‘A young slip of botany’: botanical networks, the South Atlantic, and Britain’s maritime worlds,c.1790–1810

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McAleer
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
Network Building ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
St Helena ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Patterns Of Interaction ◽  
Maritime Empire

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between science and empire, through the prism of British botanical engagement with the South Atlantic in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It investigates the logistics of plant exchanges, as information, expertise, and specimens followed the maritime contours of the British empire. The discussion traces the nascent network-building undertaken by officials, residents, and visitors on St Helena and at the Cape of Good Hope, and the exchange of plant specimens with London and, crucially, with other places around the empire. The article suggests that such activities offer perspectives on wider patterns of interaction with an area located at the crossroads of Britain’s maritime empire. In time, the region forged its own botanical networks and created alternative axes of exchange, association, and movement.

Gough Island

Polar Record ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 3 (19) ◽  
pp. 279-279
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
Following Instructions ◽  
Gough Island ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Colonial Office

According to a note by Allan Crawford (Geographical Journal, xciv, p. 412) H.M.S. Milford called at Gough Island in the Southern Ocean at the end of March 1938. Following instructions from the Colonial Office, the captain landed with a party to hoist the Union Jack and declare this island a dependency of St Helena. Discovered in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, and named by them Diego Alvarez, it seems to have been lost sight of until, in 1731, Captain Gough, homeward bound in his ship Richmond round the Cape of Good Hope, sighted an island in the South Atlantic, which henceforth went by his name. It was only slowly that geographers came to the conclusion that Diego Alvarez and Gough were one and the same island, and then the former name gradually disappeared from charts. Gough Island has been claimed as British territory since Captain Gough reported it.

Islands, Voyaging and Empires in the Age of Sail

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Royle
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
British Empire ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
South Atlantic Ocean ◽  
The South ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Fresh Food ◽  
St Helena

Successful transoceanic voyages relied on networks of islands. Some provided places where crew and passengers could rest; where ships could replenish their supplies of fresh food and water; and where dockyards allowed vessels to be repaired. Islands were thus often employed as way stations in this world of maritime endeavour. St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean, was one of the first islands to be put to such use in the burgeoning English overseas empire of the seventeenth century. Other islands were of value for what they could produce. They were not acquired to facilitate or protect British operations elsewhere; they themselves were the prizes. The contribution of islands to the geography of the British Empire in the age of sail was significant, and certainly of more importance than their mere physical size would suggest.

Chapter 7 Expansion and Failure of the Southern Fishery c. 1808-1840

2004 ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Gordon Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Whale ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The South ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
South West ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Opening Up

The southern fishery was in no better shape, though it had promised so much at the turn of the century, when it appeared to offer limitless regions for the exploitation of the more valuable sperm whale. In fact, after the major expansion of the 1790s, the Southern Fishery stagnated in comparison with the Northern Fishery, which expanded both its catches and value with the opening up of the Davis Straits grounds. Between 1804-1805 and 1814-1815 the tonnage of Northern whalers grew by sixty-six percent, whereas that of Southern whales actually declined by twenty percent as the trade was forced to make time because of the troubles created by war. Whalers going south-east were disturbed on the Cape of Good Hope fishery, at least four being captured by the Dutch and taken into Capetown in 1804 alone. Whalers going south-west faced the historic difficulties of navigating and victualling in Spanish wasters. The chief Pacific sperm fisheries were still off the coasts of Chile, Peru and California, and around the Galapagos Islands and most of the victualling places, so vital for the Pacific trade, were in Spanish territory: Concepcion and Valparaiso in Chile, Lima and Payta in Peru, and Guayaquil in Ecuador. Captains were once more reluctant to double the Horn, though equally dangerous was the long haul through the south Atlantic for ships that missed the St. Helena Convoy....

