Nightingale Island

Nightingale Iceland is an island in the South Atlantic, which thus belongs to the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha and the British overseas territory of Saint Helena. Located nearby are the smaller islands of Iceland and Middle Stoltenhoff Iceland.

Nightingale Iceland is about 2.5 km long, 1.5 km wide and has an area of ​​about 2.6 square kilometers. The highest point is located in the north of the island at 335 meters above sea level. Nightingale Iceland is visited because of its fauna of cruise ships.

History

Nightingale was discovered in 1506 by Tristão da Cunha. 1656 landed the crew of the Dutch ship t'Nachtglas on the island, which was called by her Gebroken one island. Later, the island was named after Gamaliel Nightingale, who explored the island in 1760.

On October 10, 1961, steadily increasing volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha forcing the entire population to evacuate to the Nightingale Iceland. They were later brought by ship to the UK, from where most of the islanders in 1963 returned back to their homes.

In March 2011, the cargo ship Oliva ran off the island aground and broke. It came out of a larger amount of heavy oil.

Fauna

Nightingale Iceland serves as a breeding ground for more than a million seabirds, among other breed here Great Shearwater ( Puffinus gravis ), Gelbnasenalbatros ( Thalassarche chlororhynchos ) and Rockhopper Penguin ( Eudyptes chrysocome ). The island can only be entered in the company of locals from Tristan da Cunha.