water.<ref name="annals">{{cite book |url=http://www.tristan.it/TRISTAN/tristanlibri/tristan_annals.pdf |first1=Arnaldo |last1=Faustini |title=The Annals of Tristan da Cunha |date= 2003 |access-date=28 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510041635/http://www.tristan.it/TRISTAN/tristanlibri/tristan_annals.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2015 |url-status=live |editor1-first=Paul |editor1-last=Carrol |translator1-first=Liz |translator1-last=Nysven |translator2-first=Larry |translator2-last=Conrad |page=9}}</ref>

The first undisputed landing was made on 7&nbsp;February 1643 by the crew of the [[Dutch East India Company]] ship ''Heemstede,'' captained by Claes Gerritsz Bierenbroodspot. The Dutch stopped at the island four more times in the next 25{{nbsp}}years, and in 1656 created the first rough charts of the archipelago.<ref name=headland>{{cite book |last=Headland |first=J.K. |year=1989 |title=Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sg49AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA63 |access-date=28 December 2018 |isbn=9780521309035}}</ref>

The first full [[Geophysical survey|survey]] of the archipelago was made by the crew of the French [[corvette]] ''Heure du Berger'' in 1767. The first scientific exploration was conducted by French naturalist [[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars]], who stayed on the island for three days in January 1793, during a French mercantile expedition from [[Brest, France]], to [[Mauritius]]. Thouars made botanical collections and reported traces of human habitation, including [[fireplaces]] and overgrown [[gardens]], probably left by Dutch explorers in the 17th&nbsp;century.<ref name=headland/>

On his voyage out from Europe to East Africa and India in command of the [[Austrian East India Company|Imperial Asiatic Company of Trieste and Antwerp]] ship, ''Joseph and Theresa'', [[William Bolts]] sighted Tristan da Cunha, put a landing party ashore on 2&nbsp;February 1777 and hoisted the Imperial flag, naming it and its neighbouring islets the Brabant Islands.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nicolaus |last=Fontana |title=Tagebuch der Reise des k.k. Schiffes Joseph und Theresia nach den neuen österreichischen Pflanzorten in Asia und Afrika |translator-first=Joseph |translator-last=Eyerel |place=Dessau und Leipzig |year=1782}}<br />re-published as {{cite book |editor-first=G. |editor-last=Pilleri |title=Maria Teresa e le Indie orientali: La spedizione alle Isole Nicobare della nave Joseph und Theresia e il diario del chirurgo di bordo |place=Bern, CH |publisher=Verlag de hirnanatomischen Institutes |year=1982 |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Guillaume |last=Bolts |title=Précis de l'Origine, de la Marche et de la Chûte de la Compagnie d'Asie et d'Afrique dans les Ports du Littoral Autrichien |place=Liege |year=1785 |page=14}}<br />cited in {{cite book |first=Ernest Jean |last=van Bruyssel |title=Histoire du commerce et de la marine en Belgique |place=Bruxelles |year=1865 |volume=3 |pages=295–299}}<br />and cited in {{cite book |first=Jan |last=Brander |title=Tristan da Cunha, 1506–1902 |place=London|publisher=Unwin |year=1940 |pages=49–50}}<br />and cited in article {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Biographie nationale ... de Belgique |place=Bruxelles |year=1905 |title=Charles Proli}}</ref> However, no settlement or facilities were ever set up there by the company.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

After the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War]] halted [[penal transportation]] to the [[Thirteen Colonies]], British prisons started to overcrowd. As several stopgap measures proved to be ineffective, the British Government announced in December&nbsp;1785 that it would proceed with the settlement of [[New South Wales]]. In September&nbsp;1786 [[Alexander Dalrymple]], presumably goaded by Bolts's actions, published a pamphlet<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Alexander Dalrymple |first=A. |last=Dalrymple |title=A Serious Admonition to the Publick on the Intended Thief Colony at Botany Bay |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-19515009/view?partId=nla.obj-19595227#page/n2/mode/1up |page=2 |id=NLA part ID 19595227 |via=National Library of Australia |place=London |publisher=Sewell}}</ref> with an alternative proposal of his own for settlements on Tristan da Cunha, [[Île Saint-Paul|St.&nbsp;Paul]] and [[Île Amsterdam|Amsterdam]] islands in the Southern Ocean.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Captain [[John Blankett]], [[Royal Navy|R.N.]], also suggested independently to his superiors in August&nbsp;1786 that convicts be used to establish a British settlement on Tristan.{{refn|{{cite letter |last=Blankett |first=John |author-link=John Blankett |recipient=Howe |subject=[settlement on Tristan da Cunha] |date=6 August 1786 |publisher=National Maritime Museum |place=Greenwich |id=HOW 3}}<br />cited in Frost (1980)<ref name=Frost_1980/>{{rp|pages=119,216}}}} In consequence, the Admiralty received orders from the government in October 1789 to examine the island as part of a general survey of the South Atlantic and the coasts of southern Africa.{{refn|{{cite letter |last=Grenville |recipient=Admiralty Lords |subject=[general survey of the South Atlantic] |date=3 October 1789 |publisher=Public Record Office |id=ADM 1/4154: 43}}<br />cited in Frost (1980)<ref name=Frost_1980>{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Frost |title=Convicts & Empire: A naval question, 1776–1811 |place=Melbourne |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1980}}</ref>{{rp|pages=148, 220}}}} That did not happen, but an investigation of Tristan, Amsterdam and St. Paul was undertaken in December&nbsp;1792 and January&nbsp;1793 by [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|George Macartney]], Britain's first ambassador to China. During his voyage to China, he established that none of the islands were suitable for settlement.<ref>{{cite book |first=Helen H. |last=Robbins |title=Our First Ambassador to China |place=London |publisher=Murray |year=1908 |pages=197–210}}</ref>

===19th century===

The first permanent settler was [[Jonathan Lambert (sailor)|Jonathan Lambert]] of [[Salem, Massachusetts]], United States, who arrived in December&nbsp;1810 with two other men, later joined by a fourth.<ref name=mackay>{{cite book |last=Mackay |first=Margaret |year=1963 |title=Angry Island: The Story of Tristan da Cunha, 1506–1963 |location=London |publisher=Arthur Barker |page=30}}</ref> Lambert declared the islands his property and named them the ''Islands of Refreshment''. Three of the four men died in 1812, leaving [[Thomas Currie (settler)|Thomas Currie]] (Tommaso Corri, from [[Livorno]], [[Italy]]) as the sole survivor, who remained as a farmer on the island.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tristan d'Acunha, etc.: Jonathan Lambert, late Sovereign thereof |magazine=Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine |volume=4 |issue=21 |date=Dec 1818 |pages=280–285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tt_QAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books}}</ref>

On 14&nbsp;August&nbsp;1816, the United Kingdom [[Annexation|annexed]] the islands by dispatching a garrison to secure possession, making them a dependency of the [[Cape Colony]] in South Africa. This was intended to prevent the islands' use as a base for any attempt to free [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] from his imprisonment on [[Saint Helena]].<ref name=Roberts1/> The occupation also deterred the United States from using Tristan da Cunha as a base for naval [[cruiser]]s, as it had during the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=mackay/> The garrison departed in November&nbsp;1817, though some members, notably [[William Glass]], stayed and formed the nucleus of a permanent population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Flower |first=Robin |date=May 1935 |title=Tristan da Cunha Records |journal=[[British Museum Quarterly|The British Museum Quarterly]] |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=121–123 |doi=10.2307/4421742 |jstor=4421742}}</ref>

[[File:Augustus Earle, (Self Portrait) Solitude, Tristan da Cunha, 1824.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Augustus Earle, ''(Self Portrait) Solitude, watching the horizon at sun set, in the hopes of seeing a vessel, Tristan de Acunha (i.e. da Cunha)'', (1824), watercolour; {{cvt|17.5|x|25.7|cm}}. [[National Library of Australia]]]]
{{Quote box
| quote = "On the fifteenth of July, the snow-clad mountains of Tristan da Cunha appeared, lighted by a brilliant morning-sun, and towering to a height estimated at between nine and ten thousand feet."<ref name=Roberts1>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Edmund |title=Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat |year=1837 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |page=33 |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7317/view/1/33/ |access-date=11 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012040501/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7317/view/1/33/ |archive-date=12 October 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| source = [[Edmund Roberts (diplomat)|Edmund Roberts]], ''Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat'' (1837)
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| width = 20%
}}

The artist [[Augustus Earle]] was stranded on Tristan da Cunha for eight months in 1824. His ship, the aging ''Duke of Gloucester'', anchored there due to a storm and sailed without him and a crew member. Earle tutored local children and painted until his supplies ran out, before being rescued in November by {{ship||Admiral Cockburn|1814 ship|2}} en route to Hobart.

By 1824, a small civilian community had developed alongside the British Marines' garrison. When {{ship||Berwick|1795 ship|2}} stopped there on 25&nbsp;March&nbsp;1824, it reported twenty-two men and three women. The barque ''South Australia'' visited between 18 and 20&nbsp;February&nbsp;1836, when a Mr.&nbsp;Glass was described as the settlement’s governor.<ref>{{cite book |first=W. H. |last=Leigh |title=Travels and Adventures in South Australia |place=London |orig-year=1839 |edition=facsimile |publisher=The Currawong Press |year=1982}}</ref> That same year, the schooner ''Emily'' was wrecked there; one survivor, Dutch fisherman Pieter Groen from [[Katwijk]], remained, married, and changed his name to Peter Green. He later became spokesman (governor) of the community in 1865. By 1856, the population had grown to 97 residents.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

A resident [[parson]] arrived in February&nbsp;1851, and the Bishop of Cape Town visited in March&nbsp;1856, formally including Tristan within the Diocese of Cape Town.<ref>Jan Brander, ''Tristan da Cunha, 1506–1902,'' London, Unwin, 1940.</ref>{{rp|63–50}}

In 1867, [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh]], second son of [[Queen Victoria]], visited the islands. The only settlement was renamed [[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]] in his honour.{{efn|The visit took place during the Duke of Edinburgh's [[circumnavigation]] while commanding HMS ''Galatea''. Tristan da Cunha issued four stamps in 1967 to mark the centenary of the visit.<ref>{{cite book |author=Courtney, Nicholas |year=2004 |title=The Queen's Stamps |isbn=0-413-77228-4 |page=28 |publisher=Methuen}}</ref>}} On 15&nbsp;October&nbsp;1873, the Royal Navy survey vessel [[HMS Challenger (1858)|HMS ''Challenger'']] called at Tristan to conduct geographic and zoological surveys on the island group.<ref name=thomson>{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=C. Wyville |year=1885 |title=Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873–76 |location=London |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |pages=240–252 |url=https://archive.org/details/reportonscientif02grearich/page/240 |access-date=28 December 2018}}</ref> Captain [[George Nares]] recorded fifteen families and eighty-six inhabitants at that time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foraminifera.eu/challenger135.php |title=H.M.S. Challenger Station 135, Tristan da Cunha |access-date=29 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214141940/http://foraminifera.eu/challenger135.php}}</ref> Tristan became a dependency of the [[The Crown|British Crown]] in October&nbsp;1875.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14123532 |title=St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha profiles |date=14 May 2018 |access-date=12 January 2020 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317092054/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14123532 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Whalers established bases on the islands during the mid-19th century, but the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869 and the transition from sail to coal-fired steamships increased Tristan’s isolation. The islands were no longer needed as a stopover point for long sailing voyages or as a haven on routes from Europe to East Asia.<ref name=mackay/>

{{Main|Tristan da Cunha lifeboat disaster}}
{{Quote box
| quote =
'''Victims of the 1885 Lifeboat Disaster:'''
* Joe Beetham
* Thomas & Cornelius Cotton
* Thomas Glass
* John, William & Alfred Green
* Jacob, William & Jeremiah Green
* Albert, James & William Hagan
* Samuel & Thomas Swain
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On 27&nbsp;November&nbsp;1885, the island suffered one of its worst tragedies when the iron [[barque]] ''West Riding'', en route from [[Bristol]] to [[Sydney, Australia|Sydney]], approached the island.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |title=The Lifeboat Disaster |url=https://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201512.php |url-status=dead |access-date=18 April 2021 |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |archive-date=4 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604195332/https://tristandc.com/po/stamps201512.php}}</ref> Because trading opportunities were rare, almost all able-bodied men launched a [[Lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]] to trade with the ship despite rough seas. The lifeboat, recently donated by the British government, was last seen sailing alongside the ''West Riding'' before disappearing. Reports varied—some claimed the men drowned,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=Tristan da Cunha Isolation & Hardship 1853–1942 |url=https://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php |date=9 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227075753/https://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php |archive-date=27 February 2021 |access-date=18 April 2021 |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association}}</ref> while others speculated they were taken to Australia and sold as slaves.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |title=The Lifeboat Disaster |url=https://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201512.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124234904/http://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201512.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 November 2015 |access-date=18 April 2021 |website=www.tristandc.com}}</ref> Fifteen men were lost, leaving behind an island of widows. A plaque in [[St. Mary's Church, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas|St&nbsp;Mary’s Church]] commemorates the tragedy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glass |first=Conrad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90yYAgAAQBAJ&q=tristan+st+marys+plaque+lifeboat&pg=PT143 |title=Rockhopper Copper |date=2014 |publisher=Polperro Heritage Press |isbn=978-0-9530012-3-1}}</ref>

