The saying ‘from here to Timbuktu’ would have us believe the furthest place from where we are is a city in Mali, but folks on a little South Atlantic Ocean island might have something to say about that.

The town of Tristan, located on the island of Tristan Da Cunha, lies 1 000 miles from human civilisation and getting there can be something of a ball-ache. This from Gizmodo:

It takes more than a week to get to The Settlement, as Tristan’s town is often called, by boat. When you do, you might not be able to land because the ocean swells are severe. There’s no airport. It’s a location so remote and unknown, it’s become almost mythical. To geologists, Tristan is the result of an eruption of a volcanic “hotspot” in the middle of the Atlantic. To historians, it’s a time capsule where the last remnants of colonial England remain.

Now as you can imagine Tristan is a little behind the times. The town’s residents have reached out for help with an open competition asking for ideas on architecture, energy and farming innovations amongst other things. Not that they have always wanted to roll with the times, as an ill-fated return to civilisation showed. Gizmodo once more:

Tristan existed with relative continuity until 1961, when the volcano it sits on the edge of erupted—and the entire town was evacuated to England. Faced with the wonders of modern life, most of the world seemed to assume that the move would signal the end for Tristan…

It turned out that modern England had the exact opposite effect on Tristan’s community. If anything, life outside their volcano only reinforced their desire to return. It actually strengthened their group structure and consciousness and therefore placed difficulties in their expected adaptation…

The town has been forced to reach out for help as a combination of a shrinking economy and a rising cost of living has threatened Tristan’s very existence. Here’s hoping they manage to make some changes and ensure their survival. Total population stands at around 300, though, so you have to think there’s a little bit of the ‘ol deep south inbreeding going on for sure.

[source:gizmodo]