St Helena

St Helena History & Postal History

St Helena is perhaps best known for being the place Napoleon spent his final time in exile. The island was originally discovered in 1502 by a Portuguese explorer named João da Nova. He named the island Saint Helena because she was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine and his discovery was made on her feast day.

In 1659 the island was settled by English East India Company employees as, in the days before the Suez Canal, St Helena's location was strategically important for ships sailing to the South Atlantic and around the Cape.

St Helena has been visited by many of the great explorers including Captain James Cook, Charles Darwin and Captain Bligh (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame). St Helena was also used to accomodate large numbers of Boer War POWs.

St Helena's postal history can be trace back to well before the introduction of postage stamps in 1840 although early, pre-victorian stampless covers rarely show any markings to evidence having been posted or transited through St Helena until 1815 when the first Post Office was opened on the island.

St Helena's first postage stamps were issued in 1856 and the island's long and varied postal history offers a fascinating and chalenging subject to research and collect.

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More St Helena Links from the Web

Where can you get food stamps in St Helen's or Scapoose, OR? | ChaCha
Where can you get food stamps in St Helen's or Scapoose, OR? ChaCha Answer: You need to submit an application to your local Oregon DH...
http://www.chacha.com/question/wher...

Helen Stamp | Facebook
Helen Stamp is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Helen Stamp and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open ...
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hele...

Forums / Washington / Mt. St. Helen's Trip Advice - March 2008 ...
MDuchek Fri Feb 29 08, 05:26PM Joined: Thu Nov 08 07, 03:52PM Posts: 15 What about Mt St Helens, does that have a stamp? I see it is a USFS National Monument so I am ...
http://www.parkstamps.org/e107_plug...

Minkus Global Stamp Album w/ stamps Palau - St Helen (11/11/2010)...
Minkus Global Stamp Album with stamps Pages inside go from Palau to St. Helena Random stamps included - main countries are: Paraguay Philippines Romania Russia Rwanda ...
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...

Collectibles - Helen - Hotfrog - Your Business Directory
Betty Boop, Garfield, Betty Boop in Red, Snoopy ... 8580 N. Main St, Helen. Stamps Mail Order - Stamp Shop
http://www.hotfrog.com/Products/Col...

www.st-helen.org
Saint Helen's Church : Ways You Can & Have Helped : Our church & school ... this group has been active in collecting envelopes to cut off the postage stamps ...
http://www.st-helen.org/church/help...

St. Helen's Harvest Festival starts this Thursday - TreasureCoast.com
Home » News » Social Scene » St. Helen's Harvest Festival starts this Thursday; November 16, 2011 St. Helen's Harvest Festival starts this Thursday
http://www.treasurecoast.com/index....

Collect St Helena Stamps & Postal History!