===20th century===

====Hard winter of 1906====
After years of hardship since the 1880s and an especially difficult winter in 1906, the British government offered to evacuate the island in 1907. The Tristanians held a meeting and decided to refuse, despite the government's warning that it could not promise further help in the future.<ref name=annals/>

====Occasional pre-war visits====
No ships called at the islands from 1909 until 1919, when [[HMS Yarmouth (1911)|HMS ''Yarmouth'']] stopped to inform the islanders of the outcome of [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Isolation & Hardship 1853–1942 |website=Tristan da Cunha |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |url=http://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php |access-date=1 January 2019 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115092129/http://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]] stopped in Tristan for five days in May&nbsp;1922, collecting geological and botanical samples before returning to [[Cape Town]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.tristan.it/TRISTAN/tristanlibri/tristan_annals.pdf |first1=Arnaldo |last1=Faustini |title=The Annals of Tristan da Cunha |date=14 September 2003 |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510041635/http://www.tristan.it/TRISTAN/tristanlibri/tristan_annals.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2015 |url-status=live |editor1-first=Paul |editor1-last=Carrol |translator1-first=Liz |translator1-last=Nysven |translator2-first=Larry |translator2-last=Conrad |page=58}}</ref> Among the few ships that visited in the coming years were the [[RMS Asturias (1925)|RMS ''Asturias'']], a [[Royal Mail Steam Packet Company]] passenger liner, in 1927, and the [[CP Ships|Canadian Pacific]] ocean liners [[RMS Empress of France (1928)|RMS ''Empress of France'']] in 1928,<ref name=Stamps>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Stamps |date=8 December 2015 |website=Tristan da Cunha |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |url=http://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201517.php |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201123718/https://tristandc.com/po/stamps201517.php |url-status=live}}</ref> {{RMS|Duchess of Atholl}} in 1929,<ref>{{cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |date=12 November 2018 |title=Tristan da Cunha News: 1920s Lantern Slides of Tristan for Sale on eBay |website=Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-11-12-eBay-slides.php |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227095052/https://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-11-12-eBay-slides.php |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[RMS Empress of Australia (1919)|RMS ''Empress of Australia'']] in 1935.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lawrence |first=Nigel |date=8 August 2017 |title=Tristan da Cunha |magazine=Shipping Today & Yesterday Magazine |url=https://www.shippingtandy.com/features/tristan-da-cunha/ |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331232121/https://www.shippingtandy.com/features/tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Outgoing Ship Mail |id=Sale 4010 – Web / Internet |publisher=Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions LLC |url=http://www.kelleherauctions.com/php/chap_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=4010&chapter=84&page=1 |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116100452/http://www.kelleherauctions.com/php/chap_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=4010&chapter=84&page=1 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1936, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' of London reported that the population of the island was 167&nbsp;people, with 185&nbsp;cattle and 42&nbsp;horses.<ref name=ken>{{cite book |last=Wollenberg |first=Ken |year=2000 |title=The Bottom of the Map |location=Bloomington, Indiana |publisher=Xlibris |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;XI: Tristan da Cunha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQOLAAAAQBAJ |access-date=28 December 2018 |isbn=9781453565759}}{{self-published source|date=December 2018}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2018}}

From December&nbsp;1937 to March&nbsp;1938, a [[Norway|Norwegian]] party made [[Norwegian Scientific Expedition to Tristan Da Cunha 1937-1938|a dedicated scientific expedition]] to Tristan da Cunha, and sociologist [[Peter A. Munch]] extensively documented island culture; he visited the island again in 1964–1965.<ref>{{cite web |title=Results of the Norwegian scientific expedition to Tristan da Cunha, 1937–1938 |year=1945 |url=http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/8301 |website=Our Heritage |publisher=University of Otago |access-date=3 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929002730/http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/8301 |archive-date=29 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The island was also visited in 1938 by [[W. Robert Foran]], reporting for the [[National Geographic Society]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Evans |first=Andrew |date=22 April 2011 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |title=Holy Grail |series=Travel |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/digital-nomad/2011/04/22/holy-grail/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116100352/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/digital-nomad/2011/04/22/holy-grail/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 January 2019 |access-date=2 January 2019}}</ref> His account was published that same year.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Foran, W.R. |author-link=W. Robert Foran |date=November 1938 |title=Tristan da Cunha, isles of contentment |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |pages=671–694}}</ref>

On 12&nbsp;January 1938 by [[letters patent]], Britain declared the islands a dependency of [[Saint Helena]], creating the [[Crown colony|British Crown Colony]] of [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha|Saint Helena and Dependencies]], which also included [[Ascension Island]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Royal gifts gladden 172 on lonely Atlantic island |date=24 March 1935 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |place=New York |at=second news section, p.&nbsp;N4 |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50716FC355B107A93C6AB1788D85F418385F9&scp=4&sq=R.M.S.%20and%20Canadian%20Pacific&st=cse |url-status=live |access-date=15 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127204633/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50716FC355B107A93C6AB1788D85F418385F9&scp=4&sq=R.M.S.%20and%20Canadian%20Pacific&st=cse |archive-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Gough and Inaccessible Islands-113067.jpg|thumb|[[Gough and Inaccessible Islands]] are a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].]]

====World War II military development====
During the [[Second World War]], Tristan was commissioned by the [[Royal Navy]] as the so-called "[[stone frigate]]" {{HMS|Atlantic Isle}} and used as a secret [[signals intelligence]] station, to monitor [[Germany|German]] [[U-boat]]s (which were required to maintain radio contact) and shipping in the South [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The weather and radio stations led to extensive new infrastructure being built on the island, including a school, a hospital, and a cash-based general store.<ref name=joining/>

The first colonial official sent to rule the island was [[Sir Hugh Elliott]] in the rank of administrator (because the settlement was too small to merit a governor) 1950–1953.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} Development continued as the island's first canning factory expanded paid employment in 1949.<ref name=joining>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha joining the modern world 1942–1961 |website=Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.tristandc.com/history1942-1961.php |access-date=28 December 2018 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115092758/http://www.tristandc.com/history1942-1961.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Rare post-war ship visits====
[[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]], [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]]'s [[Prince consort|consort]], visited the islands in 1957 as part of a world tour on board the royal yacht [[HMY Britannia|HMY ''Britannia'']].<ref>{{cite web |title=H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh's Antarctic tour. January&nbsp;1957 |publisher=Imperial War Museum |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205164053 |access-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702150756/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205164053 |archive-date=2 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 2 January 1954, Tristan da Cunha was visited by the Dutch ship ''[[MS Achille Lauro|Willem Ruys]]'', a [[passenger-cargo liner]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Single ship report |id=5302635 |website=Miramar Ship Index |publisher=R.B. Haworth |location=Wellington, NZ |url=https://www.miramarshipindex.nz/ship/5302635 |access-date=22 December 2020 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> carrying science fiction writer [[Robert A. Heinlein]], his wife Ginny and other passengers. The ''Ruys'' was travelling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Cape Town, South Africa. The visit is described in Heinlein's book ''[[Tramp Royale]]''. The captain told Heinlein the island was the most isolated inhabited spot on Earth and ships rarely visited. Heinlein mailed a letter from there to [[L. Ron Hubbard]], a friend who also liked to travel, "for the curiosity value of the postmark". Biographer William H. Patterson Jr. in his two volume ''Robert A. Heinlein In Dialogue with his Century'', wrote that lack of "cultural context" made it "nearly impossible to converse" with the islanders, "a stark contrast with the way they had managed to chat with strangers" while travelling in South America. Members of the crew bought penguins during their brief visit to the island.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

====1961 eruption of Queen Mary's Peak====
On 10 October 1961, the eruption of a [[parasitic cone]] of [[Queen Mary's Peak]], very close to Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, forced evacuation of all 264&nbsp;people.<ref>{{cite gvp |name=Tristan da Cunha |vn=386010 |access-date=25 June 2021}}</ref><ref name=travel>{{cite web |title=A voyage to Tristan da Cunha |url=http://oxhc.co.uk/A-Voyage-to-Tristan.asp |access-date=29 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911070030/http://oxhc.co.uk/A-Voyage-to-Tristan.asp |archive-date=11 September 2016}}</ref> The evacuees took to the water in open boats, taken by the local lobster-fishing boats ''Tristania'' and ''Frances Repetto'' to uninhabited [[Nightingale Island]].<ref name=Life>{{cite magazine |last=Griggs |first=Lee |date=10 November 1961 |title=Violent end for a lonely island |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |volume=51 |issue=19 |pages=21–22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4VMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 |access-date=31 October 2020}}</ref>

The next day, they were picked up by the diverted Dutch passenger ship ''Tjisadane'' that took them to [[Cape Town]].<ref name=Life/> The islanders later arrived in the U.K. aboard the liner [[MV Stirling Castle|M.V. ''Stirling Castle'']] to a big press reception and, after a short period at Pendell Army Camp in [[Merstham]], [[Surrey]], were settled in an old [[Royal Air Force]] camp near [[Calshot]], [[Hampshire]].<ref name=travel/><ref name=BDP04111961>{{cite news |title=Refugees from Tristan |date=4 November 1961 |newspaper=[[Birmingham Daily Post]] |issue=32151 |page=26 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002134/19611104/625/0026 |access-date=1 November 2020 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The following year, a [[Royal Society]] expedition reported that Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had survived. Most families returned in 1963.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gila |first=Oscar Alvarez |title=Refugees for the media, evacuees for the government: The 1961 Tristan da Cunha volcano eruption and its displaced inhabitants |magazine=Global Change and Resilience |place=Brno, Czech Republic |url=https://www.academia.edu/5748318}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

====Gough and Inaccessible Islands wildlife reserves====
[[File:Cleaning oil off penguins after the spillage from the MS Oliva, Tristan da Cunha (7413022602).jpg|thumb|Cleaning oil off penguins after the spillage from the MS ''Oliva'', Tristan da Cunha]]

[[Gough Island]] was inscribed as a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] in 1995 as Gough Island Wildlife Reserve.<ref>{{cite web |title=UNESCO Committee Decision |year=2004 |id=28COM 14B.17 |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/100 |access-date=12 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103004930/https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/100 |archive-date=3 January 2019}}</ref> This was further extended in 2004 as [[Gough and Inaccessible Islands]], with its marine zone extended from 3 to 12&nbsp;nautical miles.

These islands have been [[Ramsar site]]s – wetlands of international importance – since 20&nbsp;November 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gough Island |website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service |url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1868 |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-date=30 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530035352/https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1868 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Inaccessible Island |website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service |url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1869 |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407015327/https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1869 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===21st century===
[[File:Tristan da Cunha, British overseas territory-20March2012.jpg|thumb|Tristan da Cunha in 2012]]

On 23&nbsp;May 2001, the islands were hit by an [[extratropical cyclone]] that generated winds up to {{convert|120|mph|kph|order=flip}}. A number of structures were severely damaged, and numerous cattle were killed, prompting emergency aid provided by the British government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1311749/120-mph-storm-devastates-Tristan-da-Cunha.html |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |first=Sandra |last=Barwick |title=120 mph storm devastates Tristan da Cunha |date=7 June 2001 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522131515/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1311749/120-mph-storm-devastates-Tristan-da-Cunha.html |archive-date=22 May 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2005, the islands were given a United Kingdom [[post code]] (TDCU 1ZZ), to make it easier for the residents to order goods online.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 August 2005 |title=First postcode for remote UK isle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4129636.stm |access-date=11 June 2020 |archive-date=11 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611064747/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4129636.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 13&nbsp;February 2008, a fire destroyed the island's four power generators and fish canning factory, severely disrupting the economy. On 14&nbsp;March 2008, new generators were installed and power restored, and a new factory opened in July&nbsp;2009. While the replacement factory was built, [[MY Titanic|M/V ''Kelso'']] came to the island as a [[factory ship]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Factory Fire on 13&nbsp;February 2008 |publisher=The Tristan da Cunha Website |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newsfactoryfire.php |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308101526/https://www.tristandc.com/newsfactoryfire.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Building a 21st&nbsp;century Tristan fishing factory |publisher=The Tristan da Cunha website |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newsfishfactorybuilding.php |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818012229/https://www.tristandc.com/newsfishfactorybuilding.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The St.&nbsp;Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 reorganized Tristan da Cunha as a constituent of the new British Overseas Territory of [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]], giving Tristan and Ascension equal status with Saint Helena.<ref name="Constitution"/>

On 16&nbsp;March 2011, the freighter {{Ship|MS|Oliva|}} ran aground on [[Nightingale Island]], spilling tons of heavy fuel oil into the ocean. The resulting oil slick threatened the island's population of [[rockhopper penguin]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=MS Oliva runs aground on Nightingale Island |publisher=The Tristan da Cunha Website |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newsmsoliva.php |access-date=23 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525021810/http://www.tristandc.com/newsmsoliva.php |archive-date=25 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nightingale Island has no fresh water, so the penguins were transported to Tristan da Cunha for cleaning.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9438000/9438609.stm |work=BBC News |title=Oil-soaked rockhopper penguins in rehabilitation |access-date=28 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903053051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9438000/9438609.stm |archive-date=3 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 13 November 2020, it was announced that the {{convert|687247|km2|sqmi}} of the waters surrounding the islands will become a [[Marine protected area|Marine Protection Zone]]. The move will make the zone the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet. The move follows 20 years of conservation work by the [[RSPB]] and the island government and five years of the UK government's Blue Belt programme support.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Richard |last1=Grundy |access-date=13 November 2020 |title=Tristan's Marine Protection Zone Announced |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2020-11-12-mpzgov13nov2020.php |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=13 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113043130/https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2020-11-12-mpzgov13nov2020.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |access-date=13 November 2020 |title=UK Overseas Territory becomes one of the world's biggest sanctuaries for wildlife |url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/tristan-da-cunha-mpa/ |website=The RSPB |archive-date=13 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113075133/https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/tristan-da-cunha-mpa/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

