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Originally discovered by the Portugese Tristao d'Acunha in 1506, it remained uninhabited for the next three centuries. Interestingly, a group of Americans first settled on the island in 1810 naming it the Isle of Refreshment. The Royal Navy took an interest in the island when Napoleon was deposited on the, relatively for the Atlantic, near island of St Helena. The garrison was withdrawn in 1817 but some of its members remained behind to form the nucleus of a small self-sustaining community. These included Corporal William Glass who became known as 'The Governor'.
Others joined William Glass and his family over the next few years. Five bachelors on Tristan in the early 1820s asked a naval Captain if he could arrange for five wives to come from St. Helena. In 1827 the ladies arrived and the community began to increase. In 1836 a Dutchman, Peter Groen, who anglicised his name to Green, joined them. In 1837 and 1849 Thomas Rogers and Andrew Hagan, both American whalermen, also settled on Tristan. By 1856 there were 96 inhabitants.
However the decline in whaling, the transition to steam ships and the opening of the Suez Canal, all occurring at around the same time, stalled Tristan's growth. Many inhabitants emigrated to the USA and Cape Town and the Island was forgotten apart from occasions when the remaining islanders rescued shipwrecked sailors. It was partly in recognition of this help and the activities of missionaries that the British Government in 1876 formally declared the islands to be part of the British Empire. An annual visit by a British warship to bring supplies was started.
In 1938, the colony was brought under more formal control from St Helena. The island did have to be fully evacuated between 1961 and 1963 when the volcano erupted. It is still a dependency to this day.
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