Trindade and Martim Vaz ( pt, Trindade e Martim Vaz, ) is an
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
located in the South Atlantic Ocean about east of the coast of the Brazilian state of
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
, of which it forms a part. The archipelago has a total area of and a navy supported research station of up to 8 persons.
The archipelago consists of five islands and several rocks and stacks; Trindade is the largest island, with an area of ; about east of it are the tiny Martim Vaz islets, with a total area of .
The islands are of volcanic origin and have rugged terrain. They are largely barren, except for the southern part of Trindade. They were discovered in 1502 by Portuguese explorer
Estêvão da Gama and stayed Portuguese until they became part of Brazil at its
independence in 1822. From 1895 to 1896, Trindade was occupied by the United Kingdom until an agreement with Brazil was reached. During the period of British occupation, Trindade was known as South Trinidad.
The islands are situated some southwest of
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
and west of
Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
, and the distance to the west coast of Africa is .
Due the introduction of invasive species such as sheep, etc. the island's biodiversity has heavily deteriorated since the second half of the 20th century, with many indigenous species becoming endangered.
Geography
The individual islands with their respective locations are given in the following:
*Ilha da Trindade (Portuguese for "Trinity Island") ()
*Ilhas de Martim Vaz ()
**Ilha do Norte ("North Island"), north-northwest of Ilha da Racha, high. ()
**Ilha da Racha ("Crack Island") or Ilha Martim Vaz, the largest, high near the northwest end. The shores are strewn with boulders. ()
**Rochedo da Agulha ("Needle Rock"), a flat circular rock northwest of Ilha da Racha, is high.
**Ilha do Sul ("South Island"), south of Ilha da Racha, is a rocky pinnacle. Ilha do Sul is the easternmost point of Brazil. ()
Trindade
![Martin Vaz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Martin_Vaz.png)
The small island of Trindade, with an area of 10.3 km², lies at the eastern end of an E-W-trending chain of
submarine volcanoes
Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...
and
guyot
In marine geology, a guyot (pronounced ), also known as a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain ( seamount) with a flat top more than below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed .[Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North Ame ...]
near the eastern end of the submarine
Vitória-Trindade Ridge.
Trindade is a mountainous, desiccated volcanic island with numerous phonolitic lava domes and steep-sided volcanic plugs. The highest summit is Pico Desejado, near the center, high. Nearby to the northwest are Pico da Trindade () and Pico Bonifácio (). Pico Monumento, a remarkable peak in the form of a slightly inclined cylinder, rises from the west coast to . The youngest volcanism, at Vulcão do Paredão () on the southeast tip of the island, constructed a
pyroclastic
Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroc ...
cone with lava flows that are no older than the
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
(Almeida, 1961). Remnants of the crater of the cinder cone are still preserved. Lava flows traveled from the cone to the north, where they formed an irregular shoreline and offshore islands. Smaller volcanic centers of the latest volcanic stage are found in the Morro Vermelho () area in the south-central part of the island.
Until 1850, the island was covered 85% of its length by a forest of ''
Colubrina
''Colubrina'' is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Rhamnaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia, northern Australia, and the Indian Ocean islands. Common names include ...
glandulosa'' trees, 15m in height and 40 cm trunk diameter. The introduction of non-native animals like goats, pigs, sheep, etc. and the indiscriminate cutting of trees led to total
extirpation
Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...
of the same, causing heavy erosion throughout the island with a loss of about 1 to 2 meter of fertile soils. The effect of this devastation impaired the flow of water streams, with the depletion of several springs.
There is a small settlement in the north on the shore of a cove called Enseada dos Portugueses, supporting a garrison of the Brazilian Navy, 32 strong.
The archipelago is the main nesting site of the
green sea turtle
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...
in Brazil. There are also large numbers of breeding seabirds, including the endemic subspecies of the
Great frigatebird
The great frigatebird (''Fregata minor'') is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific (including the Galapagos Islands) and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South At ...
(''Fregata minor nicolli'') and
Lesser frigatebird
The lesser frigatebird (''Fregata ariel'') is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae. At around 75 cm (30 in) in length, it is the smallest species of frigatebird. It occurs over tropical and subtropical waters across the Indian ...
(''F. ariel trinitatis''), and it is the only Atlantic breeding site for the
Trindade petrel
The Trindade petrel (''Pterodroma arminjoniana'') is a species of seabird and a member of the gadfly petrels. The bird is in size, with an wingspan.
The petrel has various color morphs: dark and light, as well as intermediates between the two. ...
.
Humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...
s have been confirmed to use the Trindade island as a nursery.
History
16th to 18th century
The Trindade and Martim Vaz Islands were discovered in 1502 by Portuguese navigators led by
Estêvão da Gama, and along with Brazil, became part of the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
.
Many visitors have been to Martim Vaz, the most famous of whom was the English astronomer
Edmund Halley
Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.
From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Ha ...
, who took possession of the island on behalf of the
British Monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...
in 1700. Wild goats and hogs, descendants of ones set free by Halley, were still found on Martim Vaz in 1939.
, a 198-ton, 12-gun
cutter-rigged
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
, was wrecked on Trindade on 21 October 1781, shortly after Commander
Philippe d'Auvergne
}
Philippe d'Auvergne (13 November 1754 – 18 September 1816) was a British naval officer and the adopted son of Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne the sovereign Duke of Bouillon. He chose a career in the Royal Navy that spanned a period of history w ...
had taken over command. ''Rattlesnake'' had been ordered to survey the island to ascertain whether it would make a useful base for outward-bound
Indiamen
East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...