A total [[solar eclipse]] will pass over the island [[Solar eclipse of December 5, 2048|on 5&nbsp;December 2048]]. The island is calculated to be on the centre line of the umbra's path for nearly three and a half minutes of totality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=20481205 |title=Total Solar Eclipse of 2048 December 05 |publisher=Eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov |access-date=11 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111022252/http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=20481205 |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Settlement on Tristan (7089086383).jpg|thumb|725x725px|[[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]], the only settlement on the island. The parasitic cone from the 1961 eruption can be seen in the foreground, centre left.]]
{{clear}}

==Geography==
{{main|Geography of Tristan da Cunha}}
[[File:Gough island top view.png|thumb|[[Gough Island]], Tristan da Cunha]]

Tristan da Cunha is thought to have been formed by a long-lived centre of upwelling mantle called the [[Tristan hotspot]]. Tristan da Cunha is the main island of the Tristan da Cunha [[archipelago]], which consists of the following islands:<ref>{{cite web |year=2007 |title=Tristan da Cunha Overview |url=https://www.islandstudies.com/files/2016/11/Tristan-da-Cunha.pdf |access-date=2025-08-26 |publisher=Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island |format=PDF}}</ref>

* Tristan da Cunha, the main and largest island, area: {{convert|98|km2|sqmi|1}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/tristan-da-cunha-1435571 |website=ThoughtCo |title=Tristan da Cunha |last=Rosenberg |first=Mark |date=6 March 2017 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524054103/https://www.thoughtco.com/tristan-da-cunha-1435571 |url-status=live}}</ref> ({{coord|37|6|54|S|12|17|6|W|type:isle|name=Tristan da Cunha}})
* [[Inaccessible Island]], area: {{cvt|14|km2|sqmi|1}}
* [[Nightingale Islands]], area: {{cvt|3.4|km2|sqmi|1}}
** [[Nightingale Island]], area: {{cvt|3.2|km2|sqmi|1}}
** [[Middle Island, Tristan da Cunha|Middle Island]], area: {{cvt|0.1|km2|acre|0}}
** [[Stoltenhoff Island]], area: {{cvt|0.1|km2|acre|0}}
* [[Gough Island]] (''Diego Alvarez''), area: {{cvt|91|km2|sqmi|0}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sanap.ac.za/sanap_gough/sanap_gough.html |title=Gough Island |publisher=South African National Antarctic Programme |access-date=25 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230015511/http://www.sanap.ac.za/sanap_gough/sanap_gough.html |archive-date=30 December 2008}}</ref>

Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands are {{convert|35|km|mi|0}} [[boxing the compass|SW by W and SSW]] away from the main island, respectively, whereas Gough Island is {{convert|350|km|mi|0}} SSE.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Outer Islands |url=https://www.tristandc.com/mapgroup.php |access-date=3 September 2020 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=1 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901222639/https://www.tristandc.com/mapgroup.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Tristanfromspace.jpg|thumb|Tristan da Cunha on 6 February 2012, as seen from the International Space Station]]
The main island is generally mountainous. The only flat area is on the north-west coast, which is the location of the only settlement, [[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]], and the agricultural area of [[Potato Patches]]. The highest point is the summit of a volcano called [[Queen Mary's Peak]] at an elevation of {{convert|2062|m|ft|0}}, high enough to develop snow cover in winter. The other islands of the group are uninhabited, except for a weather station with a staff of six on Gough Island, which has been operated by [[South Africa]] since 1956 and has been at its present location at Transvaal Bay on the southeast coast since 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/gough.php |website=Tristan da Cunha |title=Tristan da Cunha Gough Island |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803135555/https://www.tristandc.com/gough.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dxnews.com/zd9a_gough/ |website=DX News |title=ZD9A Gough Island |date=23 June 2016 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=14 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514091825/https://dxnews.com/zd9a_gough/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:View on Tristan da Cunha.jpg|thumb|center|1000x1000px|View of Tristan da Cunha]]

===Climate===
The archipelago has a Cfb, wet [[oceanic climate]], under the [[Köppen climate classification|Köppen system]], with mild temperatures and very limited sunshine but consistent moderate-to-heavy rainfall due to the persistent westerly winds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kottek |first1=M. |first2=J. |last2=Grieser |first3=C. |last3=Beck |first4=B. |last4=Rudolf |first5=F. |last5=Rubel |date=2006 |title=World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated |journal=Meteorologische Zeitschrift |volume=15 |number=3 |pages=259–263 |doi=10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130 |bibcode=2006MetZe..15..259K |url=http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/pdf/Paper_2006.pdf |access-date=18 May 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601115854/http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/pdf/Paper_2006.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Under the [[Trewartha climate classification|Trewartha classification]], Tristan da Cunha has a [[humid subtropical climate]] due to the lack of cold weather. The number of rainy days is comparable to the [[Aleutian Islands]] at a much higher latitude in the northern hemisphere, while sunshine hours are comparable to [[Juneau, Alaska]], 20° farther from the equator. Frost is unknown below elevations of {{convert|500|m|ft|-2}}, and summer temperatures are similarly mild, never reaching {{convert|25|C|F|0}}. [[Sandy Point, Tristan da Cunha|Sandy Point]] on the east coast is reputed to be the warmest and driest place on the island, being in the lee of the [[prevailing wind]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/sandypoint.php |website=Tristan da Cunha |title=Tristan da Cunha Sandy Point |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102181952/https://www.tristandc.com/sandypoint.php |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Weather box
| location = Tristan da Cunha
| Apr rain days = 20
| May humidity = 78
| Apr humidity = 78
| Mar humidity = 75
| Feb humidity = 77
| Jan humidity = 79
| Dec rain days = 19
| Nov rain days = 18
| Oct rain days = 22
| Sep rain days = 24
| Aug rain days = 26
| Jul rain days = 25
| Jun rain days = 23
| May rain days = 23
| Mar rain days = 17
| Jul humidity = 79
| Feb rain days = 17
| Jan rain days = 18
| rain colour = green
| Dec rain mm = 127
| Nov rain mm = 128
| Oct rain mm = 151
| Sep rain mm = 169
| Aug rain mm = 175
| Jul rain mm = 160
| Jun rain mm = 160
| May rain mm = 155
| Apr rain mm = 129
| Mar rain mm = 121
| Feb rain mm = 113
| Jan rain mm = 93
| Jun humidity = 79
| Aug humidity = 79
| Dec record low C = 9.7
| Jan percentsun = 31
| source 2 = Climate and Temperature<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.climatetemp.info/tristan-da-cunha/ |title=Tristan Da Cunha Climate Guide to the Average Weather & Temperatures with Graphs Elucidating Sunshine and Rainfall Data & Information about Wind Speeds & Humidity |date=March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117211803/http://www.climatetemp.info/tristan-da-cunha/ |archive-date=17 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/wildclimate.php |title=Tristan da Cunha's Climate |access-date=7 January 2018 |archive-date=7 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207093000/https://www.tristandc.com/wildclimate.php/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
| source 1 = Worldwide Bioclimatic Classification System<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalbioclimatics.org/station/so-trist.htm |title=South Africa: Tristan Da Cunha |date=March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426191925/http://www.globalbioclimatics.org/station/so-trist.htm |archive-date=26 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| Dec percentsun = 29
| Nov percentsun = 32
| Oct percentsun = 33
| Sep percentsun = 33
| Aug percentsun = 32
| Jul percentsun = 34
| Jun percentsun = 34
| May percentsun = 35
| Apr percentsun = 38
| Mar percentsun = 38
| Feb percentsun = 35
| Dec sun = 130.2
| Sep humidity = 78
| Nov sun = 138.0
| Oct sun = 133.3
| Sep sun = 120.0
| Aug sun = 105.4
| Jul sun = 105.4
| Jun sun = 99.0
| May sun = 108.5
| Apr sun = 129.0
| Mar sun = 145.7
| Feb sun = 144.0
| Jan sun = 139.5
| Dec humidity = 80
| Nov humidity = 79
| Oct humidity = 79
| year record low C = 4.6
| Nov record low C = 8.3
| metric first = yes
| Feb high C = 21.2
| Feb mean C = 18.8
| Jan mean C = 17.9
| year high C = 17.3
| Dec high C = 18.9
| Nov high C = 17.0
| Oct high C = 15.4
| Sep high C = 14.3
| Aug high C = 14.2
| Jul high C = 14.4
| Jun high C = 15.3
| May high C = 16.9
| Apr high C = 18.9
| Mar high C = 20.5
| Jan high C = 20.4
| Apr mean C = 15.4
| year record high C = 24.4
| Dec record high C = 21.8
| Nov record high C = 20.4
| Oct record high C = 18.4
| Sep record high C = 17.1
| Aug record high C = 17.3
| Jul record high C = 17.8
| Jun record high C = 18.7
| May record high C = 20.3
| Apr record high C = 22.4
| Mar record high C = 24.4
| Feb record high C = 24.4
| Jan record high C = 23.7
| single line = yes
| Mar mean C = 17.9
| May mean C = 14.6
| Oct record low C = 6.4
| Sep low C = 9.7
| Sep record low C = 5.1
| Aug record low C = 4.6
| Jul record low C = 4.8
| Jun record low C = 6.3
| May record low C = 7.4
| Apr record low C = 9.5
| Mar record low C = 10.3
| Feb record low C = 11.8
| Jan record low C = 10.9
| year low C = 12.4
| Dec low C = 14.1
| Nov low C = 12.2
| Oct low C = 10.6
| Aug low C = 9.6
| Jun mean C = 13.1
| Jul low C = 10.0
| Jun low C = 10.9
| May low C = 12.3
| Apr low C = 11.9
| Mar low C = 15.3
| Feb low C = 16.2
| Jan low C = 15.4
| year mean C = 14.8
| Dec mean C = 16.5
| Nov mean C = 14.6
| Oct mean C = 13.0
| Sep mean C = 12.0
| Aug mean C = 11.9
| Jul mean C = 12.2
| date = August 2010
}}

==Geology==
Tristan, along with its neighbouring islands, lies about 400&nbsp;km east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The volcanic activity is unrelated to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; rather, it is due to a hotspot.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mcee.ou.edu/bweaver/Ascension/tdc-geol.htm |title=Tristan da Cunha |website=mcee.ou.edu |access-date=25 November 2023 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007012603/http://mcee.ou.edu/bweaver/Ascension/tdc-geol.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>
The steep central cone (The Peak) predominantly is composed of pyroclastic deposits erupted from the central vent. The Base and Main Cliffs are composed mainly of thin basaltic lava flows, commonly separated by thin pyroclastic layers. There are over 30 cinder cones on the flanks of the main volcano, many of which have produced small lava flows. The October 1961 eruption was preceded by earthquake swarms and rock falls from the Main Cliffs, then lava was erupted on the plain immediately east of the settlement. The growing lava mound breached and lava flows were erupted toward the coast. As the eruption waned, an elongate lava dome grew and sealed the vent.

Inaccessible Island, 35&nbsp;km southwest of Tristan, is the relic of an older volcanic cone. Most of the island is composed of basaltic lava flows, but the southwestern part of Inaccessible has numerous trachyte domes and flows.
Nightingale Island, and nearby Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands, are 34&nbsp;km south-southwest of Tristan. Nightingale mostly is composed of trachyte domes and flows, with some pyroclastic deposits. Middle Island is entirely composed of pyroclastic deposits (intruded by dykes), whereas Stoltenhoff Island is entirely composed of trachyte.

