TRISTAN DA CUNHA

78 square miles (Tristan 38; Gough 35; Nightingale, Middle, Inaccessible and Stoltenhoff 5 combined) surrounded almost completely by 2000-foot cliffs, with no natural harbour. The most remote archipelago in the world! Visitors can 'enjoy' clambering up and down a rope ladder to visit it.

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1506: Portuguese explorer Tristao da Cunha finds the island, names it and leaves it.

1816: The British claim the island as part of their 'defence' of Napoleon's imprisonment on St. Helena.

1823: British settlement begins.

1870: The German Stoltenhoff brothers try and fail to settle on Inaccessible Island, but the next island along is named after them.

1961: The population is evacuated to the uninhabited Nightingale Island, and subsequently to St. Helena, when the volcano erupts. They are later moved to the UK.

1963: Most islanders vote to return.

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