196+ countries, newspapers, and letters | Day 39 Saint Helena (part of the British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean) - English.

I’d heard of Saint Helena only concerning Napoleon’s exile, so it was really nice to learn more about this beautiful, hospitable island. I read about how the island got its name: It was allegedly discovered on 21 May 1502 by João da Nova, a Galician navigator working for Portugal. The date is the feast day of Saint Helena, mother of Constantine I, who found the cross that Jesus was crucified on according to various Christian traditions. It was interesting reading about relics and miracles that my Protestant tradition does not emphasize.

Going back to St. Helena, the formerly uninhabited island became a rendezvous point for sailors and merchants and was later colonized by the British. The history of slavery was another glimpse into the crimes against humanity. In a slave burial ground of the 1800s, among about 5,000 bodies, only five people were in coffins, and they were one adolescent and four stillborn or new babies! The fact that others were hastily buried in shallow graves, 83% of them didn’t reach adulthood, and some still show signs of violence only adds to the horror. (”Youngsters were often prime material for slave traders, who sought victims with long potential working lives,” says Dr. Andrew Pearson, a member of the excavation team from Bristol University. PRIME MATERIAL! I’m afraid it’s just a slice of inhumane activities that permeated every aspect of the slave trade 😭) The good news is that, albeit slowly, the once-silenced parts of the history of slavery are now being uncovered. I look forward to learning more through this project, not only about the tragic consequences of human wretchedness but also about how people have withstood, bounced back, and are trying to build a more beautiful community.

I wanted to talk to a person living in Saint Helena and ask some questions, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find one on Slowly. Perhaps it’s because there are only about 4,500 people living there. Instead, I met (in pictures) the oldest living land animal called Jonathan the Tortoise, who recently celebrated his 190th birthday! 🎉 I love these words from his veterinarian Joe Hollins in his interview with the Washington Post early this year: "While wars, famines, plagues, kings and queens and even nations have come and gone, he has pottered on, totally oblivious to the passage of time. [...] Jonathan is symbolic of persistence, endurance, and survival and has achieved iconic status on the island." I think he is a befitting icon of the island.