In the South Atlantic, there is an isolated island located on the west side of the mid-ocean ridge that separates the South American plate from the African plate, which is the outcropping part of a volcanic cone, steeply uplifted from the deep-sea plain 4,000 meters below the ocean surface, and the time of exposure is only about 10,000 years ago, and the volcanic eruption expanded the young island by about 100 square kilometers. Today, the island is a British overseas territory, a strategic base point for the United States to project military power in the South Atlantic, and played an important role in the Anglo-Armagh War in 1982, which is Ascension Island.
Ascension Island is an exposed part of a volcanic cone that rises steeply from a deep-sea plain 4,000 meters below the ocean surface.
A volcanic island in the South Atlantic that hangs alone offshore
Ascension Island is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at latitude 7°56' S and longitude 14°19'W, 1558 km from the West African coast, 2250 km from the Brazilian coast of South America and 1294 km from the nearest inhabited island of St. Helena. Geographically, it is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (i.e., the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and belongs to the volcanic island, the main island covers an area of about 88 square kilometers, and there are a number of small islands and reefs with an area of less than 1 square kilometer near its shore, such as Sailor Long Island, East Sailor Long Island, Tatar Reef, etc., with a total area of 91 square kilometers.
Map of British Overseas Territories, Ascension Island is a strategic base point for Britain to project military power in the South Atlantic.
Ascension Island is rugged and mountainous, with the highest point being the dormant volcano Green Mountain, which is 859 meters above sea level and has been dormant since the last eruption in 1843.
Ascension Island is rugged and mountainous, with the highest point being the dormant volcano Green Mountain, which is 859 meters above sea level and has been dormant since the last eruption in 1843. Ascension Island has a tropical oceanic climate with southeastern trade winds, warm and humid, with annual temperatures between 20 °C and 31 °C, less than 200 mm of precipitation in coastal areas, and 635 mm in mountainous areas, with a concentration in January and April. There are some rare animals and plants on the island, and there are more than 40 species that are unique in the world. Examples include gum trees, St. Helena ebony, St. Helena sequoia and St. Helena olives, but in the long-term destruction of human activities, the original vegetation is now very sparse.
Ascension Island has a tropical oceanic climate with southeastern trade winds, warm and humid, with annual temperatures between 20 °C and 31 °C, and precipitation in coastal areas of less than 200 mm
On Sailor Long Bird Island, 270 meters east of Ascension Island, thousands of seabirds are concentrated.
Sailor Long Bird Island has been identified as a breeding ground for seabirds by BirdLife International, but the island is actually more like a huge reef 340 meters long and 220 meters wide.
Of course, in addition to plant species, there are many wild animals, such as Atlantic green sea turtles, lizards, crabs, canaries, partridges, especially thousands of seabirds, on the sailor long bird island 270 meters east of Ascension Island, there are 1500 pairs of Madeira petrels, 500 pairs of red-billed tropical birds, 1000 pairs of white-tailed tropical birds, 6000 pairs of Asenson warship birds, 1300 pairs of blue-faced and 5000 pairs of Nordi black terns, which have been identified by the Bird International as an important breeding ground for seabirds. But the island is actually more like a huge reef 340 meters long, 220 meters wide, and the highest point is 104 meters above sea level.
The Nordi Black Tern on Sailor Long bird Island off the east coast of Ascension Island.
The white-tailed tropical bird on Sailor Long Bird Island attached to Ascension Island
Madeira Storm Petrels off the east coast of Ascension Island
The military strategic value unearthed by Napoleon
The island of Ascension was isolated overseas, and before humans arrived on the island, it was only a paradise for seabirds, and the vegetation was sparse and so barren that when the Portuguese navigator John da Nova Castillo first discovered the island in 1501, and two years later, the portuguese navigator Alfonso Albuquerque rediscovered and named it (named after the Catholic Ascension Day), the island was more than three hundred years later, despite the desperate expansion of the territory of the colonial powers. No state has declared sovereignty over it.
The island of Ascension is isolated and before humans arrived on the island, it was just a paradise for seabirds, and the vegetation was sparse and so barren.
The island's successful artificial ecosystem is one of the few large-scale forest programs in the world. Pictured is a dormant volcano on Ascension Island.
