Longwood is a settlement and a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of the British island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Description

Longwood had a population of 765 in 2021, a decrease of 195 residents when compared with a population of 960 recorded in 1998. The area of the district is . The district is second only in size to Blue Hill, and includes the settlement of Hutt's Gate, with its St Matthew's church. The district also contains the island's only

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

. The district contains

Prosperous Bay Plain Prosperous Bay Plain is an area on the eastern coast of Saint Helena, a United Kingdom, British island territory in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean. It is the site of the Saint Helena Airport, and is notable for its high invertebrate biod ...

, which is where Saint Helena Airport and the Millennium Forest is located. There is a weather recording station in the Longwood district. Readings of temperature, air pressure and visibility are automatically taken and communicated every three hours.

History

Observatories

On leaving the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, in 1676,

Edmond 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, Hal ...

visited Saint Helena and set up an observatory with a

aerial telescope An aerial telescope is a type of very long focal length refracting telescope, built in the second half of the 17th century, that did not use a tube. Instead, the objective was mounted on a pole, tree, tower, building or other structure on a swive ...

with the intention of studying

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s from the Southern Hemisphere. The site of this telescope is near St Matthew's church in the district. The hill there is named for him and is called Halley's Mount. Halley's Observatory was in use from 1677–1678. Having returned to England in 1678, Halley published ''Catalogus Stellarum Australium'' in 1679, which included details of 341 southern stars. These additions to present-day star maps earned him comparison to

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, ; 14 December 154624 October 1601), generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer of the Renaissance, known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations. He ...

. Halley was subsequently awarded his Master's from Oxford and Fellowship of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. In 1686, Halley published the second part of the results from his Helenian expedition, being a paper and chart on

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere ...

and

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

s. In this, he identified solar heating as the cause of

atmospheric An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

motions. He also established the relationship between

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1,013.2 ...

and height

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. His charts were an important contribution to the emerging field of information visualisation. Future Astronomer Royal

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...

visited Saint Helena in 1761 to observe a transit of Venus and built an observatory near the site of Halley's from the previous century. In the 19th/early 20th centuries, an observatory (in use 1840–1849) was situated in Longwood village and two further observatories were erected in the Hutt's Gate area: one in use from 1892–1924 and the second in use from 1925–1975.

Napoleon

Longwood was the location of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's second exile, from 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. The

French Government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

, via the

Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs may refer to: * Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (Albania) * Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France) The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (, MEAE) is the ministry of the Government ...

owns Briars Pavilion, Napoleon's initial exile residence, Longwood House and its properties, where he lived during most of his time on the island, and his original grave, but the United Kingdom retains

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

over these properties. Napoleon's main physician, Barry O'Meara, wrote letters describing the issues of Napoleon and his entourage while in captivity, and sent them clandestinely to a friend at the Admiralty in London. Visite, pg417 Distanz view of Longwood, St. Helena.jpg, Landscape around Longwood House MELLISS(1875) THE ROOM IN WHICH NAPOLEON DIED AT LONGWOOD.jpg, The room in which Napoleon died NETSCHER(1838) p027 HET HUIS TE LONGWOOD.jpg, Longwood House in 1837 LOCKWOOD(1840) p049.jpg, Night view of Napoleon's exhumation in October 1837

Geography and climate

As opposed to the hot and arid Jamestown being near sea level, Longwood is located about above sea level. Being one of the island's highest settlements, Longwood experiences a cooler variation of the

warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: Csb), bordering on a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(

: Cfb) due to its persistent mild temperatures and consistent precipitation levels.

References

External links

* {{coord, 15, 56, S, 5, 40, W, type:adm3rd_region:SH, display=title Districts of Saint Helena Populated places in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha History of Saint Helena