Tristan da Cunha, commonly called Tristan, is a group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, which has its own rules and laws.

The territory includes the island of Tristan da Cunha, which is about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) wide and covers an area of 98 square kilometers (38 square miles). It also includes Gough Island and Inaccessible Island, which are protected areas for wildlife, and the smaller Nightingale Islands, which are not inhabited. As of October 2018, Tristan da Cunha had 250 people living there, and all of them are citizens of the British Overseas Territories. Gough Island has South African staff who work at a weather station, but the other islands have no permanent residents.

There is no airport on Tristan da Cunha, so the only way to travel to or from the island is by ship. Trips to the island take about six days from Cape Town, South Africa, and some cruises leave from Ushuaia, Argentina.

History

The islands were first seen in 1506 by a Portuguese explorer named Tristão da Cunha. However, rough seas made it impossible to land. He believed the islands had no people living there and named the main island after himself, Ilha de Tristão da Cunha. Later, the name was changed to English, becoming Tristan da Cunha Island, as noted on British Admiralty maps. Some sources say the Portuguese made the first landing in 1520, when a ship led by Ruy Vaz Pereira stopped at Tristan for water.

The first confirmed landing happened on February 7, 1643, by the crew of the Dutch East India Company ship Heemstede, led by Claes Gerritsz Bierenbroodspot. The Dutch visited the island four more times in the next 25 years and created the first rough maps of the island group in 1656.

In 1767, the French ship L'Heure du Berger conducted the first full survey of the archipelago. Crew members measured the land and studied the coastline. They noted the presence of water at Big Watron’s waterfall and a lake on the north coast. These findings were published by a Royal Navy hydrographer in 1781.

In January 1793, French naturalist Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars visited Tristan during a merchant ship’s trip from France to Mauritius. He collected plant samples and found signs of past human activity, such as fireplaces and overgrown gardens, likely left by Dutch explorers in the 1600s.

In 1777, William Bolts, a ship captain, sighted Tristan da Cunha and led a landing party. He raised the Imperial flag and named the islands and nearby islets the Brabant Islands. However, no permanent settlement was built by his company.

After the American Revolutionary War stopped sending prisoners to the American colonies, British prisons became overcrowded. In 1785, the British government decided to settle New South Wales instead. In 1786, Alexander Dalrymple proposed using Tristan da Cunha, St. Paul, and Amsterdam islands for settlements. Around the same time, Captain John Blankett suggested using convicts to establish a British settlement on Tristan. In 1789, the Admiralty was ordered to study the island as part of a South Atlantic survey, but this did not happen. Instead, George Macartney, Britain’s first ambassador to China, examined Tristan, Amsterdam, and St. Paul in 1792–1793 and found the islands unsuitable for settlement.

In December 1810, Jonathan Lambert, a man from the United States, arrived on Tristan with two others. He claimed the islands as his property and called them the Islands of Refreshment. Three of the four men died in 1812, leaving Thomas Currie, an Italian, as the only survivor. He stayed on the island as a farmer.

On August 14, 1816, the United Kingdom took control of Tristan by sending a military garrison. The islands became part of the Cape Colony in South Africa. This action aimed to stop any attempt to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from Saint Helena and to prevent the United States from using Tristan as a naval base. The garrison left in November 1817, but some soldiers, like William Glass, stayed and formed the start of a permanent population.

In 1824, artist Augustus Earle was stranded on Tristan for eight months after his ship, the Duke of Gloucester, was caught in a storm. He taught local children and painted until his supplies ran out. He was rescued in November by Admiral Cockburn.

By 1824, a small civilian community had formed alongside the British Marines’ garrison. In 1824, the ship Berwick reported 22 men and 3 women living on the island. In 1836, the ship South Australia visited, and Mr. Glass was described as the settlement’s governor. That same year, the schooner Emily wrecked on Tristan, leaving Dutch fisherman Pieter Groen, who later changed his name to Peter Green, as a survivor. He became the community’s leader in 1865. By 1856, the population had grown to 97 people.

In 1851, a resident priest arrived, and in 1856, the Bishop of Cape Town visited, officially adding Tristan to the Diocese of Cape Town.

