Tristan da Cuhna
Located in the southern Atlantic, the island group was discovered
by a Portugese Fleet led by Admiral Tristão da Cunha in 1506.
The islands were annexed by Great Britain in 1816 and served
as a base for the soldiers "guarding" Napoleon on the island of
St. Helena.
The Island is now a dependency of the British Crown Colony
of St. Helena.
Thought to be extinct, the volcano on the island erupted in
1961, leading to the evacuation of the inhabitants to Great Britain. The
islanders returned in 1963.
The stamps illustrated below were issued on November 1st 1982.
The 15p stamp shows the distribution of the numerous cinder
cones on the island which, like those on Ascension, indicate that the island
is but dormant. The 35p stamp shows the location of the 1961 eruption with
repect to the principal habitation, Edinburgh.
The relationship to St. Helena is clearly demonstrated in
the next stamps, the first stamps to be issued specifically for Tristan,
overprints of the Badge of the Colony.
The following stamps were issued in 1976 and 1979, volcanoes
on stamps on stamps
The next stamps celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Royal
Geographical Society in 1980
The next three stamps include a map and two views of Tristan,
issued 1981
The next stamp shows the freighter, Tristania II with the
island in the background, issued 1976
The last stamp depicts an early "local", reproduced
on a souvenir sheet in 1979
On a souvenir sheet celebrating their 500th Anniversary in
2007, Tristan depicted an image of the first stamp of 1952
Likewise, they issued a stamp depicting the 1961 eruption
and the subsequent survey by the Royal Society in 1962
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