The island is located in the [[South Atlantic Anomaly]], an area of the Earth with an abnormally weak magnetic field. On 14&nbsp;November 2008 a geomagnetic observatory was inaugurated on the island as part of a joint venture between the [[Danish Meteorological Institute]] and [[DTU Space]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Matzka, Jürgen |date=20 November 2008 |title=Danish researchers build magnetic observatory in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean |publisher=Technical University of Denmark |url=http://www.space.dtu.dk/english/News/2008/11/Tristan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508025652/http://www.space.dtu.dk/english/News/2008/11/Tristan |archive-date=8 May 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Volcanoes===
Tristan da Cunha has two volcanoes: [[Queen Mary's Peak]] on the main island and [[Edinburgh Peak]] on Gough Island. Queen Mary's Peak ({{coord|37|6|42|S|12|17|19|W|type:mountain|name=Queen Mary's Peak}}) has a height of {{cvt|2062|m}} and remains active, with its last eruption reported to have occurred in 1961. Edinburgh Peak ({{coord|40|18|33|S|9|56|48|W|type:mountain|name=Edinburgh Peak}}) has a height of {{cvt|902|m}} and is classified as extinct.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alaska Volcano Observatory – Volcanoes of the world: an illustrated catalog of Holocene volcanoes and their eruptions |url=https://avo.alaska.edu/downloads/reference.php?citid=3261 |access-date=15 December 2023 |website=avo.alaska.edu |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215185632/https://avo.alaska.edu/downloads/reference.php?citid=3261 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Volcanism Program {{!}} Database Search |url=https://volcano.si.edu/search_volcano.cfm |access-date=15 December 2023 |website=volcano.si.edu |archive-date=23 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223003046/https://volcano.si.edu/search_volcano.cfm |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Geochemistry and tectonic significance==
The volcanic rocks range from ankaramitic basanite through tephrite to phonolite<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Le Roex |first1=A.P. |last2=Cliff |first2=R.A. |last3=Adair |first3=B.J.I. |year=1990 |title=Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic: geochemistry and petrogenesis of a basanite-phonolite lava series |journal=Journal of Petrology |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=779–812 |doi=10.1093/petrology/31.4.779 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/31.4.779|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and some have ultra-potassic compositions, which is unusual for rocks that erupted close to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They exemplify the EM1 pole in compilations of isotopic compositions of mantle-derived rocks.<ref name=sag>{{cite journal |last1=Gibson |first1=S.A. |last2=Thompson |first2=R.N. |last3=Day |first3=S.E. |year=2005 |title=Melt-generation processes associated with the Tristan mantle plume: Constraints on the origin of EM-1 |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=237 |issue=3–4 |pages=744–767 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.015 |bibcode=2005E&PSL.237..744G |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The unusual composition is explained by the presence of enriched material in the plume source, either recycled sediments or metasomatized lithosphere.<ref name=sag/> The origin of the islands is commonly attributed to partial melting in a mantle plume.<ref name=sag/> The islands are located at the western end of the Walvis Ridge, which links the islands to the [[Paraná and Etendeka traps|Etendeka large igneous province]]. This association has been cited as an example of plume head and tail hypothesis,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=M.A. |last2=Duncan |first2=R.A. |last3=Courtillot |first3=V.E. |year=1989 |title=Flood Basalts and Hot-Spot Tracks: Plume Heads and Tails |journal=Science |volume=246 |issue=4926 |pages=103–107 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.015 |pmid=17837768 |bibcode=2005E&PSL.237..744G |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> but the geochemical characteristics of Tristan lavas differ from those of the Etendeka province, which suggests that the plume was heterogeneous.

==Flora and fauna==
{{see also|Wildlife of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha}}
[[File:Gough and Inaccessible Islands-113061.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Subantarctic fur seal]]s at [[Gough and Inaccessible Islands]]]]
[[File:LM Aubert Du Petit-Thouars 1758-1831.jpg|thumb|upright|French nobleman and botanist [[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars]], commemorated in the nomenclature of a variety of plants (e.g. ''[[Carex thouarsii]]'') native to Tristan da Cunha]]
Many of the flora and fauna of the archipelago have a broad circumpolar distribution in the South Atlantic and [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific Oceans]]. For example, the plant species ''[[Nertera granadensis]]'' was first collected in Tristan da Cunha,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Brown, R. N. Rudmose |year=1905 |title=The Botany of Gough Island |journal=The Journal of the Linnean Society of London |volume=37 |issue=259 |pages=238–250, page 242 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1905.TB00834.x |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1447502 |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=22 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222021041/https://zenodo.org/record/1447502 |url-status=live}}</ref> but has since been recorded as far away as [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |year=2009 |url=http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=95431 |title=Crown Fern: Blechnum discolor |publisher=Globaltwitcher.com |editor-first=N. |editor-last=Stromberg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213134120/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=95431 |archive-date=13 February 2012}}</ref>

=== Invasive species ===
The islands of Tristan da Cunha have a high significance of global [[biodiversity]]: two of them, Gough and Inaccessible, form a UNESCO natural [[World Heritage Site]]. This designation is largely due to the seabird population found there. The biodiversity of the island is vulnerable to introduction of [[invasive species]]. Due to Tristan da Cunha's isolated archipelago ecology, and increase of tourism with cruise ships and research vessels, invasive species are a particular concern for Tristan da Cunha.<ref name=Reddy2017>{{cite web |type=report |title=On a remote archipelago, rich biodiversity faces threats |last=Reddy |first=Simon |date=22 March 2017 |publisher=Pew Memorial Trusts |website=PewTrusts.org |url=http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/03/22/on-a-remote-archipelago-rich-biodiversity-faces-threats |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406130810/http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/03/22/on-a-remote-archipelago-rich-biodiversity-faces-threats |archive-date=6 April 2023 |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref> The islands' vegetation and mammal species are not equipped to defend against or control introduced species, increasing island vulnerability, due to lack of defensive behavioural mechanisms and slow generational output rates. Efforts to decrease and eradicate invasive flora, fauna, and marine species have been undertaken, including a programme aimed at eradicating predatory invasive mice on Gough Island.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/projects/gough-island-restoration-programme/ |title=Gough Island Restoration Programme Conservation Project |website=The RSPB |access-date=20 August 2021 |archive-date=20 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820193316/https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/projects/gough-island-restoration-programme/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Invasive [[house mice]] on these islands have adapted to be 50% larger than average house mice. They are thought to have been accidentally introduced by 19th-century seal hunters who would dock on the islands.<ref name=Law2018>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/ambitious-new-plan-remove-mega-mice-set-save-millions-seabirds |title=Ambitious plan to remove "mega-mice" to save millions of seabirds |last=Law |first=Jessica |date=22 October 2018 |magazine=Bird Life |access-date=19 February 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217134310/https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/ambitious-new-plan-remove-mega-mice-set-save-millions-seabirds |url-status=live}}</ref> These mice have adapted by consuming sea bird eggs and chicks (as they nest on the ground). Gathering at night in groups of 9 or 10, the mice gather at the bird's nest to feast. With no natural predators, the invasive mice population is able to expand by producing new generations twice a year.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In order to prevent the growth of the invasive mice population and extinction of the [[Albatross]] bird species, a 2019 Gough Island mouse eradication project was announced (Grundy, 2018). The [[RSPB]] and Tristan da Cunha Government have partnered to spread cereal pellets with [[rodenticide]] bait across Gough Island, in hopes to eradicate the invasive mice population.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-05-16-gough2019plan.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Wildlife News |last=Grundy |date=15 May 2018 |website=Tristandc.com |access-date=19 February 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217134433/https://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-05-16-gough2019plan.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The goal of this operation is to restore Tristan da Cunha to its natural state, ensuring it will still be one of the world's most important seabird nesting sites.<ref name=":3" />

===Flora===

====Native plants ====
[[File:Phylica arborea.JPG|thumb|upright|right|''[[Phylica arborea]]'', the only tree species native (though not [[Endemism|endemic]]) to Tristan da Cunha]]
[[File:Fernbush plant communities dominated by the endemic tree-fern Blechnum palmiforme.jpg|thumb|upright|right|A stand of Tristan's endemic [[tree fern]], ''[[Lomariocycas palmiformis]]'', the fernbush]]
[[File:Curtis's botanical magazine (Plate 3735) (9126480547).jpg|thumb|upright|right|''Sophora macnabiana'' ([[Fabaceae]]): coloured plate depicting the shrub in flower from [[Curtis's Botanical Magazine]]]]
[[File:Pelargonium cucullatum 03.jpg|thumb|upright|right|''[[Pelargonium cucullatum]]'', a species native to both Tristan da Cunha and [[South Africa]]]]
A combination of the list on Kew's ''[[Plants of the World Online]]'' site with information from a paper by Wace and Holdgate<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Vegetation of Tristan Da Cunha |first1=N. M. |last1=Wace |first2=M. W. |last2=Holdgate |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=46 |number=3 |date=November 1958 |pages=593–620 |doi=10.2307/2257541 |jstor=2257541 |bibcode=1958JEcol..46..593W}}</ref> yields the following list (by no means exhaustive) of plant species recorded as native to Tristan da Cunha.

; [[Eudicots]] :
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* ''[[Apium australe]]'' <small>[[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]</small> ([[Apiaceae]])
* ''[[Atriplex plebeja|Atriplex plebeia]]'' <small>[[Carmich.]]</small> ([[Amaranthaceae]])
* ''[[Callitriche christensenii]]'' <small>[[Christoph.]]</small> ([[Plantaginaceae]])
* ''[[Chevreulia sarmentosa]]'' <small>([[Pers.]]) [[S.F.Blake]]</small> ([[Asteraceae]])
* ''[[Cotula goughensis]]'' <small>[[Rud.]] Brown</small> ([[Asteraceae]])
* ''[[Cotula moseleyi]]'' <small>[[Hemsl.]]</small> ([[Asteraceae]])
* ''[[Dysphania tomentosa]]'' <small>([[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]) [[Mosyakin]] & [[Clemants]]</small> ([[Amaranthaceae]])
* ''[[Empetrum rubrum]]'' <small>[[Martin Vahl|Vahl]] ex [[Willd.]]</small> ([[Ericaceae]])
* ''[[Gamochaeta thouarsii]]'' <small>([[Spreng.]]) [[Anderb.]]</small> ([[Asteraceae]])
* ''[[Gnaphalium thouarsii]]'' <small>[[Spreng.]]</small> ([[Asteraceae]])
* ''[[Hydrocotyle capitata]]'' <small>[[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]</small> ([[Araliaceae]])
* ''[[Nertera granadensis]]'' <small>[[George Claridge Druce|Druce]]</small> ([[Rubiaceae]])
* ''[[Pelargonium cucullatum]]'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]) [[L'Hér.]]</small> ([[Geraniaceae]])
* ''[[Pelargonium grossularioides]]'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]) [[L'Hér.]]</small> ([[Geraniaceae]])
* ''[[Phylica arborea]]'' <small>[[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]</small> ([[Rhamnaceae]])
* ''[[Rumex frutescens]]'' <small>[[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]</small> ([[Polygonaceae]])
* ''[[Sophora macnabiana]]'' <small>([[Robert Graham (botanist)|Graham]]) [[Skottsb.]]</small> ([[Fabaceae]])
}}

; [[Commelinids]] :
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* ''[[Agrostis carmichaelii]]'' <small>[[Schult.]] & [[Schult.f.]]</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Agrostis crinum-ursi]]'' <small>[[Carl Christian Mez|Mez]]</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Agrostis media]]'' <small>Carmich.</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Agrostis trachychlaena]]'' <small>[[C.E. Hubbard]]</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Carex insularis]]'' <small>[[Carmich.]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Carex thouarsii]]'' <small>[[Carmich.]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Deschampsia wacei]]'' <small>[[C.E.Hubb.]]</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Isolepis bicolor]]'' <small>[[Carmich.]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Isolepis moseleyana]]'' <small>([[Boeckeler]]) [[Muasya]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Isolepis prolifera]]'' <small>([[Rottb.]]) [[R.Br.]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Isolepis sulcata]]'' <small>([[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]) [[Carmich.]]</small> ([[Cyperaceae]])
* ''[[Sporobolus mobberleyanus]]'' <small>[[P.M.Peterson]] & Saarela</small> ([[Poaceae]])
* ''[[Rostkovia tristanensis]]'' <small>[[Christoph.]]</small> ([[Juncaceae]])
}}

; [[Fern]]s, [[moss]]es and [[clubmoss]]es :
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* ''[[Asplenium aequibasis]]'' <small>([[Carl Christensen (botanist)|C.Chr.]]) [[J.P.Roux]]</small> ([[Aspleniaceae]])
* ''[[Asplenium alvarezense]]'' <small>[[Rudm.]] Brown</small> ([[Aspleniaceae]])
* ''[[Athyrium medium]]'' <small>([[Carmich.]]) [[T.Moore]]</small> ([[Athyriaceae]])
* ''[[Austroblechnum penna-marina]]'' <small>([[Poir.]]) Gasper & V.A.O.Dittrich</small> ([[Blechnaceae]])
* ''[[Elaphoglossum laurifolium]]'' <small>([[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]) [[T.Moore]]</small> ([[Dryopteridaceae]])
* ''[[Lomariocycas palmiformis]]'' <small>([[Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars|Thouars]]) [[Carl Christensen (botanist)|C.Chr.]]</small> ([[Blechnaceae]])
* ''[[Lycopodium diaphanum]]'' <small>([[P.Beauv.]]) [[Sw.]]</small> ([[Lycopodiaceae]])
* ''[[Notogrammitis angustifolia]]'' <small>(Jacq.) Parris</small> ([[Polypodiaceae]])
* ''[[Notogrammitis billardierei]]'' <small>([[Willdenow]]) Parris</small> ([[Polypodiaceae]])
* ''[[Polyphlebium angustatum]]'' <small>([[Carmich.]]) [[Ebihara & Dubuisson]]</small> ([[Hymenophyllaceae]])
* ''[[Racomitrium lanuginosum]]'' <small>([[Hedw.]]) [[Brid.]]</small> ([[Grimmiaceae]])<ref>{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=location%253ATristan+da+Cunha |title=Location:Tristan da Cunha |website=Royal Botanical Gardens Kew |access-date=23 July 2021 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809054042/https://powo.science.kew.org/results?q=location%253ATristan+da+Cunha |url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[Rumohra adiantiformis]]'' <small>([[G.Forst.]]) [[Ren-Chang Ching|Ching]]</small> ([[Dryopteridaceae]])
}}

