Country Guide

St Helena is a remote island in the South Atlantic. It is situated in latitude 15°S and is 1,930 km/1,200 mi from the coast of southern Africa. It has an area of 122 sq km/47 sq mi and is rather mountainous, with a single peak rising to 820 m/2,700 ft.

St Helena has a tropical climate with no great extremes of temperature. Jamestown on the north coast has a very low annual rainfall but this coast is sheltered from the southeast trade winds which bring a much heavier fall to the south coast and to the higher ground; as much as 750-1,000 mm/30-40 in.

No sunshine records are available for the island, but on the north coast the weather is warm, sunny, and dry for much of the year.

The climate of the island is rarely unpleasant or hazardous, although Napoleon, when exiled there from 1815 until his death in 1821, found much to complain about in its climate and dampness.