In 1867, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Tristan. The settlement was renamed Edinburgh of the Seven Seas in his honor. In 1873, the Royal Navy ship HMS Challenger visited to study the islands. At that time, there were 15 families and 86 people living there. Tristan became a British Crown dependency in 1875.

During the mid-1800s, whalers built bases on Tristan. However, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the shift from sail to steamships made Tristan more isolated. The islands were no longer needed as a stop for long voyages.

On November 27, 1885, the island faced a major tragedy when the ship West Riding arrived. Many men launched a lifeboat to trade with the ship, but the boat disappeared. Fifteen men were lost, leaving the island with many widows. A plaque in St. Mary’s Church honors those who died.

After years of hardship and a harsh winter in 1906, the British government offered to evacuate the island in 1907. The Tristanians refused, even though the government warned they might not help again.

No ships visited Tristan from 1909 until 1919, when HMS Yarmouth arrived to share news about World War I. In 1922, the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition stopped at Tristan for five days, collecting samples before returning to Cape Town. Other ships, like the RMS Asturias and various ocean liners, visited in the

Geography

Tristan da Cunha is believed to have formed from a long-lasting source of hot rock deep inside the Earth called the Tristan hotspot. Tristan da Cunha is the largest island in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, which includes the following islands:

• Tristan da Cunha, the main and largest island, area: 98 square kilometers (37.8 square miles) (37°6′54″S 12°17′6″W / -37.11500; -12.28500)
• Inaccessible Island, area: 14 square kilometers (5.4 square miles)
• Nightingale Islands, area: 3.4 square kilometers (1.3 square miles) (Nightingale Island, area: 3.2 square kilometers (1.2 square miles); Middle Island, area: 0.1 square kilometers (25 acres); Stoltenhoff Island, area: 0.1 square kilometers (25 acres))
• Gough Island (Diego Alvarez), area: 91 square kilometers (35 square miles)

Inaccessible Island and the Nightingale Islands are located 35 kilometers (22 miles) southwest and south-southwest of the main island, respectively. Gough Island is 350 kilometers (217 miles) southeast-southeast of Tristan da Cunha.

The main island has many mountains. The only flat area is on the northwest coast, where the only settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, and the agricultural area called Potato Patches are located. The highest point on the island is Queen Mary's Peak, a volcano with an elevation of 2,062 meters (6,765 feet), high enough to have snow in winter. The other islands in the group are uninhabited, except for a weather station on Gough Island operated by South Africa since 1956. The station has been located at Transvaal Bay on the southeast coast since 1963.

The archipelago has a Cfb, wet oceanic climate, which means it has mild temperatures and heavy rainfall due to constant westerly winds. Under another climate classification system, Tristan da Cunha is considered to have a humid subtropical climate because it rarely experiences cold weather. The number of rainy days is similar to the Aleutian Islands, which are much farther north, and the amount of sunshine is similar to Juneau, Alaska, which is 20 degrees farther from the equator. Frost does not occur below 500 meters (1,600 feet) in elevation, and summer temperatures remain mild, never reaching 25°C (77°F). Sandy Point on the east coast is said to be the warmest and driest place on the island because it is sheltered from the prevailing winds.

Geology

Tristan, along with its neighboring islands, is located about 400 km (250 miles) east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The volcanic activity is not connected to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; instead, it is caused by a hotspot. The steep central cone, called The Peak, is mostly made of pyroclastic deposits that erupted from the central vent. The Base and Main Cliffs are mainly composed of thin basaltic lava flows, often separated by thin layers of pyroclastic material. There are more than 30 cinder cones on the sides of the main volcano, many of which produced small lava flows. The eruption in October 1961 was preceded by earthquake swarms and rockfalls from the Main Cliffs. Then, lava was erupted on the plain immediately east of the settlement. The growing lava mound broke through, and lava flows moved toward the coast. As the eruption ended, a long lava dome formed and covered the vent.

Inaccessible Island, 35 km (22 miles) southwest of Tristan, is the remains of an older volcanic cone. Most of the island is made of basaltic lava flows, but the southwestern part has many trachyte domes and flows. Nightingale Island, along with nearby Middle and Stoltenhoff Islands, is 34 km (21 miles) south-southwest of Tristan. Nightingale is mostly composed of trachyte domes and flows, with some pyroclastic deposits. Middle Island is entirely made of pyroclastic deposits (with dykes intruding), while Stoltenhoff Island is entirely composed of trachyte.

