About Ascension Island:

Most people who know about Ascension Island have either lived here, are involved with the military or they have heard about the majestic Green Turtles that nest on Ascension Island's beaches every year.

However...

Ascension Island is located just south of the equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. Ascension Island is an overseas territory which forms part of a single territorial grouping under the sovereignty of the British Crown. It lies at latitude 7 57’S and longitude 14 22’W, 1,300 km northwest of St. Helena. The nearest continental land is Cape Palmas (Liberia) 1,504 km to the NNE. The island is roughly triangular, 11.5km from north to south and 14km from west to east. It has an area of 97 square km, with extremely rugged volcanic terrain. The western part of the island is relatively low and dry while the eastern end is higher and moister, rising to the Peak of Green Mountain at an altitude of 859m. Just north of the eastern end of the main island lies Boatswainbird Island, with an area of about 5 ha; there are also a number of rocky stacks around the island.

Credit for the discovery of Ascension on 25th March 1501 goes to the Portuguese Admiral Joao da Nova, on his way to India using the newly developed route round the Cape of Good Hope. The island remained uninhabited for three centuries, primarily because there was no access to fresh running water. In 1815, with the imprisonment of Napoleon on St. Helena Island, a military base, the first settlement, was built.

Animals and plants were introduced to feed the garrison, the impacts of these introduced species glaringly obvious today as the indigenous populations fight for survival against the competition.

Ascension is an incredible place with human history derived from military and communications institutions; a unique young volcanic landscape; an unusual variety of flora and fauna, and a rare diversity of marine life.