. She anchored, but that evening the wind increased and by seven o’clock she was dragging. Two hours later the first cable parted and Commander d’Auvergne
club-hauled his way out, setting main and fore sails, and using the remaining anchor cable as a spring. This successfully put ''Rattlesnake''’s head to seaward. The remaining cable was then cut, and the sloop wore round and stood out to sea. However the ground now shallowed quite rapidly and suddenly ''Rattlesnake'' struck a submerged rock. She started filling with water, so, in order to preserve the lives of the crew, d'Auvergne ran her ashore.
Commodore Johnstone on board had previously wished to colonise the island and claim it for Britain, so d'Auvergne agreed to stay on the tiny island with 30 sailors, 20 captured French sailors, one French woman, some animals and supplies. They were resupplied by another ship in January 1782, then they appear to have been forgotten, as they lived on the tiny island for a year until and a convoy of Indiamen, which fortuitously called there, rescued them in late December 1782.
Captain
La Pérouse stopped there at the outset of his 1785 voyage to the Pacific.
19th to 20th century
In 1839, the
Ross expedition
The Ross expedition was a voyage of scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, led by James Clark Ross, with two unusually strong warships, HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror''. It explored what is now called the Ross Sea and discov ...
made a brief stop on Trindade, as chronicled by
Robert McCormick. He described Pico Monumento as the "Nine Pin Rock".
In 1889,
Edward Frederick Knight
Edward Frederick (E. F.) Knight (23 April 1852 – 3 July 1925) was an English barrister, soldier, journalist, and author of 20 books, many based on his dispatches as a war correspondent.Roth, Mitchel P. and James Stuart Olson. (1997) ''Histor ...
went treasure hunting on the island. He was unsuccessful but he wrote a detailed description of the island and his expedition, titled ''
The Cruise of the Alerte
In 1889, Edward Frederick Knight sailed to Trindade in a 64-foot yawl named the ''Alerte''. He wrote the book ''The Cruise of the Alerte'' about his journey with detailed descriptions of Trindade.
Arthur Ransome used the descriptions from Kn ...
''.
In 1893 another
Franco-American,
James Harden-Hickey
James Harden-Hickey (born James Aloysius Harden, December 8, 1854 – February 9, 1898) was a Franco-American author, newspaper editor, duellist, adventurer and self-proclaimed Prince of Trinidad, reigning as James I.
Early life
James Aloysius ...
, claimed the island and declared himself as James I, Prince of
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
. According to James Harden-Hickey's plans, Trinidad, after being recognized as an independent country, would become a
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
and have him as dictator.
[Bryk (2002)](_blank)
He designed postage stamps, a national flag, and a coat of arms; established a
chivalric order
An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concep ...
, the "Cross of Trinidad"; bought a schooner to transport colonists; appointed
M. le Comte de la Boissiere
( ; ; pl. ; ; 1512, from Middle French , literally "my lord") is an honorific title that was used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It has now become the customary French title of respec ...
as
secretary of state; opened a
consular office
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
at 217
West 36th Street in New York City; and even issued government bonds to finance construction of infrastructure on the island. Despite his plans, his idea was ridiculed or ignored by the world.
In July 1895, the British again tried to take possession of this strategic position in the Atlantic.
The British planned to use the island as a cable station.
However, Brazilian diplomatic efforts, along with Portuguese support, reinstated Trindade Island to Brazilian sovereignty.
In order to clearly demonstrate sovereignty over the island, now part of the State of
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
and the municipality of
Vitória, a landmark was built on 24 January 1897. Nowadays, Brazilian presence is marked by a permanent Brazilian Navy base on the main island.
In July 1910 the ship ''
Terra Nova'' carrying the last
expedition of Captain
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...
to the Antarctic arrived at the island, at the time uninhabited. Some members of the Scott's expedition explored the island with scientific purposes, and a description of it is included in ''
The Worst Journey in the World
''The Worst Journey in the World'' is a 1922 memoir by Apsley Cherry-Garrard of Robert Falcon Scott's ''Terra Nova'' expedition to the South Pole in 1910–1913. It has earned wide praise for its frank treatment of the difficulties of the exped ...
'', by
Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard (2 January 1886 – 18 May 1959) was an English explorer of Antarctica. He was a member of the ''Terra Nova'' expedition and is acclaimed for his 1922 account of this expedition, ''The Worst Journey in th ...
, one of the members of the expedition.
In August 1914, the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
established a supply base for its warships off Trindade. On 14 September 1914, the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
auxiliary cruiser
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
fought the German off Trindade in the
Battle of Trindade
SS ''Cap Trafalgar'' was a German ocean liner launched in 1913 for the Hamburg Süd line. In 1914, she was converted for use as an auxiliary cruiser during World War I. She was the first armed merchant cruiser sunk by a ship of the same class; ...
. ''Carmania'' sank ''Cap Trafalgar'', but sustained severe damage herself.
21st Century
Trindade was a
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
passing mark for the
2022 Golden Globe Race, a single-handed round-the-world yacht race.
[Route_from_Les_Sables_D'Olonne](_blank)
,_France.html" ;"title="Les Sables D'Olonne">Route from Les Sables D'Olonne
, France">Les Sables D'Olonne">Route from Les Sables D'Olonne
, France, and Return], accessed 2022-09-29
See also
*Trindade hotspot
*The Trindade Island's UFO
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
TRINDADESpanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trindade And Martin Vaz
Ecoregions of Brazil
Mountains of Brazil
Volcanoes of Brazil
Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Pleistocene stratovolcanoes
Subduction volcanoes
Volcanoes of the Atlantic Ocean
Volcanic plugs of South America
Landforms of Espírito Santo
Archipelagoes of the Atlantic Ocean
Islands of the South Atlantic Ocean
Archipelagoes of Brazil