The island is located in the South Atlantic Anomaly, an area of Earth with an unusually weak magnetic field. On 14 November 2008, a geomagnetic observatory was started on the island as part of a joint project between the Danish Meteorological Institute and DTU Space.

Tristan da Cunha has two volcanoes: Queen Mary's Peak on the main island and Edinburgh Peak on Gough Island. Queen Mary's Peak (37°6′42″S 12°17′19″W) is 2,062 m (6,765 ft) tall and is still active, with its last eruption reported in 1961. Edinburgh Peak (40°18′33″S 9°56′48″W) is 902 m (2,959 ft) tall and is classified as extinct.

Geochemistry and tectonic significance

The volcanic rocks include types such as ankaramitic basanite, tephrite, and phonolite. Some have ultra-potassic compositions, which is uncommon for rocks that erupted near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These rocks represent the EM1 pole in studies of isotopic compositions from mantle-derived rocks. The unusual composition is due to enriched material in the plume source, such as recycled sediments or metasomatized lithosphere. The islands formed from partial melting in a mantle plume. They are located at the western end of the Walvis Ridge, which connects the islands to the Etendeka large igneous province. This connection has been used as an example of the plume head and tail hypothesis. However, the geochemical characteristics of Tristan lavas differ from those of the Etendeka province, indicating the plume was heterogeneous.

Flora and fauna

Many plants and animals on Tristan da Cunha are found in many areas around the South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans. For example, the plant Nertera granadensis was first found on Tristan da Cunha but has also been seen in places like New Zealand.

The islands of Tristan da Cunha are very important for the world’s biodiversity. Two of the islands, Gough and Inaccessible, are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is mainly because of the large number of seabirds living there. The island’s biodiversity is at risk because of invasive species. Tristan da Cunha’s isolation and the increase in tourism and research activities make it especially vulnerable. The island’s plants and animals are not able to protect themselves from invasive species because they lack natural defenses and reproduce slowly. Efforts to remove invasive plants, animals, and marine species have been made, including a program to remove invasive mice from Gough Island.

Invasive house mice on these islands have grown larger than typical house mice. These mice were likely brought to the islands by 19th-century seal hunters. They eat the eggs and chicks of seabirds that nest on the ground. The mice gather in groups of 9 or 10 at night to feed. Without natural predators, their population grows quickly, as they can have two generations each year.

To stop the mice from harming seabirds like albatrosses, a mouse eradication project was started in 2019. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Tristan da Cunha government are working together to spread poisoned cereal pellets across Gough Island. The goal is to remove the invasive mice and restore the island’s natural environment, keeping it a key nesting site for seabirds.

A list of plants native to Tristan da Cunha was created using information from Kew’s Plants of the World Online and a study by Wace and Holdgate. Tristan da Cunha has about 137 non-native vascular plants, which can be grouped into four types: weeds (trees, shrubs, and agricultural weeds), grassland species (grasses), garden escapes (vegetables), and other ruderal species. These plants were accidentally brought to the island in ways like seeds in imported plants, soil, or on objects like containers, cars, or people. Many invasive weeds spread by seed and cover half of the island’s farmland. Examples include prickly sow-thistle, smooth sow-thistle, smooth hawksbeard, scrambling fumitory, green field speedwell, groundsel, and nutgrass. Some invasive plants are found in smaller areas, depending on how their seeds spread. Larger seeds that do not travel far are found in limited areas, while smaller seeds that travel with wind are found more widely.

Invasive plants have harmed native plants by outcompeting them for resources. This changes the structure of plant communities and the quality of the soil. Introduced plants have also affected the island’s ability to store carbon in the soil and vegetation. Native plants like fern bushes, Phylica bushes, and bogs store a lot of carbon, but invasive plants reduce this storage. Changes in the soil caused by invasive plants can harm the nutrient cycle. Invasive plants also affect the human population by spreading diseases and damaging crops and gardens.

