Tristan was discovered in 1506 by Tristao da Cunha, who, though he could not land, named the island after himself. There are five islands in the group, namely : Tristan, Inaccessible, Nightingale, Middle and Stoltenhoff. the group lies in the South Atlantic Ocean 1500 miles from the nearest land (South Africa) and is considered to be the Loneliest Island in the world. It is a projection from the Mid-Atlantic ridge, just like Iceland, Ascension Island and St.Helena. Tristan's Peak rises some 6700 feet and consists of cinder and other volcanic rock and is invariably covered in snow in winter. Rainfall is high around 60 inches a year and the sun shines on average around 2 hours a day. The island is roughly circular eight miles in diameter with gulches radiating from the central cone to the sea which channel the frequent rain to the lower ground thereby making the lower slopes fertile. The coastline is exposed around the whole of its 25 mile circumference and there are no sheltered landing places so ships have to lie off in deep water and transfer their cargo to small boats for landing.

The island was not landed upon until 1643 and not permanently settled until 1810 when an American, Captain William Lambert landed with 2 companions and established a base there, but only 1 remained by 1812 ythe others having drowned in a boating accident. The British claimed the island in 1816 as a defence for St.Helena at the time of Napoleon's internment there.

The first settler regarded as the founder of the community was a Scot William Glass, who was once part of the garrison and returned to settle with his family and was soon joined by others. By 1826 the population had risen to 14 including shipwrecked sailors and in 1827 some women volunteers from St.Helena arrived to settle. Throughout the nineteenth century the population slowly increased with several shipwrecked sailors but it was not until the early twentieth century, when 2 Tristan men married 2 Irish Girls new blood was introduced in the female line. There are only seven family names on the island being Hagan, Rogers, Glass, Lavarello, Swain, Green and Repetto. The island passed into obscurity until 1961, on August 6th tremors and rockfalls were felt behind the settlement which became more frequent as the weeks passed. Nobody could explain them and it was thought the heavy rain had caused landslides. at the beginning of October things got worse and a new fissure was found to have opened in the mountain side. The following day the earth tremors got worse as the administrator considered it wise to move the islanders away from the danger zone and the whole population was evacuted to Nightingale Island some 25 miles away as examination of the site showed a mound had formed which was increasing in size rapidly and suggested imminent volcanic activity. A ship was scheduled to call at Tristan to pick up half a dozen passenger and was diverted to Nightingale to pick up the 290 residents to take them to Capetown. As they passed Tristan they saw the volcano in full eruption. The islanders were embarked for England in Capetown and were accomadated at Calshot near Southampton. At the turn of the year passing ships noted the volcano was still erupting and the traditional landing places had disappeared under lava. The eruptions had died by August 1962 and the Islanders voted overwhelmingly to return and in November 1963 they did so>

In 1965, a new harbour was built for the re-establishment of the Crawfish Industry and this is now the Island's main industry, together with the sale of postage stamps to collectors and now the island has slipped back into obscurity remote from civilisation.