Tristan Da Cunha (often but erroneously Tristan d'Acunha), an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, with two smaller ones adjoining, lies midway between the coast of South America and the Cape of Good Hope, in 37° 6' S. lat. It is about 21 miles in circumference, is rugged and precipitous, rising in a central conical mountain to 7640 feet. Discovered by the Portuguese in 1506, and named after the commander of the expedition, it was occupied by American sealers in 1790-1811. Formal possession was taken of the island in 1817 by a company of British artillery for the purpose of keeping a watch on Napoleon, at that time a prisoner in St Helena. On the death of Napoleon in 1821 the soldiers were withdrawn, with the exception of a corporal Glass and two companions, who, with some whaling men, were the founders of the present settlement. The colony flourished, and in 1829 numbered 27 souls; in 1873 there were 80, with 600 cattle and 600 sheep. In 1887 there were 97 persons, in 1895 only 61, the population having decreased through migrations to the Cape. The settlement is in a fertile tract to the north-west, and is called Edinburgh. Property is practically held in common, and there is no strong drink and no crime, while the natives are healthy and long-lived. Nearly all the able-bodied men were drowned in December 1885 while attempting to board a vessel; and a grant of stores and provisions was passed by parliament for the use of the survivors in 1886. The oldest inhabitant acts as governor. During the American war the Shenandoah landed forty Federal prisoners here without providing for them. There is parcel post from St Helena as opportunity offers; and a ship of war pays the island an annual visit. Inaccessible
Island, 20 miles distant, harboured two Germans of the name of Stoltenhoff, who underwent a kind of Robinson Crusoe experience there (1871-73). Nightingale Island lies 10 miles from Inaccessible Island.