====Introduced plants====
[[File:Sonchus asper MichaD.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Sonchus asper]]'', an introduced weed common on Tristan]]
[[File:Fumaria muralis 07.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Fumaria muralis]]'']]
[[File:Veronica agrestis eF.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Veronica agrestis]]'']]
Tristan da Cunha acquired an estimated 137 non-native vascular plants that can be categorized into four species types; weeds (trees, shrubs, agricultural weeds), grassland species (grasses), garden escapes (vegetables), and other ruderal species.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://brahmsonline.kew.org/Content/Projects/tristan/Resources/Tristan_Alien_Plant_Report_Part1.pdf |title=Alien plants and their impact on Tristan da Cunha |last=Gremmen |first=Niek |date=2009 |website=Brahms Online |access-date=17 February 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217134259/http://brahmsonline.kew.org/Content/Projects/tristan/Resources/Tristan_Alien_Plant_Report_Part1.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Vascular plants were accidentally introduced in a variety of ways including: impurities in flower or vegetable seeds; seeds or plant fragments from other imported plants; and in soil, attached to containers, cars or people.<ref name=":0" /> The majority of invasive weed species that have been introduced to the island are spread by seed and cover 50% of arable land in widely distributed patches.<ref name=":0" /> These species include prickly sow-thistle (''[[Sonchus asper]]''), smooth sow-thistle (''[[Sonchus oleraceus]]''), smooth hawksbeard (''[[Crepis capillaris]]''), scrambling fumitory (''[[Fumaria muralis]]''), green field speedwell (''[[Veronica agrestis]]''), groundsel (''[[Senecio vulgaris]]''), and nutgrass (''[[Cyperus esculentus]]'').<ref name=":0" /> Other invasive weed species that have a more localized distribution in plots include prickly sow-thistle (''Sonchus asper''), smooth sow-thistle (''Sonchus oleraceus''), smooth hawksbeard (''Crepis capillaris''), and groundsel (''Senecio vulgaris'').<ref name=":0"/> Whether a species is distributed locally or widely depends on the seed's dispersal mechanisms; larger seeds that have not adapted to wind dispersal will be distributed locally, while smaller seeds that have adapted to wind dispersal will be widely distributed.<ref name=":0"/>

The invasive plants have had several negative impacts on native island plant species, including the competitive exclusion of many such species.<ref name=":0"/> The out-competition can and will alter the structure of plant communities and the quality of the islands' soil. Introduced vegetation has altered long-term carbon storage as well as the reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere.<ref name=":0"/> Native plants such as [[Blechnum palmiforme|fern bushes]], ''[[Phylica arborea|Phylica]]'' bushes, fern brakes, mires, and bogs, contain high organic content matter which functions as storage for carbon.<ref name=":0"/> With the introduction of harmful species, the islands will see a decrease in carbon storage of both the soil and vegetation. With multiple changes occurring within the soil due to invasive plant species, the [[nutrient cycle]] is bound to be negatively influenced. Invasive plants are also affecting the human population of Tristan da Cunha by being disease carriers and becoming agricultural pests in gardens and pastures.<ref name=":0"/>

The alien plants are able to survive and continue to grow and spread successfully on the islands because they have the ability to naturalize in [[temperate regions]] and have limited necessities needed to survive.<ref name=":0"/> The islands' isolation increases archipelago ecology uniqueness, which increases susceptibility to foreign invaders.<ref name=Reddy2017/> A small human population with minimal development encourages flora and fauna development within a limited food web, which increases the invasive species' abilities for self-defense.<ref name=Reddy2017/>

Plants are being controlled by taking surveys of the invasive species, evaluating their impact on biodiversity, and evaluating the feasibility of their eradication.<ref name=Law2018/> It would be nearly impossible to try and eradicate all invasive plant species, so scientists are narrowing down to control particular species based on their impact and feasibility to eradicate. Mitigation plans that are taking place on Tristan are time-consuming and labour-intensive and will take several years using mechanical and chemical procedures.<ref name=Reddy2017/>

===Fauna===

====Land====
[[File:Nesocichla eremita Smit.jpg|thumb|right| [[Tristan thrush]] ''Turdus eremita'' (formerly ''Nesocichla eremita'')]]

Tristan is primarily known for its wildlife. The island has been identified as an [[Important Bird Area]] by [[BirdLife International]] because there are 13 known species of breeding seabirds on the island and two species of resident land birds. The seabirds include [[northern rockhopper penguin]]s, [[Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross]]es, [[sooty albatross]]es, [[Atlantic petrel]]s, [[great-winged petrel]]s, [[soft-plumaged petrel]]s, [[broad-billed prion]]s, [[grey petrel]]s, [[great shearwater]]s, [[sooty shearwater]]s, [[Tristan skua]]s, [[Antarctic tern]]s and [[Brown noddy|brown noddies]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/tristan-island-iba-st-helena-(to-uk) |series=Important Bird Areas factsheet |title=Tristan Island |access-date=28 December 2018 |website=Important Bird Areas |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2012 |archive-date=29 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229031952/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/tristan-island-iba-st-helena-(to-uk) |url-status=live}}</ref> Tristan and Gough Islands are the only known breeding sites in the world for the [[Atlantic petrel]]. Inaccessible Island is also the only known breeding ground of the [[spectacled petrel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30027&m=0 |title=Spectacled Petrel |series=BirdLife Species Factsheet |access-date=5 January 2019 |author=BirdLife International |work=Data Zone |archive-date=2 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102203511/http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30027&m=0 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Tristan albatross]] is known to breed only on Gough and Inaccessible Islands: all nest on Gough, except for one or two pairs which nest on Inaccessible Island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tristan-albatross-diomedea-dabbenena/text |website=BirdLife Data Zone |title=Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201209/http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tristan-albatross-diomedea-dabbenena/text |url-status=live}}</ref>

The endemic [[Tristan thrush]], also known as the "starchy", occurs on all of the northern islands and each has its own subspecies, with Tristan birds being slightly smaller and duller than those on Nightingale and Inaccessible. The endemic [[Inaccessible Island rail]], the smallest extant flightless bird in the world, is found only on Inaccessible Island. The [[Tristan Moorhen]] was an endemic species to Tristan, but is now extinct. In 1956, eight [[Gough moorhen]]s were released at [[Sandy Point, Tristan da Cunha|Sandy Point]] on Tristan and have subsequently colonised the island.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.beautyofbirds.com/goughmoorhens.html |website=Beauty of Birds |title=Gough Moorhens |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=6 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106010259/https://www.beautyofbirds.com/goughmoorhens.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Marine====
[[File:1954stampGoughTristan.jpg|thumb|1954 Tristan da Cunha stamp depicting "elephant seal at Gough Island"]]
[[File:Tristan da Cunha 1960 Marine Life stamps.jpg|thumb|Tristan da Cunha 1960 Marine Life stamps]]
The largest no take zone in the Atlantic, and at {{convert|687247|km2|sqmi}}, the fourth largest in the world, was designated on 13&nbsp;November 2020. The [[Marine Protected Area]] bans mining and fishing (except the local [[lobster]] fishery), with enforcement the responsibility of the UK government via satellite surveillance. According to the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] (RSPB), the islands and surrounding ocean is one of the most pristine temperate [[ecosystem]]s on the planet.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Blackman |first1=Stuart |date=February 2021 |title=Huge marine sanctuary created in South Atlantic |magazine=BBC Wildlife |pages=22–3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=UK Overseas Territory becomes one of the world's biggest sanctuaries for wildlife |url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/tristan-da-cunha-mpa/ |website=RSPB |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306185541/https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/tristan-da-cunha-mpa/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-11-13 |title=Take a look at this new Atlantic Marine reserve: one of the worlds biggest! |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54916075 |access-date=2025-05-20 |work=BBC Newsround |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Various species of [[whale]]s and [[dolphin]]s can be seen around Tristan from time to time with increasing sighting rates, although recovery of baleen whales, especially the [[southern right whale]], were severely hindered by illegal whaling by the [[Soviet Union]] in the aftermath of the 1960 volcanic eruption.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association |title=Cetacea: Whales and Dolphins around the Tristan da Cunha Islands |work=The Tristan da Cunha Website |url=http://www.tristandc.com/wildwhales.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404225905/http://www.tristandc.com/wildwhales.php |archive-date=4 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[subantarctic fur seal]] (''Arctophoca tropicalis'') can also be found in the Tristan archipelago, mostly on Gough Island.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Tyler, P. and A. Rothwell |title=The Natural History of Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.ukotcf.org/pdf/TristanFactsheets.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527013721/http://www.ukotcf.org/pdf/TristanFactsheets.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 May 2015 |website=UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum |access-date=30 June 2016}}</ref>

The biodiversity of marine life is limited given the islands' isolation, making identifying the impacts of invasion difficult. While much of the marine life is unknown, there has been an invasive species identified in the waters around the islands. This species is the South American silver porgy (''[[Diplodus argenteus]] argenteus''), which is thought to have sought refuge in the area due to the wreck of an oil platform off the coast of Tristan in 2006. The silver porgy is omnivorous, but is not linked to the consumption of the valued lobster populations that the islanders fish.<ref name=":4"/> The silver porgy is however suspected to be consuming components of the islands' fragile [[kelp forest]]. The giant kelp forests of ''[[Macrocystis pyrifera]]'' are extremely limited in biodiversity and have a simple, short-chain food web. While this species is considered non-native and invasive, removal efforts are currently not prioritized. Continued monitoring is suggested, and expedition research for all invasive marine species is ongoing.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-programs/pristine-seas/tristan-da-cunha/ |title=Tristan da Cunha |date=February 2017 |website=National Geographic |access-date=20 November 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207194634/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-programs/pristine-seas/tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Economy==
The island has a unique social and economic structure in which all resident families farm and all land is communally owned. Outsiders are prohibited from buying land or settling on Tristan. Besides subsistence agriculture, major industries are commercial fishing and government. Major export industries are the [[Tristan rock lobster]] (''[[Jasus]]'') fishery, the sale of the island's [[postage stamp]]s and coins, and limited tourism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Economy of Tristan da Cunha |collaboration=Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association |date=June 2005 |url=http://www.tristandc.com/economy.php |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=12 March 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526063333/http://www.tristandc.com/economy.php |archive-date=26 May 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> When the UK left the EU, Tristan da Cunha lost its membership in the EU's [[Overseas Countries and Territories Association]].

The [[Bank of Saint Helena]] was established on Saint Helena and [[Ascension Island]] in 2004. This bank does not have a physical presence on Tristan da Cunha, but residents of Tristan are entitled to its services.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sainthelenabank.com/tristan.htm |title=The Bank of Saint Helena |publisher=Sainthelenabank.com |access-date=18 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715225453/http://www.sainthelenabank.com/tristan.htm |archive-date=15 July 2011}}</ref> Although Tristan da Cunha is part of the same overseas territory as Saint Helena, it does not use the local [[Saint Helena pound]]; [[Pound sterling|sterling]] is used directly instead.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Coins |publisher=The Tristan da Cunha Website |url=http://www.tristandc.com/coins.php |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=8 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208235056/http://www.tristandc.com/coins.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Transport===
[[File:Edinburgh of the Seven Seas map.svg|thumb|200px|Map of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]]
The remote location of the islands makes transport to the outside world difficult. Tristan da Cunha has no [[airstrip]] and is not generally accessible to air travel, though the wider territory is served by [[Saint Helena Airport]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sainthelenaisland.info/buildingsthelenaairport.htm |title=Building St.&nbsp;Helena Airport |access-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014183517/http://sainthelenaisland.info/buildingsthelenaairport.htm |archive-date=14 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=St.&nbsp;Helena: Flights to remote Atlantic island begin at last |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41620003 |access-date=14 October 2017 |publisher=BBC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014074202/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41620003 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[RAF Ascension Island]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ascension-flights.com/ascension-flights-schedule.htm |title=Ascension Island Travel Company |access-date=26 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126010227/http://www.ascension-flights.com/ascension-flights-schedule.htm |archive-date=26 November 2015}}</ref> Boats sailing from South Africa provide transport service to the islands with ten voyages per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tristandc.com/ships.php|title=Regular Ships|publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association|access-date=2025-11-10}}</ref>

The [[RMS St Helena (1989)|RMS ''St Helena'']] used to connect the main island to St&nbsp;Helena and South Africa once each year during its January voyage, but has done so only a few times in the last years – in 2006, in 2011,<ref name="howstuffworks.com">{{cite web |url=http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/most-remote-place1.htm |last=Winkler |first=Sarah |title=Where is the Most Remote Spot on Earth? Tristan da Cunha: The World's Most Remote Inhabited Island |website=[[How Stuff Works]] |access-date=28 December 2018 |date=25 August 2009 |archive-date=27 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927152003/http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/most-remote-place1.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> and most recently in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-01-06-RMS-St-Helena.php |title=Last Voyage to Tristan by the RMS St Helena |first1=Dawn |last1=Repetto |first2=Sean |last2=Burns |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522031540/https://www.tristandc.com/news-2018-01-06-RMS-St-Helena.php |url-status=live}}</ref> In the same year the RMS ''St Helena'' was withdrawn from service. Three ships, the MV ''Lance'', the MFV ''Edinburgh'', and the [[S. A. Agulhas II|SA ''Agulhas II'']], regularly service Tristan da Cunha from Cape Town, with typically fewer than a dozen visits a year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/ships.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Regular Ships |first=Richard |last=Grundy |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305213914/https://www.tristandc.com/ships.php |url-status=live}}</ref> Other vessels may occasionally visit the island.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/cruises.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Cruise Ships |first=Richard |last=Grundy |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131041632/https://www.tristandc.com/cruises.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The harbour at [[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]] is called Calshot Harbour, named after [[Calshot|the place in Hampshire]], England, where the islanders temporarily stayed during the 1961–1963 [[Queen Mary's Peak]] volcanic eruption.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/harbour.php |title=Tristan da Cunha's Calshot Harbour |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512013938/http://www.tristandc.com/harbour.php |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Tourism ===
Tristan da Cunha has a very small tourism industry. As the island can only be reached from Cape Town in rough seas on vessels with limited vacancies, a trip must be planned months in advance, and only after a visit request is approved by the [[Tristan da Cunha Island Council|Island Council]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/visitsorganise.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Organising a Visit |first=Richard |last=Grundy |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131040605/https://www.tristandc.com/visitsorganise.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

