Flag of Ascension Island

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