Forgotten World (211): Ascension Island
It’s been a month since I had one of my regular weeks of postings in my long-running series called Forgotten World – a look at parts of the world that hardly feature in our media or thoughts. You can check the previous 210 entries here.
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around 1,600 kilometres from the coast of Africa, and 2,250 kilometres from the coast of South America which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa. It is politically organized and governed as part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
The island is the location of Wideawake Airfield, which is a joint facility of the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force, and the BBC World Service Atlantic Relay Station. It hosts one of five ground antennas that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system. Less than 1,000 live there.