Occasional boats or cruises may include a short visit to the island in their itinerary, but as there is no deep harbour, setting ashore is highly dependent on the maritime conditions. All visitors staying on Tristan must have a confirmed and fully paid return ticket, health insurance to include cover in case of medical evacuation to Cape Town, and sufficient funds to cover their entire stay. There are no hotels on the island. A visitor can rent a guest house (catered or self-catering) or stay in a private home on a full-board basis. There is a Tourism Post Office that sells souvenirs that might take months to arrive if ordered online.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/po/order-payment.php |title=Order and Payment Details for Tristan da Cunha Stamps |first=Peter |last=Millington |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131040849/https://www.tristandc.com/po/order-payment.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Tristan Government has a public website. It includes an online shop, a list of recent news about and on the island, and a simple online tour.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |title=Tristan da Cunha Website |url=https://www.tristandc.com/index.php |access-date=30 April 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208140121/https://www.tristandc.com/index.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Communications{{anchor|Telecommunication}}===
==== Telecommunication ====

The [[ITU]] has assigned telephone country code [[Telephone numbers in Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha|+290]] for Tristan da Cunha;<ref>{{cite web |title=List of Recommendation ITU-T E.164 Assigned Country Codes |url=https://www.itu.int/pub/T-SP-E.164D-2016 |publisher=International Telecommunication Union |access-date=27 March 2021 |date=15 December 2016 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816222943/https://www.itu.int/pub/T-SP-E.164D-2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> however, residents have access to the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] Telecommunications Network, provided by [[Global Crossing]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telecompaper.com/news/global-crossing-extends-fco-network-to-tristan-da-cunha--518367 |title=Global Crossing extends FCO network to Tristan da Cunha |publisher=Telecom Paper |date=22 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728182558/https://www.telecompaper.com/news/global-crossing-extends-fco-network-to-tristan-da-cunha--518367 |archive-date=28 July 2013}}</ref> This service uses a [[London]] 020 numbering range, meaning that numbers are accessed via the [[Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom|UK telephone numbering plan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ukota.org/tristan_da_cunha.asp?id=6&portal=OT |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616102746/http://www.ukota.org/tristan_da_cunha.asp?id=6&portal=OT |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2013 |title=Tristan Da Cunha Contact Information}}</ref> Satellite-delivered internet access arrived in Tristan da Cunha in 1998, but its high cost initially made it almost unaffordable for the local population, who primarily used it only to send e‑mail.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristantimes.com/art_1822_56_3.html |title=Telecommunications expert sets the record straight: Internet access is too expensive for Tristan da Cunha |work=Tristan da Cunha News |date=11 August 2005 |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204172203/http://www.tristantimes.com/art_1822_56_3.html |archive-date=4 December 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The connection was also extremely unreliable, connecting through a 64&nbsp;kbit/s satellite phone connection provided by [[Inmarsat]].{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} On 16 September 2024, satellite internet via [[Starlink|StarLink]] was made available on the island, offering much higher speeds than previously available.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=Tristan web-access Starlink update |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2024-09-22-starlink.php |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.tristandc.com}}</ref>

Since 2006, a [[very-small-aperture terminal]] has provided bandwidth for government purposes that is also made available via an internet café and (after office hours) via Wi-Fi to island homes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newscommunications.php |title=Tristan da Cunha communications news |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720232810/http://www.tristandc.com/newscommunications.php |archive-date=20 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2016}}, there is not yet any mobile telephone coverage on the islands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/infrastructure.php |title=Tristan da Cunha's Development and Public Works |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |date=6 October 2016 |access-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430170413/http://www.tristandc.com/infrastructure.php |archive-date=30 April 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Government and Tristan da Cunha Association<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/association.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Association |first=Richard |last=Grundy |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=28 April 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602225643/https://www.tristandc.com/association.php |url-status=live}}</ref> jointly run the island official website<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/index.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Website |first=Peter |last=Millington |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=28 April 2021 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509112232/https://tristandc.com/index.php |url-status=live}}</ref> with all practical information, news, and facts about the island. While the site is updated from mainland UK,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=About tristandc.com |url=https://www.tristandc.com/about.php |access-date=25 April 2022 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515015528/https://www.tristandc.com/about.php |url-status=live}}</ref> due to slow internet, the photos taken and uploaded from Tristan da Cunha are all in low resolution, which allows online navigation in the territory with acceptable speed.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

====Amateur radio====
[[Amateur radio]] operator groups sometimes conduct [[DX-pedition]]s on the island. One group operated as station ZD9ZS in September–October&nbsp;2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dxnews.com/zd9zs_tristan-da-cunha/ |website=DX News |title=ZD9ZS Tristan da Cunha Island |date=9 September 2016 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201053/https://dxnews.com/zd9zs_tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dx-world.net/zd9zs-tristan-da-cunha/ |website=DX-World |title=ZD9ZS – Tristan da Cunha |date=22 August 2014 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201145/https://dx-world.net/zd9zs-tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/ZD9XF/ZD9.html |website=G3TXF |title=ZD9XF-ZD9ZS Sep 2014: Tristan da Cunha |date=9 September 2016 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=16 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016032130/http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/ZD9XF/ZD9.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Government==
{{Politics of Tristan da Cunha}}
There are no political parties or trade unions on Tristan. Executive authority is vested in the [[British_Overseas_Territories#Head_of_state|King]], who is represented in the territory by the [[governor of Tristan da Cunha]]. Prior to 2009, Tristan da Cunha was a dependency of Saint Helena, and therefore directly represented by the [[governor of Saint Helena]]. The ''St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009'' made [[Saint Helena]], [[Ascension Island]], and Tristan da Cunha equal constituent parts of the territory with their own governments, and established the position of Governor of Tristan da Cunha.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Order 2009 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1751/schedule/made |access-date=25 March 2023 |website=legislation.gov.uk |archive-date=8 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108230453/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1751/schedule/made |url-status=live}}</ref> Per Section 208 of the Constitution Order, the person appointed as [[Governor of Saint Helena]] is ''ex officio'' Governor of Tristan da Cunha. However, as Tristan da Cunha is {{convert|1350|mi|km|-1}} away from [[Saint Helena]], an Administrator of Tristan da Cunha is appointed to act as the governor's representative on the island.

This arrangement predates the current constitutional structure, and the first administrator was appointed in the 1940s. Previously, the administrator also acted as the local [[magistrate]], but the appointment is to be transferred to a non-member of the executive or legislative branches of government. The administrator is a career civil servant in the Foreign Office, selected by London, who acts as the local head of government and takes advice from the [[Tristan da Cunha Island Council]]. Since 1998, each administrator has usually served a three-year term (which begins in September, upon arrival of the supply ship from Cape Town). Fiona Kilpatrick and Stephen Townsend were exceptions to this rule, having taken up their job-share office in January 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Administrator |website=Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.tristandc.com/administrator.php |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803135533/https://www.tristandc.com/administrator.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Administrator and Island Council work from the Government Building, which is the only two-story building on the island. The building is sometimes referred to as "Whitehall" or the "H'admin Building" and contains the Administrator's Office, Treasury Department, Administration Offices, and the Council Chamber where Island Council meetings are held. Policing is undertaken by one full-time police inspector and three [[special constable]]s. Tristan da Cunha has some legislation of its own, but the law of Saint Helena applies generally to the extent that it is not inconsistent with local law, insofar as it is suitable for local circumstances and subject to such modifications as local circumstances make necessary.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Government |website=Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.tristandc.com/government.php |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115073918/http://www.tristandc.com/government.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Chief Islander===
The Island Council is made up of eight elected and three appointed members, who serve a three-year term beginning in February or March. A separate but simultaneous vote is held to select the Chief Islander, who is the community's political leader. Ian Lavarello was elected to the position in March, 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=2025 Election Day |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2025-03-05-electionday.php |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.tristandc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
| title= Historical population
| percentages = pagr
| 1856 |71<ref name="ThoughtCo">{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/tristan-da-cunha-1435571|website=ThoughtCo.com |title=Tristan da Cunha |last=Rosenberg |first=Matt |date=6 March 2018 |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524054103/https://www.thoughtco.com/tristan-da-cunha-1435571 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| 1880 |109<ref name="Britannica">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Tristan da Cunha |volume=27 |pages=294&ndash;296; see page 295 |quote=The population in 1897 was only 64; in 1901 it was 74, and in 1909, 95}}</ref>
| 1892 |50<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php|website=Tristan da Cunha|title=Tristan da Cunha Isolation & Hardship 1853–1942|publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115092129/http://www.tristandc.com/history1853-1942.php |url-status=live}}</ref>
| 1897 |64<ref name="Britannica"/>
| 1901 |74<ref name="Britannica"/>
| 1909 |95<ref name="Britannica"/>
| 1934 |167<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19340524/115/0007 |department=Can You Tell&nbsp;— |title=Answers to Yesterday's Questions |work=Dundee Evening Telegraph |date=24 May 1934 |page=7 |quote=When the French training cruiser, ''Jeanne d'Arc'', recently called at Tristan da Cunha, there were 167&nbsp;inhabitants living in 40&nbsp;low-built thatched cottages. |access-date=3 January 2019}}</ref>
| 1961 |268<ref name="ThoughtCo"/>
| 1969 |271<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia |edition=3rd |year=1970–1979}}</ref>
| 1987 |296<ref name="ThoughtCo"/><ref name="City">{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/StHelena.html|website=City Population|title=St.&nbsp;Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha|date=6 March 2018 |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=20 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120120154/http://www.citypopulation.de/StHelena.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
| 1999 |286<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/britain-ireland-france-and-low-countries/british-and-irish-political-geography/tristan-da-cunha |via=Encyclopedia.com |title=Tristan Da Cunha |encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia |edition=6th |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-date=4 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104021428/https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/britain-ireland-france-and-low-countries/british-and-irish-political-geography/tristan-da-cunha |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |year=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref>
| 2000 |280<ref name="Encyclopedia"/>
| 2008 |269<ref name="City"/>
| 2016 |293<ref name="City"/><ref name="census2016"/>
| 2018 |250<ref name="tristandc.com"/>
| 2021 |243<ref name="tristandc.com"/>
}}

Tristan da Cunha recorded a population of 243 in the June 2021 census.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/population.php |series=Tristan da Cunha Families |title=Population Update |access-date=20 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822054126/http://tristandc.com/population.php |archive-date=22 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The only settlement is [[Edinburgh of the Seven Seas]] (known locally as "The Settlement"). The current residents are thought to have descended from fifteen outside ancestors, eight male and seven female, who arrived on the island at various dates between 1816 and 1908. The men were European, and the women were mixed race. Now all of the population has mixed ancestry. In addition, a male contributor of eastern European / Russian descent arrived in the early 1900s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Crisis in Utopia |last=Munch |first=Peter |publisher=Longmans |year=1970 |isbn=978-0582105119 |location=New York |pages=55}}</ref> In 1963, when families returned after the evacuation due to the 1961 volcanic eruption, the 200&nbsp;settlers included four Tristan da Cunha women who brought with them new English husbands.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/evacuation-tristan-da-cunha |first=Richard |last=Cavendish |title=The evacuation of Tristan da Cunha |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607225235/http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/evacuation-tristan-da-cunha |archive-date=7 June 2016 |magazine=History Today |volume=61 |issue=10 |date=October 2011 |access-date=25 May 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Tristan da Cunha4.jpg|thumb|Housing in Tristan da Cunha]]
[[File:Potato patches - Tristan da Cunha.jpg|thumb|Potato patches]] [[File:Tristan da Cunha - Mabel Clark Guest house.jpg|thumb|187x187px|Guest houses provide accommodation for visitors, as there are no hotels on the island.]]

