Saint Helena , named after St. Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin and a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. The territory consists of the island of Saint Helena, as well as the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.

Saint Helena is famous for being the place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1815 and his death in 1821. Longwood House, where Napoleon stayed, and Sane Valley where he was buried, were given to the French government in 1858.

Saint Helena is a member of the International Island Games Association.

The island was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova and named after Helena of Constantinople. The Portuguese found it uninhabited, and over time built a chapel and some houses, although no permanent settlement was founded. The Portuguese introduced goats as a source of meat and planted lemon trees for future ship crews, a number of whom were left on the island to recover from scurvy and other ailments.

Fernando Lopes was the first long-term resident - a mutilated Portuguese prisoner who escaped from a ship about 1515 and, apart from a brief return journey to meet the Pope, lived on the island until his death in 1545.

Thomas Cavendish became the first Englishman to visit the island, on his ill-fated expedition of 1591.

From about 1600 the island was well known by captains from Portugal, England, France and Holland. The island was used for collecting food and as a rendezvous point but at homebound voyages from Asia only. Sometimes ships waited near the island, when their captains were hoping to pirate hostile richly-loaded ships.

The Dutch claimed the island between 1645 and 1659, when it was settled by the English East India Company under a charter granted by Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector. A permanent settlement — of British colonists and black slaves — was founded at Jamestown, named after James, Duke of York (later King James II). The English East India Company used the Island as a re-victualling station, primarily on the long return voyage from India via the Cape of Good Hope.

Saint Helena and its dependencies are among some of the most remote islands in the world. Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha can only be reached by boat, although a large military airfield is located on Ascension Island, with weekly flights to RAF Brize Norton, England.

These RAF flights offer a limited number of seats to civilians. The RMS Saint Helena runs between the United Kingdom, Ascension, St Helena and Cape Town. It no longer calls at Tristan da Cunha. However, the RMS Saint Helena is due for eventual decommissioning and may be partly replaced by an expanded airfield on Saint Helena Island.

The British Government announced plans to construct an airport in Saint Helena in March 2005. The airport is expected to be completed by 2010.

Also, a van serves as a bus to carry people around Saint Helena, especially from the Half Tree Hollow neighbourhood of Jamestown.