I've been fascinated by this island for the past 10 years now. It was an isolated community where you could study its composition in an entirety of its isolation. The island has charming place-names such as "Ridge where the Goat jump off" and "Down where the Minister land his things." The island's official website, tristandc, is put together by the villagers themselves. Thus I wondered, where do they get their electricity from?
So, I corresponded with the island's administrator (who, along with the village's doctor, is from England - only 'foreigners' or outlanders allowed on the island.) The only outlanders who are permanently allowed on the island are anyone who's been shipwrecked, which is how there are two Italian families there now (or is it one?) He explained that there's a crayfish factory owned by a South African company on the island that employs roughly half of the villagers. The factory is powered by diesel generators and for their exclusive deal with the islanders, the generators power the village.
The other half of the employed villagers work "for the government." He didn't really expand on that point, but I took that to mean that part of the jobs are the make-work kind. Because of the harsh climate, the dominant food is the potato and the administrator, Mike Hadley, told me many of the dishes are potato based. The villagers drink an ungodly amount of alcohol per capita, and every year they crew boats to the nearby Gough island where they collect bird eggs for eating. Rest of their supplies are shipped once or twice per year, so saying that they buy in bulk is an understatement.
The islanders are very shy and self-aware of what's perceived as their backwardness. But they appear to be rather charming, in their own way. Whale oil trade made the remote island attractive for resupplying whaling ships, but after the industry's collapse the islanders got cut off. Their genetic pool got cut in half after a single boat capsized and men were lost in a storm. Their speech patterns, fashion and culture lagged behind the times- almost literally by centuries. Their reconnection to modernity happened after the volcano erupted post WWII, and the islanders were evacuated to London for a couple of years. And now, they let tourists on for a few hours and charge a steep fee for a visa stamp.
The island is in middle of nowhere. You really have to pull up a map and slowly zoom out until it sinks in that they're basically living on a desolate volcano: https://goo.gl/maps/CTLn9
But for all its remoteness, the island "caught" a floating oil platform back in the mid-2000s with all its serial numbers filed off, and claimed salvage rights. And of course, at the time I wanted to move to the island and bring them wind turbines.
So, I corresponded with the island's administrator (who, along with the village's doctor, is from England - only 'foreigners' or outlanders allowed on the island.) The only outlanders who are permanently allowed on the island are anyone who's been shipwrecked, which is how there are two Italian families there now (or is it one?) He explained that there's a crayfish factory owned by a South African company on the island that employs roughly half of the villagers. The factory is powered by diesel generators and for their exclusive deal with the islanders, the generators power the village.
The other half of the employed villagers work "for the government." He didn't really expand on that point, but I took that to mean that part of the jobs are the make-work kind. Because of the harsh climate, the dominant food is the potato and the administrator, Mike Hadley, told me many of the dishes are potato based. The villagers drink an ungodly amount of alcohol per capita, and every year they crew boats to the nearby Gough island where they collect bird eggs for eating. Rest of their supplies are shipped once or twice per year, so saying that they buy in bulk is an understatement.
The islanders are very shy and self-aware of what's perceived as their backwardness. But they appear to be rather charming, in their own way. Whale oil trade made the remote island attractive for resupplying whaling ships, but after the industry's collapse the islanders got cut off. Their genetic pool got cut in half after a single boat capsized and men were lost in a storm. Their speech patterns, fashion and culture lagged behind the times- almost literally by centuries. Their reconnection to modernity happened after the volcano erupted post WWII, and the islanders were evacuated to London for a couple of years. And now, they let tourists on for a few hours and charge a steep fee for a visa stamp.
The island is in middle of nowhere. You really have to pull up a map and slowly zoom out until it sinks in that they're basically living on a desolate volcano: https://goo.gl/maps/CTLn9
But for all its remoteness, the island "caught" a floating oil platform back in the mid-2000s with all its serial numbers filed off, and claimed salvage rights. And of course, at the time I wanted to move to the island and bring them wind turbines.