The female descendants have been traced by genetic study to five female founders, believed to be mixed-race (African, Asian, and European descent) and from Saint Helena. The historical data recounted that there were two pairs of sisters, but the [[mtDNA]] evidence showed only one pair of sisters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Soodyall |first1=H. |last2=Jenkins |first2=T. |last3=Mukherjee |first3=A. |last4=du Toit |first4=E. |last5=Roberts |first5=D.F. |last6=Stoneking |first6=M. |year=1997 |title=The founding mitochondrial DNA lineages of Tristan da Cunha Islanders |journal=Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=157–166 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199710)104:2<157::AID-AJPA2>3.0.CO;2-W |pmid=9386823}}</ref>

The early male founders originated from [[Scotland]], [[England]], the [[Netherlands]], the [[United States]], and [[Italy]], who belonged to three [[Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup|Y-haplogroups]]: [[I-M170|I&nbsp;(M170)]], [[Haplogroup R-M420|R-SRY10831.2]], and [[Haplogroup R-M207|R&nbsp;(M207) (xSRY10831.2)]].<ref name=Y_DNA/> The male founders shared seven surnames: Glass, Green, Hagan, Lavarello, Repetto, Rogers, and Swain.<ref name="tristandc.com"/>{{efn|The seven surnames are thought to have been immigrants who were Scottish (Rogers), Dutch (Glass), English (Green, Swain), Irish (Hagan), Italian (Lavarello, Repetto) (both probably Ligurian).}} The surnames Collins, Squibb, and Patterson were brought to the island by Tristanian women, returning with their English husbands from the evacuation of the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |author=Weaver, Barry |year=2003 |url=http://ags.ou.edu/%7Ebweaver/Ascension/tdc.htm |title=Tristan da Cunha |department=College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences |publisher=University of Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610114441/http://ags.ou.edu/~bweaver/Ascension/tdc.htm |archive-date=10 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The surnames Collins and Squibb continue to be used on the island. In addition, a new [[haplotype]] was found that is associated with men from Eastern Europe and Russia. It entered the population in the early 1900s, at a time when the island was visited by Russian sailing ships. There is "evidence for the contribution of a hidden ancestor who left his genes, but not his name, on the island."<ref name=Y_DNA>{{cite journal |author1=Soodyall, Himla |author2=Nebel, Almut |author3=Morar, Bharti |author4=Jenkins, Trefor |title=Genealogy and genes: Tracing the founding fathers of Tristan da Cunha |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |year=2003 |volume=11 |issue=9 |pages=705–709 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201022 |pmid=12939658 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Another four instances of non-paternity were found among male descendants, but researchers believed their fathers were probably among the early island population.<ref name=Y_DNA/>

[[File:St Joseph's Catholic church.jpg|thumb|St Joseph's Catholic church]]
[[File:St Joseph's Catholic Church Tristan da Cunha.jpg|thumb|St Joseph's Catholic Church]]

There are eighty families on the island.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sometimes-interesting.com/2012/03/14/ultimate-remote-location-tristan-da-cunha/|title=Ultimate Remote Tourist Destination: Tristan da Cunha |date=14 March 2012 |website=Sometimes Interesting |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105200941/https://sometimes-interesting.com/2012/03/14/ultimate-remote-location-tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=live}}<!--See http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/tristan_da_cunha/tristan_history_2.html--> <!--http://www.simon-jones.org.uk/articles/tristan_da_cunha.htm--></ref> Like many remote island communities, Tristan da Cunha has a shrinking, ageing population.<ref name="Green 2016 c867">{{cite web|last=Green|first=Cynthia |title=Tristan da Cunha Population Update |website=Tristan da Cunha Website |date=24 May 2016 |url=https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |access-date=27 August 2023 |archive-date=28 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128111631/https://www.tristandc.com/population.php |url-status=live}}</ref> In the past, Tristan da Cunha mothers had to travel to [[Cape Town]] to give birth, but since the opening of the [[Camogli Healthcare Centre]] in 2017 have been able to give birth on the island.<ref name="Millington 2021 i832">{{cite web|last=Millington|first=Peter|title=Birth of Jake Peter Swain |website=Tristan da Cunha Website |date=8 July 2021 |url=https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2021-07-16-jake-swain.php |access-date=27 August 2023 |archive-date=27 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827130508/https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2021-07-16-jake-swain.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Language==
{{cleanup section|reason=text expanded from original few sentences needs tidying, formatting, citations, etc|date=June 2023}}

===Phonetics and phonology===
Tristan da Cunha English, also locally called Tristanian, is spoken on the isolated island in the South Atlantic. It is the smallest and most isolated native-speaker community of English. It is a form of [[South Atlantic English]], and shares similarities with Saint Helenian English. Tristanian has several notable unique phonetic and phonological characteristics, such as the following.
* The vowel in words like "face" is non-diphthongized, pronounced as [fe:s].
* Stops, such as the medial consonants in "button", "bottle", and "people", are glottalized.
* Extensive insertion of the sound [h] occurs in words like "happle" and "hafter", merging the pronunciation of "island" with "highland".
* Devoicing of the medial -z- and -zh- sounds is common, resulting in pronunciations like "sea[s]on" and "televi[sh]ion" with [s] and [sh] respectively.
* Tristan da Cunha English is non-rhotic, with linking and intrusive [r] sounds.

=== Grammar ===
Tristan da Cunha English shares non-standard grammatical features with other English varieties in the Falkland Islands and St. Helena. Among its features:
* Plural marking after numbers is absent, as seen in constructions like "five pound".
* Distinct second person plural pronouns are used, such as "y'all" and "you's".
* Verbal inflectional morphology is simplified, as in "She sing real good" and "They never eat much them days."
* The pronoun "them" is used to mark definite noun phrases, as seen in sentences like "They never eat much them days."
* Expressiveness drives peculiarities in Tristan da Cunha English, including double comparatives (e.g., "I like that more better") and double negation (e.g., "nobody never come out or nothing").
* In questions, inversion is not used, as in constructions like "Where they is?"

== Education ==
{{see also|Education in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha}}
Children leave school at age 16, and although they can take [[GCSE]]s, few do.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Crossan |first=Rob |title=Return to the Last Outpost |magazine=Telegraph Magazine |date=11 November 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://cnntraveller.com/2007/01/01/world-report-2/ |title=CNN Traveler: A long way from anywhere |publisher=Cnntraveller.com |date=1 January 2007 |access-date=18 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529000840/http://cnntraveller.com/2007/01/01/world-report-2/ |archive-date=29 May 2008}}</ref> The school on the island is [[St. Mary's School, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas|St. Mary's School]], which serves children from ages 4 to 16. The Naval Station had established a school building during [[World War II]]. The current facility opened in 1975 and has five classrooms, a kitchen, a stage, a computer room, and a craft and science room.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/school.php |title=Tristan School |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325072658/http://www.tristandc.com/school.php |archive-date=25 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Tristan students doing post-16 education receive assistance from the Tristan da Cunha Association Education Trust Fund and typically do so in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[South Africa]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/education.php |title=Education in Tristan da Cunha |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=6 January 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221135729/https://www.tristandc.com/education.php |url-status=live}} — see cited material in the right hand panel</ref>

The Tristan Song Project was a collaboration between St. Mary's School and amateur composers in Britain, led by music teacher Tony Triggs. It began in 2010 and involved St. Mary's pupils writing poems and Triggs providing musical settings by himself and his pupils.<ref>{{citation |last=Triggs |first=Tony (writing as "Aquila") |date=July–August 2012 |title=The Rockhopper songbook |work=Aquila |pages=4–5}}</ref> A [[Desktop publishing|desktop publication]] entitled ''Rockhopper Penguins and Other Songs'' (2010) embraced most of the songs completed that year and funded a consignment of guitars to the school.<ref>SARTMA 19 June 2011{{full citation needed|date=August 2015}}</ref> In February 2013, the Tristan Post Office issued a set of four Song Project stamps featuring island musical instruments and lyrics from Song Project songs about Tristan's volcano and wildlife. In 2014, the project broadened its scope and continues as the International Song Project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Education News: Tristan Song Project |url=https://www.tristandc.com/newsschoolsongproject.php |access-date=3 September 2020 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=2 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902132857/https://www.tristandc.com/newsschoolsongproject.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Copyright Norfolk Home Learning – International Song Project |url=http://norfolkhomelearning.com/international_song_project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030050203/http://norfolkhomelearning.com/international_song_project |archive-date=30 October 2016}}</ref>

== Religion ==
Approximately 80% of the population is [[Anglican]], and 20% is [[Roman Catholic]]. The Roman Catholic population is served by the [[Mission sui iuris of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha|Mission ''sui iuris'' of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]], which is administratively a part of the [[Apostolic Prefecture of the Falkland Islands]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/churches.php |title=Tristan da Cunha Churches |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=19 December 2024}}</ref> [[Edwin Dodgson]], youngest brother of [[Lewis Carroll]], spent several years as a missionary on the island in the nineteenth century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tristandc.com/church-history.php |title=Religious History of Tristan da Cunha |website=www.tristandc.com |access-date=19 December 2024}}</ref>

== Health ==
Healthcare is funded by the government, undertaken at most times by one resident doctor. Surgery or facilities for complex childbirth are therefore limited, and emergencies can necessitate communicating with passing fishing vessels so the injured person can be ferried to [[Cape Town]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bulger |first1=Gerald |title=The most isolated UK GP in the world |url=http://www.gponline.com/isolated-uk-gp-world/article/1111662 |access-date=23 December 2016 |publisher=GP Online |date=11 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224095948/http://www.gponline.com/isolated-uk-gp-world/article/1111662 |archive-date=24 December 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

As of late 2007, [[IBM]] and Beacon Equity Partners, co-operating with Medweb, the [[University of Pittsburgh Medical Center]], and the island's government on "Project Tristan", had supplied the island's doctor with access to long distance [[telemedicine|tele-medical]] help, making it possible to send [[EKG]] and [[X-ray]] pictures to doctors in other countries for instant consultation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dicardiology.com/content/ibm-connects-world’s-most-remote-island-healthcare |website=Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology |title=IBM connects world's most remote island to health-care |date=14 November 2007 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809160916/https://www.dicardiology.com/content/ibm-connects-world%E2%80%99s-most-remote-island-healthcare |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Camogli Healthcare Centre, usually referred to as ''the hospital'', was built and equipped in 2016–2017 to the latest UK National Health Service (NHS) standards and was officially opened on 7 June 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |title=Tristan da Cunha Camogli Healthcare Centre |url=https://www.tristandc.com/hospital.php |access-date=3 May 2021 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506230417/https://tristandc.com/hospital.php |url-status=live}}</ref> It is located in the southwestern corner of the settlement below the previous hospital (built in 1971), which is now used by the veterinarians, and for general storage. The new hospital was funded by the UK Department for International Development with the intention that the improved facilities would allow more procedures to be performed locally by visiting specialists, and therefore reduce the need for expensive referrals to Cape Town.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=Tristan da Cunha Healthcare History |url=https://www.tristandc.com/healthcarehistory.php |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203213428/https://tristandc.com/healthcarehistory.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are normally two expatriate doctors on the island, who provide 24-hour cover. There are also normally two expatriate and four local nurses, as well as two dental technicians, a hospital manager, and ancillary staff. The medical staff deal with day-to-day medical matters, handle emergency cases, and undertake minor surgery. More complex and serious cases are transported to Cape Town for treatment, as were all expectant mothers for their deliveries until the Camogli Healthcare Centre was completed in 2017 and new medical facilities enabled local mothers to give birth on the island.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grundy |first=Richard |title=Tristan da Cunha Births and Christenings |url=https://www.tristandc.com/births/index.php |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208140643/https://www.tristandc.com/births/index.php |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2022, five babies had been born in the island's Camogli Healthcare Centre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millington |first=Peter |title=Birth of Jake Peter Swain |url=https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2021-07-16-jake-swain.php |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208140805/https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2021-07-16-jake-swain.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Hazel |title=Birth of Riley Glass |url=https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2022-01-11-birth-RileyGlass.php |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208140805/https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2022-01-11-birth-RileyGlass.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Hazel |title=Birth of Liam Herbert Glass |url=https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2022-06-19-Liam-Glass.php |access-date=22 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208140804/https://www.tristandc.com/births/news-2022-06-19-Liam-Glass.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

There are instances of health problems attributed to [[endogamy]], including [[glaucoma]]. In addition, there is a very high (42%) incidence of [[asthma]] among the population, and research by Noe Zamel of the [[University of Toronto]] has led to discoveries about the genetic nature of the disease.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7766656.stm |work=BBC News |title=Worldwide search for asthma clue |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123092415/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7766656.stm |archive-date=23 November 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Three of the original settlers of the island had asthma.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119667698/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 |title=Asthma amongst Tristan da Cunha islanders |access-date=14 August 2015 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2222.1974.tb01373.x |pmid=4842938 |volume=4 |issue=2 |journal=Clinical & Experimental Allergy |pages=161–170 |year=1974 |last1=Mantle |first1=John |last2=Pepys |first2=J. |s2cid=37210057|url-access=subscription }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==Culture==

=== Music and traditional dance ===
Tristan residents Mary Swain and Percy Lavarello were recorded in 1962 whilst evacuated in [[Calshot]], [[Hampshire]], by [[Maud Karpeles]] and [[Peter Kennedy (folklorist)|Peter Kennedy]] singing traditional songs and discussing the culture of the island, mainly music and dance; the full recording (split between seven tapes and also including other Tristan residents) can be heard on the [[British Library Sound Archive]] website.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 1 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0924XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=22 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022182902/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0924XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 2 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0925XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816142157/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0925XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain and Percy Lavarello, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 3 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0926XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812100229/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0926XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain and Percy Lavarello, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 4 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0927XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812102238/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0927XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain, Percy Lavarello and Basil Lavarello, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 5 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0928XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920041806/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0928XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Swain and Percy Lavarello, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 6 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0929XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812101418/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0929XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Percy Lavarello, Calshot, Hampshire 1962 (Tristan de Cunha islanders). Tape 7 – Peter Kennedy Collection – World and traditional music {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0930XX-0001V0 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=sounds.bl.uk |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812101329/https://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Peter-Kennedy-Collection/025M-C0604X0930XX-0001V0 |url-status=dead}}</ref> On these tapes, Mary Swain sings traditional [[English folk music|English folk songs]] learnt from her mother, including seventeenth-century [[Child Ballads]] such as "[[Barbara Allen (song)|Barbara Allen]]"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barbara Allen (Roud Folksong Index S228343) |url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S228343 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515015528/https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S228343 |url-status=live}}</ref> and "[[The Sweet Trinity|The Golden Vanity]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Golden Vanitie (Roud Folksong Index S236397) |url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S236397 |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816181421/https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S236397 |url-status=live}}</ref> She also describes how dance was an important element of life on Tristan; well-known dances such as [[step dance]]s, [[waltz]]es, [[polka]]s, [[mazurka]]s and [[schottische]]s were common, as well as many unique traditional dances such as "The Donkey Dance", "The Pillow Dance", "The Chair Dance" and something called "Tabby Oaker's Big Toe" which involved displaying one's feet.<ref name="auto"/> It seems that the music and dance of Tristan was ultimately derived from English traditions, but various peculiarities had developed.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}
[[File:BFBS TV Logo Stacked RGB.jpg|thumb| [[British Forces Broadcasting Service|(BFBS TV)]] provides six TV channels: [[BBC One]], [[BBC Two]], [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]], [[Channel 4]], [[Sky News]] and [[BFBS|BFBS Extra]], relayed to islanders via local transmitters.]]
[[File:Tristan da Cunha - Longboats in front of the administrator's residence.jpg|thumb|Longboats in front of the administrator's residence]]
[[File:Supermarket, Tristan da Cunha.jpg|thumb|186x186px|The supermarket provides the islands with all necessary goods.]]