Alien plants survive on the islands because they can grow in temperate climates and need few resources. The islands’ isolation makes their ecosystems unique and more vulnerable to outside species. A small human population and limited development create a simple food web, which makes it easier for invasive species to survive.

Invasive plants are being managed by studying their impact on biodiversity and determining if they can be removed. It is not possible to remove all invasive plants, so scientists focus on those that cause the most harm and are easier to remove. Controlling invasive plants is a long and difficult process that uses mechanical and chemical methods over many years.

Tristan da Cunha is known for its wildlife. It is recognized as an Important Bird Area because it is home to 13 seabird species and two land bird species. Seabirds include northern rockhopper penguins, Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses, sooty albatrosses, Atlantic petrels, great-winged petrels, soft-plumaged petrels, broad-billed prions, grey petrels, great shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, Tristan skuas, Antarctic terns, and brown noddies. Tristan and Gough Islands are the only places where Atlantic petrels breed. Inaccessible Island is the only place where spectacled petrels breed. Tristan albatrosses only breed on Gough and Inaccessible Islands, with most nests on Gough.

The endemic Tristan thrush, also called the “starchy,” lives on all northern islands, with each island having its own subspecies. Tristan birds are slightly smaller and duller than those on Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands. The endemic Inaccessible Island rail, the smallest flightless bird in the world, is found only on Inaccessible Island. The Tristan Moorhen was once native to Tristan but is now extinct. In 1956, eight Gough moorhens were released on Tristan and have since lived there.

The largest no-take zone in the Atlantic, covering 687,247 square kilometers, was created in 2020. This area, the fourth largest in the world, bans mining and fishing (except for local lobster fishing). The UK government is responsible for enforcing the rules using satellite monitoring. According to the RSPB, the islands and their surrounding ocean are among the most untouched temperate ecosystems on Earth.

Whales and dolphins are sometimes seen near Tristan, with more sightings in recent years. However, the recovery of baleen whales, especially southern right whales, has been greatly slowed.

Economy

Tristan da Cunha has a special social and economic system. All families on the island farm, and all land is shared by the community. People from outside the island cannot buy land or live there. In addition to growing food for themselves, the island’s main industries include fishing, government work, and selling goods. Important exports are Tristan rock lobster, postage stamps, coins, and limited tourism. When the United Kingdom left the European Union, Tristan da Cunha lost its membership in the EU’s Overseas Countries and Territories Association.

The Bank of Saint Helena was created in 2004 on Saint Helena and Ascension Island. This bank does not have a physical location on Tristan da Cunha, but island residents can use its services. Although Tristan da Cunha is part of the same overseas territory as Saint Helena, it does not use the Saint Helena pound. Instead, it uses British sterling directly.

The island’s remote location makes travel to and from Tristan da Cunha difficult. There is no airstrip on the island, and air travel is not common. However, Saint Helena Airport and RAF Ascension Island serve the wider territory. Boats from South Africa provide transport to the island, with ten trips each year.

The RMS St Helena once connected Tristan da Cunha to Saint Helena and South Africa once a year, but this service has only operated a few times in recent years—specifically in 2006, 2011, and 2018. The ship was retired from service in 2018. Today, three ships—MV Lance, MFV Edinburgh, and SA Agulhas II—regularly travel from Cape Town to Tristan da Cunha, making fewer than a dozen visits each year. Other ships may occasionally stop at the island. The harbor near Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is named Calshot Harbour, after a place in Hampshire, England, where islanders stayed temporarily during a volcanic eruption in 1961–1963.

Tourism on Tristan da Cunha is very limited. The island can only be reached by boat from Cape Town, which travels through rough seas. Trips must be planned months in advance and approved by the Island Council. Some cruise ships may include a short visit, but landing depends on weather conditions. Visitors must have a confirmed return ticket, health insurance covering medical evacuation, and enough money to pay for their entire stay. There are no hotels on the island. Visitors can rent a guest house or stay in a private home. A Tourism Post Office sells souvenirs, though items ordered online may take months to arrive.

The Tristan Government has an official website that includes an online store, recent news about the island, and a simple virtual tour.

