Insula St. Helena

Gorgeous view of St. Helena’s Island from de Bry’s Petit Voyages.

First discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, the location of St. Helena was quickly identified by major European powers and became an important stopover for Dutch, Spanish, English and Portuguese vessels plying the Atlantic through the 18th century. The roughly 10 x 5 mile island sat almost directly on the navigational route around the Cape of Good Hope, and provided fresh vegetables, meat and water for ships about to make the long trek across the Indian Ocean. It’s remote location made for an excellent prison; Napoleon was famously exiled to the island shortly after his defeat at Waterloo.

This elaborate and exaggerated view of the island was engraved by Theodore de Bry and based on an earlier print by Linschoten, whose fleet of ships can be seen in the foreground. Two large strapwork cartouches feature the Portuguese coat-of-arms and a dedication to the Fugger family of merchants and financiers, likely a backer for de Bry’s publication. Goats, introduced by the Portuguese as a source of food, are precariously perched on the mountains while the island’s only structure, a church, is nestled in a deep valley.  A detailed compass rose completes the lovely view of such a distant landscape.