Inaccessible
| Inaccessible Island | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Waters | South Atlantic |
| Archipelago | Tristan da Cunha |
| Geographical location | 37 ° 17 '58 " S , 12 ° 40' 44" W |
 |
|
| length | 6 km |
| width | 5 km |
| surface | 14 km² |
| Highest elevation |
Swales Fell 561 m |
| Residents | uninhabited |
 |
|
Inaccessible is an extinct volcano in the Atlantic Ocean that forms the uninhabited island of the same name (Inaccessible Island) . It is located about 33 km southwest of the main island Tristan da Cunha and belongs - like the entire island group Tristan da Cunha - politically to the British overseas territory of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha .
Inaccessible Island measures about 6 km from west to east, about 5 km from north to south and has an area of about 14 km². At its highest point, Swales Fell in the southwest, just 400 meters from the coast, it is 561 m high. About 20 kilometers southeast of Inaccessible Island are Nightingale Island and two other, smaller islands called Middle Island and Stoltenhoff Island .
history
The island was discovered in 1656 by the crew of the Dutch ship 't Nachtglas and originally named after the ship's name Nachtglas Eylant , followed by the remark “ontoegankelijk” (German: “inaccessible”) in brackets because the seafarers who had landed on the island could not penetrate the interior of the island. The nickname later became the general name for the island. The last attempt from 1982 to 1983 was a group of scientists and students who were there for the purpose of bird counting and research to cross the island, but failed because of the steep slopes and thick bushes. The island has been the strictest nature reserve since 1995 and entry is only possible with permission and accompanied by experienced locals from Tristan da Cunha.
fauna
An endemic species of the island is the flightless, diurnal Inaccessible Island Rail ( Atlantisia rogersi ). Other birds found on the island include the Tristan thrush ( Nesocichla eremita ), the Antipodean tern ( Sterna vittata ) and the rockhopper penguin ( Eudyptes chrysocome ). There is also a colony of sub-Antarctic fur seals ( Arctocephalus tropicalis ) on the island. The island belongs since 2004 along with the 1995 listed there Gough Island for World Heritage of UNESCO .
Trivia
In Daniel Suarez's thriller Control , Inaccessible is the location of an underground prison for highly creative scientists whose research results are to be kept secret from mankind.
See also
Web links
- Inaccessible Island. In: The Tristan da Cunha website. Tristan da Cunha Government and Tristan da Cunha Association (English).
- Inaccessible Island in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English).
- Inaccessible Island on The South Atlantic & Subantarctic Islands ( Memento from January 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English, with the wrong year of the discovery of Inaccessible ).
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Daniel Suarez: Control . 4th edition. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-499-26863-2 .
Heritage: Durham Castle and Durham Cathedral (1986) | Ironbridge Gorgewith The Iron Bridge (1986) | Studley Royal Park with the ruins of Fountains Abbey (1986) | Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Monuments of Megalithic Culture (1986) | King Edward's castles and city walls in Gwynedd (1986) | Blenheim Palace (1987) | Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey with St Margaret's Church (1987) | Downtown Bath (1987) | Borders of the Roman Empire : Hadrian's Wall (1987) and Antonine Wall (2008) | Tower of London (1988) | Cathedral , St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church in Canterbury (1988) | Edinburgh Old and New Town (1995) | Maritime Greenwich (1997) | The Heart of Neolithic Orkney (1999) | Old town of Saint George's (Bermuda) with fortifications (2000) | Blaenavon industrial landscape (2000) | New Lanark Industrial Model Estate (2001) | Saltaire industrial village (2001) | Derwent Valley Mills (2001) | Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew (2003) | Liverpool - Maritime Trade City (2004, R ) | Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (2006) | Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (2009) | Forth Bridge (2015) | Gorham Cave (2016) | Lake District (2017) | Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory (2019)
Natural Heritage: Giant's Causeway and Coast (1986) | Henderson (Pitcairn Islands) (1988) | Gough Island and Inaccessible (1995) | Dorset and East Devon Coast (2001)
Cultural / Natural Heritage: St. Kilda (Scotland) (1986)