Flag of Ascension Island
- Capital: Georgetown
Ascension Island is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha
Facts
- Population: 806
- The island’s only inhabitants are people who work on the island
- There is no indigenous or permanent population
- Currency: Saint Helena pound
- Time zone: UTC (GMT)
Geography
- Area: 88 km2 (34 sq mi)
- Ascension Island is located south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean.
- Roughly halfway between the horn of South America and Africa.
- About 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from the coast of Africa and 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) from Brazil
Notes
- The island is a communications centre for the BBC, the Royal Air Force, the US Air Force, and the European Space Agency.
- It also hosts a ground antenna that assist in the operation of the GPS navigational system.
- Ascension was not continually inhabited until 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte was imprisoned on St Helena.
- The British occupied Ascension to prevent the French from using the Island as an escape.
- The Victoria Marines worked to make the Island habitable, introducing a variety of plants and animals. Buildings, which still stand, were erected up the Mountain and in the Garrison, now called Georgetown.
- British sovereignty was never challenged.
Overland
- Adventure awaits, but almost zero possibility to overland.
- Thou distances from landmasses are less, similar overland limitations exist to Saint Helena