In 1775, when the world-famous explorers Captain Cook and Georg Foster passed through the island, Georg also described it as "a pile of ruined stones", even more monotonous and tedious than Tierra del Fuego and Easter Island, showing the barrenness of Ascension Island. But for ships crossing the Atlantic, the island's seabirds and turtle eggs were a rare food supplement, so when the British captain William Dampier's Lobach struck a reef near Ascension Island in 1701, 60 people on board survived on seabird turtle eggs for nearly two months and then rescued.
With the encouragement of Darwin, the biologist Hooke planted plants on the island to obtain rainwater, change the ecology of the soil, and change the living environment of the island.
In 1815, in order to prevent Napoleon from absconding again, the British established a military camp on Ascension Island, the nearest island to St. Helena, and stationed a Royal Navy detachment
Until 1815, due to the defeat of the French Emperor Napoleon in Waterloo, the anti-French alliance under the leadership of the British, exiled Napoleon to the "Cape World" - St. Helena in the eyes of Europeans, in order to prevent Napoleon from absconding again, it established a military camp on the nearest island of St. Helena - Ascension Island, stationed a Royal Navy detachment, in order to solve the military expenditure, Ascension Island was also included in the Royal Navy battleship sequence under the name of "HMS Ascension". Ascension Island has only since had a permanent population.
The old barracks of Georgetown, the capital of Ascension Island
St. Mary's Church in Georgetown, the capital of Ascension Island
After Napoleon's death in St. Helena in 1821, Ascension Island became a supply depot for the Royal Navy's West African Squadron. At this time, Ascension Island remained a barren place, until the mid-19th century, Darwin passed through Ascension Island on the second circumnavigation of the world on the Berger, and when he returned home, he instigated the biologist Hooke, who eventually persuaded the British army to agree to transform Ascension Island. It took 10 years to transplant a large number of drought-tolerant plants, and let the past naval ships carry plants and soil, relying on living plants to catch more rainwater to improve the soil, and the original desolate Ascension Island has gradually become what it is today.
Hook persuaded the British to agree to transform Ascension Island. It has spent 10 years to transplant a large number of drought-tolerant plants.
By relying on living plants to catch more rainwater to improve the soil, the originally desolate Ascension Island has gradually become what it is today.
While this ecological uplift is unknown today, the island's successful artificial ecosystem is one of the few large-scale forest programs in the world, which has given Mars colonization a great inspiration. In 1881, Ascension Island was removed from the Royal Navy's register of warships, formally assigned to the British colony, under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of South Africa, and in 1922 it was changed to a subsidiary island of St. Helena, although the day-to-day affairs of the island were managed by the British Great Eastern Telegraph Company, and it was not until 1964 that the British government sent its first commissioner to Ascension Island.
It was only in 1964 that the British government sent its first commissioner to Ascension Island. The picture shows the Governor's Palace of Ascension Island
The BBC established satellite relay stations and high-power relay stations in 1966 for transmission, so Ascension Island has a unique international domain abbreviation code - ac
Ascension Island is managed by the Great Eastern Telegraph Company because Ascension Island is one of several transatlantic submarine cable relay stations, which own the island's submarine cable relay station, and later the British Telecommunications Company takes over the communication base station equipment of the Great Eastern Telegraph Company. At present, Ascension Island's external communications are mainly based on military communications, and civilian communications are mostly transmitted through satellite relay stations and high-power relay stations established by the BBC established in 1966, so Ascension Island has a unique international domain abbreviation code - ac.
Georgetown, the capital of Ascension Island
Georgetown, the capital of Ascension Island
In addition, due to the unique geographical location of Assuncian Island, which is almost at the middle of West Africa, South West Africa and South America, it is a necessary place for oil and gas shipments in the oil-rich area of the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, the International Shipping Route of the Cape of Good Hope, and the South American-Europe/North American East Coast Shipping Route, so it has become a strategic center for controlling the South Atlantic. So in 1942, the United States took advantage of the Second World War and reached an agreement with the United Kingdom to build Wildwick Air Force Base on Ascension Island as a transportation relay station and material reserve between the Americas and South Africa, which played a huge role in the anti-submarine warfare of the Atlantic Campaign.