The International Telecommunication Union assigned the telephone country code +290 to Tristan da Cunha. However, residents use the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Telecommunications Network, provided by Global Crossing. This service uses numbers from the London 020 area, which are part of the UK telephone system. Satellite internet arrived on the island in 1998 but was initially too expensive and unreliable for most residents, who used it mainly for email. The connection was slow and unstable, using a 64 kbit/s satellite phone from Inmarsat. On September 16, 2024, faster satellite internet via StarLink became available on the island.

Since 2006, a small satellite dish has provided internet access for government use, which is also available at an internet café and through Wi-Fi in homes after office hours. As of 2016, there is no mobile phone coverage on the islands.

The Tristan Government and Tristan da Cunha Association jointly manage the official website, which includes practical information, news, and facts about the island. The site is updated from the UK, but due to slow internet, photos from Tristan da Cunha are low resolution to ensure the website loads quickly.

Amateur radio groups sometimes visit the island to conduct DX-peditions. One group operated as station ZD9ZS in September–October 2014.

Government

Tristan da Cunha does not have political parties or trade unions. The leader of the territory is the King, who is represented by the governor of Tristan da Cunha. Before 2009, Tristan da Cunha was part of Saint Helena and was governed by the governor of Saint Helena. The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 changed this, making Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and Tristan da Cunha equal parts of the territory with their own governments. This order created the position of Governor of Tristan da Cunha. According to section 208 of the Constitution Order, the person who serves as governor of Saint Helena is also the governor of Tristan da Cunha by law. However, because Tristan da Cunha is 1,350 miles (2,170 km) away from Saint Helena, an Administrator of Tristan da Cunha is appointed to act as the governor’s representative on the island.

This system existed before the current laws were created. The first administrator was chosen in the 1940s. Earlier, the administrator also served as the local judge, but this role will now be held by someone not part of the government or legislature. The administrator is a government worker from the Foreign Office, chosen by London, and acts as the leader of the local government. The administrator takes advice from the Tristan da Cunha Island Council. Since 1998, each administrator has typically served a three-year term, starting in September when the supply ship arrives from Cape Town. Fiona Kilpatrick and Stephen Townsend were exceptions, beginning their shared job in January 2020.

The Administrator and the Island Council work in the Government Building, the only two-story structure on the island. This building is sometimes called "Whitehall" or the "H'admin Building" and includes the Administrator’s Office, Treasury Department, Administration Offices, and the Council Chamber, where the Island Council meets. Law enforcement is handled by one full-time police inspector and three special constables. Tristan da Cunha has some local laws, but the laws of Saint Helena apply unless they conflict with local laws, and they are adjusted as needed for local conditions.

The Island Council has eight elected members and three appointed members, who serve three-year terms starting in February or March. A separate vote is held at the same time to choose the Chief Islander, who is the community’s political leader. Ian Lavarello was elected to this position in March 2025.

Demographics

Tristan da Cunha had a population of 243 people according to the June 2021 census. The only settlement on the island is called Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, which is also known locally as "The Settlement." Today’s residents are believed to be descendants of 15 people from outside the island, including eight men and seven women, who arrived between 1816 and 1908. The men were European, and the women had mixed ancestry. All current residents have mixed ancestry. One additional man with ancestry from Eastern Europe or Russia arrived on the island in the early 1900s. In 1963, after families returned to the island following an evacuation caused by a volcanic eruption in 1961, 200 settlers included four women from Tristan da Cunha who brought their new English husbands with them.

Genetic studies have traced the female descendants to five original women, who likely had mixed ancestry (African, Asian, and European) and were from Saint Helena. Historical records mentioned two pairs of sisters, but DNA evidence showed only one pair of sisters.

The early male settlers came from Scotland, England, the Netherlands, the United States, and Italy. They belonged to three genetic groups: I (M170), R-SRY10831.2, and R (M207) (xSRY10831.2). These men shared seven surnames: Glass, Green, Hagan, Lavarello, Repetto, Rogers, and Swain. The surnames Collins, Squibb, and Patterson were brought to the island by women who returned with their English husbands from the early 1960s evacuation. Collins and Squibb are still used on the island today. A new genetic pattern linked to men from Eastern Europe and Russia was found, likely introduced in the early 1900s when Russian ships visited the island. Evidence suggests a hidden ancestor contributed genes to the population but did not leave a known name. Researchers also found four cases where male descendants had fathers not listed in the original population records, but these fathers were likely among the early settlers.

