Tristan da Cunha: The Most Isolated Human Settlement on Earth

Photo: The Official CTBTO Photostream
Since the early 19th century, the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha — a tiny volcanic island smack in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean — have gone about their lives in quiet anonymity in what is commonly considered the most isolated community on the planet.

Photo: Michael Clarke Stuff
Annexed by the United Kingdom in 1816, the island rests some 1,500 miles from its nearest neighbor, earning the title of the world’s remotest continually inhabited settlement. The island’s only town, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas (known locally as “The Settlement”), is situated on the gently sloping volcanic base at the island’s northern coast.
The population, consisting of 275 British citizens, is distinguished by only eight surnames and shares communal land, surviving only on subsistence farming (including potatoes and locally raised livestock), profits from the island’s lobster factory and the sale of collectible postage stamps.
Photo: Michael Clarke Stuff
While some may fantasize about a bucolic life on a forgotten island in the middle of nowhere, the realities of such an existence are decidedly more severe. The island is routinely battered by vicious South Atlantic storms, and Tristan’s residents are under constant threat of famine, disease and volcanic catastrophe. In 1961, the island was temporarily evacuated due to an eruption that devastated the profitable crayfish canning factory and nearly covered the natural volcanic spring — the island’s only freshwater source.
Photo: Michael Clarke Stuff
Today, the island’s inhabitants and infrequent visitors enjoy a unique array of flora and fauna, including seabirds such as the Northern Rockhopper Penguin and the Atlantic Yellow-Nosed Albatross. Scientific expeditions are routinely commissioned to study the wildlife here and on other islands in the Tristan da Cunha chain
Photo: Michael Clarke Stuff
Social forays are limited to Prince Phillip Hall, where residents and visitors stave off island fever with cool drinks and good times at The Albatross Bar.
Photo: Michael Clarke Stuff
Despite being more or less marooned on a tiny rock surrounded by one of the world’s meanest oceans and being subjected to debilitating endogamy and other island challenges, Tristan’s small community of castaways manages to keep its spirits high while reveling in the title of the world’s most isolated human settlement.
Sources: 1, 2