Tectono-magmatic reactivation of Téfidet Cretaceous trough during Cenozoic (Aïr, Niger)

2016 ◽  
Vol 187 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yacouba Ahmed ◽  
Moussa Konaté ◽  
Moussa Harouna
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Activity ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Lake Chad ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Extension Period

AbstractThe Téfidet trough (eastern Niger) belongs to the Ténéré megasystem set of Cretaceous rifts N130°E to N170°E oriented, corresponding to the direction of the Lake Chad-Hoggar tectonic axis.The study of the relationship between the structure of the trough and alkaline fissural volcanism that developed there from the Oligocene to Plio-Quaternary shows the uniqueness of the Téfidet trough compared to the neighboring contemporary volcanic areas of Hoggar, Cameroon, and southern Aïr.The tectono-magmatic reactivation of the Cretaceous Téfidet trough developed in two steps: – a period contemporaneous with the Tuareg shield bulging (Aïr, Hoggar, Iforas);– a subsequent extension period generally N060°E, which has persisted since the opening of the South Atlantic (upper Jurassic to Plio-Quaternary).The fissural volcanism, due to the reactivation of Pan African and Cretaceous faults evolved concomitantly with the N060°E extension (syn-magmatic micro-fractures with basaltic filling), in several steps, from Oligocene to Plio-Quaternary.This study highlights the existence of periods of quietness and recovery of volcanic activity, for which two assumptions can be made: – no enough absolute datings,– apolyphased extension of the rift.The latter hypothesis seems to be supported by three periods of volcanic quietness, 28–24 m.y., 20–14 m.y. and 8–5 m.y., observed in the northern and the southern Aïr, Gréboun and Todgha, respectively.

scholarly journals Recent decline of the St Helena Wirebird Charadrius sanctaehelenae

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
NEIL McCULLOCH
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Critically Endangered ◽  
The South ◽  
Related Development ◽  
The Future ◽  
Vegetation Surveys ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Atlantic Island

SummaryThe Wirebird Charadrius sanctaehelenae, a plover, is the only surviving bird species endemic to the South Atlantic Island of St Helena. The species is currently dependent on habitats that are wholly anthropogenic or extensively modified by human activity. A census carried out during 2005–2006 showed that the Wirebird has undergone a decline of more than 40% over a five-year period to a total of 235 individuals. The species now qualifies for re-classification as ‘Critically Endangered’. Vegetation surveys support the results of a previous study in suggesting that the decline may be associated with degradation of the Wirebird's favoured grassland habitat due to reduction of livestock numbers. Predation by introduced mammals and birds is also likely to be a factor but this remains unquantified. The Wirebird may face additional threats to its habitat in the future unless potential tourism-related development associated with the proposed construction of an airport on the island is closely regulated.

scholarly journals The occurrence of mobulid rays at St Helena Island, Cardno seamount and Bonaparte seamount in the South Atlantic and its significance for conservation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalea Beard ◽  
Leeann Henry ◽  
Samantha Cherrett ◽  
Alistair D.M. Dove
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Scuba Diving ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The South ◽  
Species Occurrence ◽  
The North ◽  
Photographic Evidence ◽  
St Helena ◽  
Frequent Visitor

AbstractData from 369 sightings of mobulid rays from St Helena Island, Cardno and Bonaparte seamounts in the South Atlantic are summarised. 50 % (183) of sightings were observed from a boat, 48 % (176) of sightings were encountered in water, of which 95 % (168) were whilst actively scuba diving. 2 % (10) of mobulid ray sightings were observed from land. Sightings data indicate that the Chilean devil ray Mobula tarapacana (Philippi, 1892) is a frequent visitor to St Helena and is present all year. We document the first photographic evidence of the presence of oceanic manta, Mobula birostris (Walbaum, 1792) at St Helena. Two solitary individuals were photographed off the north coast of St Helena in June 2018. These sightings confirm previous unverified reports on the species occurrence and extend the known distribution range of M. birostris in the open South Atlantic Ocean to 16°S.

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