===Crime===
Between 1988 and 2010, no one was arrested for crime by the single policeman on the island.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/13/worlds-loneliest-police-beat The world's loneliest police beat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205011540/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/13/worlds-loneliest-police-beat |date=5 December 2014}}, 13 January 2010 (The Guardian)</ref>

===Radio and television===
Local television began in 1984 using taped programming on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Winchester |first=Simon |title=Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire |year=2003 |page=85 |orig-year=originally published 1985}}</ref> Live television did not arrive on the island until 2001, with the introduction of the [[British Forces Broadcasting Service|British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS TV)]], which now provides six channels: [[BBC One]], [[BBC Two]], [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]], [[Channel 4]], [[Sky News]] and [[British Forces Broadcasting Service#Content and channels|BFBS Extra]], relayed to islanders via local transmitters. Recently{{as of?|date=September 2025}} the service was upgraded to digital, most TV screens are modern and DTV, while some older analogue CRT equipment is still in use with digital boxes connected, and there is at least one TV set per house. BFBS Radio&nbsp;2 is the locally available radio station.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14123534 |title=St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha profiles – media |date=4 October 2022 |website=BBC |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-date=22 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222222053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/6748187.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Newspapers ===
The ''[[Tristan Times]]'' was an online newspaper for the island published from 2003 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Tristan Times Newspaper – News from Tristan da Cunha |url=http://www.tristantimes.com/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328160712/http://www.tristantimes.com/index.html |archive-date=28 March 2019 |access-date=16 September 2020 |website=Tristan Times}}</ref> The island government also posts news announcements on its website, which is maintained by the UK-based Tristan da Cunha Association.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Community News 2005–2011 |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newscommunity05-11.php |access-date=6 January 2019 |website=Tristan da Cunha |archive-date=23 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123071641/http://www.tristandc.com/newscommunity05-11.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Holidays and holiday traditions===
The island holds an annual break from government and factory work, which begins before Christmas and lasts for three weeks. The beginning of the holiday, called Break-Up Day, is usually marked with parties and celebrations.<ref>{{cite web |title=2013–2014 Tristan da Cunha Summer Holiday Christmas and New Years News |url=http://www.tristandc.com/newschristmasnewyear2013-14.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229062517/http://www.tristandc.com/newschristmasnewyear2013-14.php |archive-date=29 December 2013 |access-date=29 January 2014}}</ref> The islanders would traditionally have parties on [[Boxing Day]], but not on [[Christmas|Christmas Day]].<ref name=":2" />

Traditionally, on [[New Year's Eve|"Old Year's Day/Night" (meaning "New Year's Eve")]], the islanders would conceal their identities with masks or [[blackface]] and the men would wear women's clothing; everyone would celebrate anonymously moving between households, singing songs, dancing, shouting, playing instruments and firing guns. At the stroke of midnight, a bell would announce the new year. On New Year's Day, the islanders would play cricket and football, and once again party later in the day.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The disguises sometimes recall English [[Border Morris]] dancers.

=== Sport ===
[[Association football|Football]], [[cricket]], and [[baseball]] were all historically played on the island.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

It has been reported that football was introduced to the locals in the 1920s by Rev. Henry Rogers, and it remains the island's favourite sport.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://terracemagazine.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/tristan-da-cunha-fc-the-club-without-an-opposition/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221227093612/https://terracemagazine.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/tristan-da-cunha-fc-the-club-without-an-opposition/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 December 2022 |title=Tristan da Cunha FC: The Club Without an Opposition}}</ref> Rose, Henry's wife, wrote about informal kick-abouts continuing for years, and these fast became a part of Tristanian culture.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/tristan-da-cunha-il-calcio-ai-confini-del-mondo/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221227093152/https://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/tristan-da-cunha-il-calcio-ai-confini-del-mondo/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 December 2022 |title=Tristan da Cunha, il calcio ai confini del mondo}}</ref> The islanders would split themselves into two teams and play friendly matches, especially on dates of special occasions, such as weddings, christenings etc.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 1940, Tristan da Cunha's footballers played their first "international" game against the crew of a Norwegian ship. No record remains of the score. In the ensuing years, the game flourished, with the islanders playing matches against crews from vessels of various nationalities, including ships from the Royal Navy.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

With live transmissions of televised football, the sport regained its former popularity.<ref name="football">{{cite web |url=https://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/exclusive-interview-to-leon-glass-the-most-remote-football-manager-of-the-world/ |title=Exclusive – Interview to Leon Glass, the remotest football manager of the world |last=Rizzitelli |first=Christian |date=22 September 2022 |website=WordPress |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405091644/https://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/exclusive-interview-to-leon-glass-the-most-remote-football-manager-of-the-world/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Tristan da Cunha FC was formed in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thesefootballtimes.co/2014/11/15/far-away-football-south-atlantic-islands/ |title=Far away football: the South Atlantic islands |date=15 November 2014 |publisher=thesefootballtimes.co |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227094952/https://thesefootballtimes.co/2014/11/15/far-away-football-south-atlantic-islands/ |url-status=live}}</ref> A local fishing company bought them a kit (white shirts and blue shorts). They had a very basic pitch on American Field, named in recognition of the American forces stationed there during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://patmcguinness.blogspot.de/2010/11/tristan-da-cunha-fc-out-on-their-own.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130625221955/http://patmcguinness.blogspot.de/2010/11/tristan-da-cunha-fc-out-on-their-own.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 June 2013 |title=Tristan da Cunha FC – Out On Their Own}}</ref> However, opponents were in short supply. It was a case of waiting for visiting opponents, and sometimes years might go by without any opportunities to play foreign opposition.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/the-remotest-national-football-team-of-the-world-tristan-da-cunha/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140701184658/http://asianoceanianfootball.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/the-remotest-national-football-team-of-the-world-tristan-da-cunha/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 July 2014 |title=The remotest national football team of the world: Tristan da Cunha}}</ref> Their first match was against a South African fishing vessel and they{{who|date=March 2025}} lost 10–6. The remoteness of Tristan da Cunha makes it virtually impossible for the team to travel abroad to play against foreign opposition. In recent times, the club's numbers have dropped to a level where only 5-a-side matches are being played.<ref name="football"/>

== Notable people ==
* [[Edwin Heron Dodgson]] (1846–1918), a clergyman in the [[Church of England]], was the youngest brother of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ([[Lewis Carroll]]), author of ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''. He is primarily remembered for his work as a missionary in the island of Tristan da Cunha from 1880 to 1884.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lewiscarrollsociety.org.uk/the-dodgson-family/ |title=The Dodgson Family |website=The Lewis Carroll Society |date=11 June 2020 |access-date=18 February 2023 |quote= |archive-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126014551/https://lewiscarrollsociety.org.uk/the-dodgson-family/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gisburn.org.uk/images/downloads/Descendants_of_Robert_Dodgson_.pdf |title=Descendants of Robert Dodgson |website=Gisburn Village |access-date=18 February 2023 |quote= |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218152025/http://www.gisburn.org.uk/images/downloads/Descendants_of_Robert_Dodgson_.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}
* [[Conrad Jack Glass]] {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} (born 1961) is a Tristanian police officer and a former Chief Islander.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tristandc.com/chiefislander.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906000250/http://www.tristandc.com/chiefislander.php |title=Profile of Conrad Glass Chief Islander 2007–2010 |access-date=11 October 2017}}</ref> He is the first islander to have written a book about it, ''Rockhopper Copper'' (2005).<ref name=Glass2005>{{cite book |last=Glass |first=Conrad J. |year=2005 |title=Rockhopper Copper: The life and times of the people of the most remote inhabited island on Earth |place=Leominster |publisher=Orphans Press |isbn=9781903360101}}</ref>
* [[James Glass (Chief Islander)|James Glass]] (born 1961), multiple time Chief Islander.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Democracy during a pandemic in one of the world's remotest islands |url=https://issuu.com/theparliamentarian/docs/parl2021iss1finalsingle/s/11837585 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=Issuu}}</ref>
* [[Ian Lavarello]] (born 1970), multiple time Chief Islander.
* [[Lewis Glass]] (1948–2019), former Chief Islander<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hince |first=Bernadette |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=upcoFJXWT38C&dq=%22lewis+glass%22+tristan+da+cunha&pg=PA311 |title=The Antarctic Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Antarctic English |date=2000-11-10 |publisher=Csiro Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-10232-3}}</ref>
* [[William Glass]] (1786–1853), Scottish Corporal and founder of the island's settlement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-06-10 |title=From Tristan da Cunha to New London: Family traces whaling history |url=https://www.theday.com/article/20170610/NWS01/170619902 |access-date=2020-05-03 |website=The Day |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302112339/https://www.theday.com/article/20170610/NWS01/170619902 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Anne Green (Chief Islander)|Anne Green]] (born 1952), first female Chief Islander and teacher.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Glass |first1=James |last2=Kilpatrick |first2=Fiona |title=Anne Green receives her MBE Honour |url=https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2021-09-14-anne-green-mbe.php |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=www.tristandc.com |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125160406/https://www.tristandc.com/government/news-2021-09-14-anne-green-mbe.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Outline of Tristan da Cunha]]
* [[Sandy Point, Tristan da Cunha]]
{{portal bar|Islands|Africa|United Kingdom|British Empire}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
; Guides
* ''A Short Guide to Tristan da Cunha'' by James Glass and Anne Green, Tristan Chief Islanders (2005, Whitby Press, 12 pages).
* ''Field Guides to the Animals and Plants of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island'' Edited by Peter Ryan (2007, RSPB Publication, 168 pages).
* ''Gough Island: A Natural History'' by Christine Hanel, Steven Chown and Kevin Gaston (2005, Sun Press, 169 pages).
* {{cite book |last=Crawford, Allan |title=Tristan Da Cunha and the Roaring Forties |year=1982 |publisher=Anchor Press |isbn=978-0-2849-8589-7}}
; Culture
* ''Isolation and Language Change: Contemporary and Sociohistorical Evidence from Tristan da Cunha English'' by Daniel Schreier (2003, Palgrave Macmillan, 237 pages).
* ''Tristan da Cunha: History, People, Language'' by Daniel Schreier and Karen Lavarello-Schreier (2003, Battlebridge, 88 pages).
* ''Rockhopper Copper: The life and times of the people of the most remote inhabited island on Earth'' by [[Conrad Glass]] MBE, Tristan Police Officer (2005, Polperro Heritage Press, 176 pages).
* ''Recipes from Tristan da Cunha'' by Dawn Repetto, Tristan Tourism Co-ordinator (2010, Tristan Books, 32 pages).
* ''Corporal Glass's Island: The Story of Tristan da Cunha'' by Nancy Hosegood (1966, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 192 pages, with several pages of photographs).
* ''Three Years in Tristan da Cunha'' by Katherine Mary Barrow (1910, Skeffington & Son, 200 pages, with 37 photographs).

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikivoyage|Tristan da Cunha}}
{{wikisource}}
* [https://archive.today/20220218031807/https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/geolinguistics/tristan-da-cunha-english.html Forum about the island's spoken English]

===News and government===
* [http://www.tristandc.com/ Tristan da Cunha] – news from the Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081019082552/http://www.tristantimes.com/index.html ''Tristan Times''] – former newspaper

===History of the island===
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Tristan da Cunha |volume=27 |pages = 294&ndash;296}}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Africa/Tristan_da_Cunha/home.html History of Tristan da Cunha] (2 books, and other material)
* [http://www.navegar-es-preciso.com/news/tristan-da-cunha/ Tristan da Cunha] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102456/http://www.navegar-es-preciso.com/news/tristan-da-cunha/ |date=6 December 2018}} (Spanish)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=4VMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 LIFE Magazine article about 1961 evacuation.]

===Videos of the island===
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fztgh Tristan da Cunha: The story of Asthma Island], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKRvtk-GI0g part 1] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqx17kg-3_Q part 2], BBC Four (2008).

{{Tristan da Cunha}}
{{Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha}}
{{Football in Africa}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{British peoples}}
{{authority control}}
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[[Category:Tristan da Cunha| ]]
[[Category:Islands of Tristan da Cunha| ]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Tristan da Cunha| ]]
[[Category:Countries and territories where English is an official language]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Saint Helena]]
[[Category:Seabird colonies]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1816]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1938]]
[[Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in Africa]]
[[Category:Mid-Atlantic Ridge]]
[[Category:Penguin colonies]]