In 1942, the United States and the United Kingdom reached an agreement to build Wildwick Air Force Base on Ascension Island as a transportation relay station and material reserve between the Americas and South Africa
U.S. Military Whitewick Air Force Base on Ascension Island
To this day, Whitewick Air Force Base still has a scrap yard, stacked with various metal equipment and aircraft wreckage left over from World War II. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War and space race stage, nasa in 1963 returned to Ascension Island to build the space shuttle emergency landing runway, spacecraft tracking station and signal interception station and other facilities, the European Space Agency also built an Ariane monitoring station on the island, but the first private base station was the British BBC broadcast relay station.
In the Falklands War, Ascension Island was used as a relay station and air base for the British task force, which supported Britain's victory over Argentina, which had a "geographical advantage".
In particular, during the War of the Malvinas Islands between The United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982 (i.e., the Anglo-Armagh War), it was precisely because of Ascension Island as a relay station for the British task force (i.e., supplies of military materiel and fuel) and an air base that supported Britain's victory over Argentina, which had "geographical advantages". Because the Ascension Island base not only provided rest and landing exercises for the British task force, but also directly took off to send Vulcan bombers and Harrier aircraft to conduct air raids and patrols on the Argentine-controlled Falklands.
Under the 1962 agreement, the United States was obliged to give Britain access to U.S. military facilities on the British islands of Ascension in the Atlantic.
It was with the presence of the Ascension Island base that Argentina had no choice but to do so in the Falklands dispute.
So at a time when Argentina and the United Kingdom are once again at loggerheads over the falklands sovereignty dispute (see Malvinas Islands: The Last Face of the British Empire, Overseas Territories Reclaimed Across Half the World), a U.S. State Department spokesman said that under the 1962 agreement signed, the United States had the obligation to let Britain use the U.S. military facilities on the British island of Ascension in the Atlantic, and after britain notified the commander of the U.S. airfield, British military aircraft had the right to land on the island's airfield. It can be seen that Ascension Island plays an important role in the military power of the United States and Britain in the South Atlantic.
Wind farm on Ascension Island
Wind farm on Ascension Island
Chinese Atlantic Islands that cannot apply for a visa
As a result, there is a fixed air route between Ascension Island and the British mainland, the Malvinas Islands (known as the Falkland Islands), but the flight took off from The Royal Air Force Base in Braiz Norton, Oxfordshire, and landed at the Ravale Ridge Royal Air Force Base in the Falklands, and the mission was carried out by the Airbus A330 MRTT military transport aircraft, which could also be used by civilians, which was both dual-use. The U.S. Air Force also operates a weekly round-trip flight between Wildwick Air Force Base in Ascension Island and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.
The permanent population on Ascension Island is mainly staffed by BBC communications bases and US and British air bases, with a population of about 1,100 people.
The first private base station on Ascension Island was the BBC's broadcast relay station.
Of course, as an international transportation and communication relay station in the Atlantic Ocean and an important naval and air military base for the United States and Britain, the permanent population of Ascension Island is mainly the staff of the BBC communication base and the Us and British air bases, with about 1100 people, distributed in the capital Georgetown, carter hill cable communication relay station, Wildwick Air Force Base and Travelers Mountain. Also because of NASA's space observation base, Ascension Island requires that outsiders must first obtain written approval to board the island, and also explicitly prohibits Belarus, China, Egypt, Iran, Russia, North Korea and other countries from applying for visas.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation and various restrictions, tourism development has not been able to be discussed, and the operation of the island is entirely dependent on financial allocations, rental of communication bases and commemorative stamps issued.
Ascension 2016 Shakespeare Masterpiece Stamps
So far, due to the inconvenience of transportation and various restrictions, tourism development has not been able to start, and the operation of the island has been entirely dependent on financial allocations, rental of communication bases and commemorative stamps issued, which are also common practice in many British overseas territories, although they do not know what the use of snappers is. At the same time, considering the important strategic position of Ascension Island, although There are no indigenous people on Ascension Island, the United Kingdom is also afraid that the open household registration system will cause countries including the United States to covet, after all, overseas territories are the largest resource left in the old colonial empire. Therefore, although there are thousands of people on the island, they all go to the island on a work visa.
Ascension Island is a strategic base comparable to the Indian Ocean 'Diego Garcia Island'.
In short, this is Ascension Island, a British overseas territory headed by Queen Elizabeth II, a base point for the U.S. Navy to deter the South Atlantic military forces in Africa and South America, and a strategic base comparable to the "Island of Diego Garcia" in the Indian Ocean.
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