Saint Helena facts

While investigating facts about Saint Helena Island and Saint Helena Ca, I found out little known, but curios details like:

British Taxpayers paid £285M ($364,000,000 dollars) for an airport in the remote island of Saint Helena which opened in 2016. Only one commercial aircraft landed, and the airport was subsequently deemed useless.

how to get to saint helena?

The oldest reptile on earth is believe to be 'Jonathan', who lives in the grounds of the residence of the Governor of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. He is around 183 years old and appears on the back of the Saint Helena 5p coin.

What to do in saint helena?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what to do in saint helena island. Here are 14 of the best facts about Saint Helena Island Sc and Saint Helena Airport I managed to collect.

what is saint helena known for?

1. The most remote inhabited island in the world is Tristan da Cunha, a British oversease territory with 301 inhabitants, which is 2,000km from the nearest inhabited land, Saint Helena island.

2. Napoleon died on the remote volcanic island of Saint Helena. It is more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) from the nearest major landmass and has no sandy beaches. It is home to the "World's Most Useless Airport" that cost the UK £285 million ($374 million) and 5 years to construct.

3. The most isolated inhabited place on Earth, Tristan da Cunha. It is 2000km away from the closest inhabited island(Saint Helena). The island only has 293 residents who are all descended from 15 people with limited contribution later on. Nearly half of the island has congenital asthma.

4. An extremely rare species of tree named Commidendrum rotundifolium. Its LAST tree grows on a cliff of Saint Helena, the place of exile for Napoleon.

5. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo he attempted an escape to the United States. But when the harbor he was to depart from filled with enemy ships he decided to surrender the British. Rather than allow him passage and exile to the US he was banished to the tiny island of Saint Helena.

6. The Saint Helena Olive tree (Nesiota Elliptica) went extinct in the wild in 1994 and the very last living specimen cultivated in captivity died in December 2003, despite aggressive conservation efforts.

7. The oldest library in the southern hemisphere is in Saint Helena, one of the most remote islands in the world

8. There is a 160-180 year old Tortoise living on the Island of Saint Helena. He is believed to be the last of a disctinive species of Tortoise that will go extinct when (if?) he dies.

9. New Zealand Flax (phormium tenax) was a dominant crop of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory

Why did the saint helena olive become extinct?

You can easily fact check why is saint helena a saint by examining the linked well-known sources.

In ten months tiny Saint Helena island in the Atlantic, where Napoleon passed his final years, will be reachable by commercial air for the first time.

About the first permanent inhabitant of Saint Helena - source