Tristan da Cunha is improbably remote, and life there is tough. Yet islanders have repeatedly preferred to live there rather than in the United Kingdom.
Tristan da Cunha: hantavirus
The BBC reported on 10 May 2026 that someone on Tristan da Cunha appears to have hantavirus. Let’s hope they’re OK.
This BBC story https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgzv77ldpdo about paratroopers and medics being parachuted onto the island hides a world of proper planning and preparation. I recommend the Tristan da Cunha Hospital News site, which has excellent photos and a video. You can see that by the time the final drop is made, the sun is setting.
Airdrop, 9 May (Source: MOD)
Tristan da Cunha: key facts
I describe Tristan da Cunha, a UK overseas territory (part of St Helena) in my book “Lessons in Diplomacy”. Key facts: it is one of the remotest inhabited places in the world. It was first recorded by the Portuguese, and subsequently visited by Dutch, French and Brits, but never settled: a British survey in 1792-3 concluded the archipelago was not suitable for settlement.
In 1810 a 4-strong American expedition landed and claimed, the islands, renaming them “The Islands of Refreshment”. But three of the four died in 1812. In 1816 the UK garrisoned and annexed the main island to prevent its use as a base to rescue Napoleon from St Helena. It has had a population ever since, except 1961-3.
The population of Tristan is around 220-250. In 1907 the UK offered to resettle the entire population because life there was so tough; the islanders declined. In 1961, when the island volcano (the island, basically, is a volcano) exploded, the entire population was evacuated to the UK. Most returned in 1963.
I haven’t been to Tristan, sadly, and have no pictures. This is the Bonetta Cemetery on Ascension Island, another remote Atlantic volcanic island that is part of the British Overseas Territory of St Helena.
Inaccessible Island
The Tristan archipelago includes Inaccessible Island (real name). In 1982 a part from Denstone College in Uttoxeter visited Inaccessible Island for a five-month school trip. I still can’t quite believe this latter story but the on-line evidence seems convincing. Can anyone who went on the trip confirm it?
