3 days ago
Look around the tiny English island with a volcano, rare wildlife & 250 residents who have one of 7 surnames
The island is said to be home to the most isolated settlement in the world
REMOTE GEM Look around the tiny English island with a volcano, rare wildlife & 250 residents who have one of 7 surnames
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AN ENGLISH island with its own volcano and unique wildlife, has just 250 residents.
Residents of this remote settlement speak English, but the language has evolved over the years, so sounds completely different to the dialect we are used to.
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Tristan Da Cunha is home to the world's most remote settlement
Credit: Getty
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Only 250 people live on the island
Credit: Getty
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The islanders share just seven surnames
Credit: Getty
The world's most remote settlement
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas - named after it was visited by The Duke of Edinburgh HRH Prince Alfred in 1887 - is said to be the world's most isolated settlement, as it is further (1,514 miles) from its nearest neighbour, St Helena, than any other community in the world.
The village, which is known as simply The Settlement to locals, is the only inhabited area of Tristan da Cunha, a group of tiny islands that make up one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena.
Despite being 5,000 miles away from the UK, its 250 inhabitants are British citizens who are all descended from original settlers.
The islanders share just seven surnames between them: Glass, Swain, Green, Rogers, Hagan, Repetto and Lavarello.
Among the residents is a doctor, and other professionals such as dentists, opticians and priests often visit for a few months, to provide services to the islanders.
All of the land on the land on Tristan da Cunha is communally owned, with outsiders prohibited from buying or selling land on the island.
Agriculture and fishing are the island's major industries, with the Tristan rock lobster being the island's biggest export.
Tristan de Cunha was discovered in 1506 by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha and was then settled by British marines and American whalers.
In the war, the tiny set of islands was used as a weather station, and the currency in Tristan is the pound.
Tristan has two volcanoes Queen Mary's Peak on the main island and Edinburgh Peak on Gough Island.
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Queen Mary's Peak last erupted back in 1961, whilst Edinburgh Peak is classified as extinct.
It is also home to an abundance of wildlife, such as rockhopper penguins, whales and dolphins.
How to get there
If you want to visit the island, you need permission to land, and you will need to show proof of travel insurance and a fully paid return ticket.
There are no planes or airports, so you will have to travel by boat to the island, either by a five-to-ten-day sea voyage from Cape Town aboard fishing vessels or Polar research trips.
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There are no planes or airports on the island
Credit: Getty
And, once you've got to the island, there's no guarantee your ship will be able to dock, with adverse weather conditions often leaving passengers stranded.
Visitors to the island must pay a landing and harbour fee (£30 for cruise passengers, £15 for yacht visitors) and each visitor has to sign an indemnity waver.
Once you've reached the island, there's no mobile connection, and internet access is shared via the whole community via a slow and expensive satellite.
Rare form of English
According to the Name Explain YouTube channel, people on the island speak the "rarest" form of English.
For example, residents shorten vowel sounds, so the word 'base' would be pronounced as 'Bes'.
They also drop t's, meaning that words such as 'butter' are pronounced like 'buher'.
They also refrain from pluralising words, meaning 'two cats' would be simply 'two cat' and add an H to the beginning of words starting with a vowel, so apple becomes happle.
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The island of Tristan da Cunha from the southern end.
Credit: Getty
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Signpost on Tristan da Cunha showing distances to other destinations.
Credit: Getty
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CRGYP5 Bus Stop at Tristan da Cunha, with a passing chicken.
Credit: Alamy
