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Country Guide > Europe > British Overseas Territories | |
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St Helena The Castle, Jamestown, St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean Tel: 2555 or 2525. Fax: 2598. E-mail: OCS@helanta.sh Main Street, Jamestown, St Helena STHL 1ZZ, South Atlantic Ocean Tel: 2158. Fax: 2159. E-mail: help@sthelenatourism.com Website: www.sthelenatourism.com South Atlantic Ocean. Area: 122 sq km (47 sq miles). Population: 4647 (2000); official estimate. Population density: 59.9 per sq km. Capital: Jamestown (population 884). Geography: Located approximately 1930km (1200 miles) west of the Angolan coast. The island has a rare flora and fauna with some 40 species that are unique to St Helena. Religion: Mostly Anglican. Time: GMT. Communications: Telephone: Country Code: 290. Credit card calls are permitted to Canada, the UK and the USA. Euro, Mastercard and Visa are accepted as payment of telephone calls. Cable & Wireless operates. Press: The St Helena Herald is published weekly. Money: The St Helena Pound is equivalent to the UK Pound Sterling. Visa is accepted by some businesses and shops. Travellers cheques can be cashed at the Finance Department Cash Office, The Castle, Jamestown. Health: A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required for all travellers over one year of age coming from infected areas in Africa; see the Health appendix for more information. There is no National Health Service but there is a reciprocal health agreement with the UK, which entitles all those with proof of UK residence (ie NHS medical card) to hospital treatment in out-patient clinics during normal clinic times at local rates. Travel: There are no railways or airfields, but the RMS St Helena visits the island 25 times a year (15 visits from Ascension Island, including 4 from Cardiff and 10 visits from Cape Town). All effort is currently concentrating on constructing an airport on St Helena (on Prosperous Bay Plain) by 2008. In October 1999, the UK and the USA announced that Wideawake Airfield on Ascension Island should be opened on a limited basis to civilian aircraft. Negotiations to bring this into effect are ongoing. Roads on St Helena are nearly all single lanes. Driving is on the left-hand side of the road, with strict drink-driving regulations applied, plus a closely observed etiquette that all drivers coming down must make way for up-coming traffic. History: St Helena was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Portuguese navigator Joan da Nova. In 1658, Richard, Lord Protector, authorised for the British East India Company to colonise and fortify the island. Later, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled here in 1815 until his death in 1821. In 1834, the island became a crown colony. St Helena depends on aid from the UK, although fishing, livestock, handicrafts and timber are important to the economy. |