There are 80 families on the island. Like many remote island communities, Tristan da Cunha has a population that is growing older and smaller. In the past, mothers traveled to Cape Town to give birth, but since the Camogli Healthcare Centre opened in 2017, births have taken place on the island.

Language

Tristan da Cunha English, also called Tristanian, is spoken on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the smallest and most isolated group of English speakers in the world. Tristanian is a type of South Atlantic English and has similarities with the English spoken on Saint Helena. Tristanian has several unique sound features, including the following:

• The vowel in words like "face" is pronounced as [fe:s], without combining two vowel sounds.
• Stops, such as the middle consonants in "button," "bottle," and "people," are produced with a stop in the throat.
• The sound [h] is often added in words like "happle" and "hafter," making "island" sound like "highland."
• The middle -z- and -zh- sounds are often pronounced as [s] and [sh], as in "sea[s]on" and "televi[sh]ion."
• Tristan da Cunha English does not pronounce the "r" sound at the end of words, but it is sometimes added in speech.

Tristan da Cunha English shares some non-standard grammar features with English spoken in the Falkland Islands and St. Helena. These include:

• Not using "s" after numbers when talking about plural nouns, as in "five pound."
• Using special forms for "you" when addressing more than one person, such as "y'all" and "you's."
• Simplifying verb endings, as in "She sing real good" and "They never eat much them days."
• Using "them" to show specific nouns, as in "They never eat much them days."
• Using phrases like "more better" and "nobody never come out or nothing" to express ideas.
• Not using question word order, as in "Where they is?"

Education

Students leave school at age 16. While they can take GCSE exams, few choose to do so. The school on the island is St. Mary's School, which serves children from ages 4 to 16. The Naval Station built a school during World War II. The current school building opened in 1975 and includes five classrooms, a kitchen, a stage, a computer room, and a craft and science room. Students who continue their education after age 16 get help from the Tristan da Cunha Association Education Trust Fund. They usually study in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

The Tristan Song Project was a teamwork effort 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 students writing poems, while Triggs and his students created musical settings. A publication called Rockhopper Penguins and Other Songs (2010) included most of the songs from that year and helped fund a shipment of guitars for the school. In February 2013, the Tristan Post Office released a set of four stamps from the Song Project. The stamps showed island musical instruments and lyrics from songs about Tristan's volcano and wildlife. In 2014, the project expanded its goals and continues as the International Song Project.

Religion

About 80% of the people are Anglican, and 20% are Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic community is supported by the independent mission of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, which is part of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Falkland Islands. Edwin Dodgson, the youngest brother of Lewis Carroll, worked as a missionary on the island for several years during the 1800s.

Health

Healthcare on the island is supported by the government and is usually managed by one doctor who lives there. Because of this, medical services for complex surgeries or childbirth are limited. In emergencies, people may need to contact nearby fishing boats to arrange transportation to Cape Town for treatment.

In late 2007, IBM and Beacon Equity Partners worked with Medweb, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the island’s government on "Project Tristan." This project gave the island’s doctor access to remote medical help, allowing the sending of EKG and X-ray images to doctors in other countries for quick advice.

The Camogli Healthcare Centre, often called the hospital, was built and equipped between 2016 and 2017 to meet the latest standards of the UK National Health Service (NHS). It officially opened on June 7, 2017, in the southwestern part of the settlement, below the older hospital built in 1971. The older hospital is now used by veterinarians and for storage. The new hospital was funded by the UK Department for International Development to improve local medical care, allowing more procedures to be done on the island and reducing the need to send patients to Cape Town.

There are usually two doctors from other countries on the island, who provide care 24 hours a day. There are also two doctors from other countries and four local nurses, along with two dental technicians, a hospital manager, and other support staff. These medical workers handle daily health needs, treat emergencies, and perform minor surgeries. More serious cases or complex medical issues are sent to Cape Town for treatment. Before the Camogli Healthcare Centre opened in 2017, all pregnant women had to travel to Cape Town for childbirth. After the new hospital opened, local mothers could give birth on the island. As of 2022, five babies were born at the Camogli Healthcare Centre.

Some health problems on the island are linked to endogamy, such as glaucoma. The population also has a very high rate (42%) of asthma. Research by Noe Zamel from the University of Toronto has helped scientists understand the genetic causes of the disease. Three of the island’s original settlers had asthma.

Culture

In 1962, Mary Swain and Percy Lavarello from Tristan were recorded during an evacuation in Calshot, Hampshire, by Maud Karpeles and Peter Kennedy. They sang traditional songs and talked about the culture of Tristan, focusing on music and dance. The full recording, divided into seven tapes and including other Tristan residents, is available on the British Library Sound Archive website. On these tapes, Mary Swain sings traditional English folk songs she learned from her mother, including seventeenth-century Child Ballads like "Barbara Allen" and "The Golden Vanity." She also explains that dance was an important part of life on Tristan. Common dances included step dances, waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, and schottisches. Unique dances such as "The Donkey Dance," "The Pillow Dance," "The Chair Dance," and "Tabby Oaker's Big Toe," which involved showing one’s feet, were also popular. The music and dance of Tristan were based on English traditions, but had developed unique features.

Between 1988 and 2010, no one on Tristan was arrested for a crime by the island’s single policeman.

Local television began in 1984 with taped programming shown on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings. Live television arrived in 2001 with the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS TV), which now provides six channels: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News, and BFBS Extra. These channels are broadcast to Tristan via local transmitters. Recently, the service was upgraded to digital. Most televisions on the island are modern and use digital technology, while some older televisions still use analog equipment with digital boxes. Every home on Tristan has at least one television. BFBS Radio 2 is the locally available radio station.

The Tristan Times was an online newspaper for the island, published from 2003 to 2019. The island government also shares news on its website, which is managed by the UK-based Tristan da Cunha Association.

Tristan holds an annual break from government and factory work, starting before Christmas and lasting three weeks. This holiday, called Break-Up Day, is usually celebrated with parties and events. Islanders traditionally held parties on Boxing Day but not on Christmas Day.

On "Old Year's Day/Night" (New Year’s Eve), islanders wore masks or blackface, and men dressed in women’s clothing to celebrate anonymously. They visited homes, sang songs, danced, played instruments, and fired guns. At midnight, a bell rang to mark the start of the new year. On New Year’s Day, islanders played cricket and football and later celebrated again. Some of the disguises resembled those of English Border Morris dancers.

Football, cricket, and baseball were all played historically on Tristan. Football was introduced in the 1920s by Rev. Henry Rogers and remains the island’s favorite sport. His wife, Rose, wrote about informal games that became part of Tristanian culture. Islanders split into two teams for friendly matches, especially during special events like weddings and christenings.

In 1940, Tristan da Cunha’s football team played their first "international" match against the crew of a Norwegian ship. No record of the score exists. Over time, the game grew, with matches against crews from ships of various nationalities, including the Royal Navy.

With televised football broadcasts, the sport regained popularity. Tristan da Cunha FC was formed in 2002. A local fishing company provided the team with uniforms (white shirts and blue shorts). They played on a basic field called American Field, named after American forces stationed there during World War II. Finding opponents was difficult, as teams had to wait for visiting ships. Their first match was against a South African fishing vessel, which they lost 10–6. The island’s remoteness makes it nearly impossible for the team to travel abroad. Recently, the club has fewer players, and only 5-a-side matches are played.

Notable people

• William Glass (1786–1853), a Scottish Corporal who started the island’s settlement.
• Edwin Heron Dodgson (1846–1918), a religious leader in the Church of England, was the youngest brother of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He is best known for his work as a missionary on the island of Tristan da Cunha from 1880 to 1884.
• Lewis Glass (1948–2019), a former Chief Islander.
• Anne Green (born 1952), the first female Chief Islander and a teacher.
• Conrad Jack Glass MBE (born 1961), a Tristanian police officer and former Chief Islander. He is the first islander to write a book about Tristan da Cunha, titled Rockhopper Copper (2005).
• James Glass (born 1961), a person who has served as Chief Islander multiple times.
• Ian Lavarello (born 1970), a person who has served as Chief Islander multiple times.