Queen Mary's Peak
Encyclopedia
Queen Mary's Peak is the summit of the island of Tristan da Cunha
, in the South Atlantic Ocean. It has an elevation
of 2,062 metres (6,765 ft) above sea level. It is named after Mary of Teck
, the Queen consort
of King George V
. It is the highest point of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
.
The mountain is the peak of the massive shield volcano
which forms the island. A 300 m (984.3 ft) wide summit crater caps the peak, and it contains a heart-shaped crater lake
. This lake is normally frozen during the winter, and the upper slopes of the volcano are covered in snow
.
The only recorded historical eruption occurred in 1961 from a vent on the north shore of the island. The island community had to be evacuated.
Queen Mary's Peak was used by sailors on the route from Europe to the Indian Ocean and beyond as a navigational aid. In the 17th century the East India Company
instructed captains to sail via Tristan. In 2004, Ellen MacArthur
sighted the Peak on her record-breaking circumnavigation of the world.
naturalist
Aubert Dupetit-Thouars but this was without success. However from this expedition hundreds of plants were collected and catalogued. In January 1817 the first successful climb was made to the Peak. Today, Queen Mary's Peak makes a wonderful but steep climb and can take about 5 to 10 hours depending on the capability of the walker. The walk & climb is only allowed when accompanied by a local guide.
Queen Mary's Peak is the brand name for Tristan da Cunha island knitwear that is exported to New Zealand
.
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America...
, in the South Atlantic Ocean. It has an elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 2,062 metres (6,765 ft) above sea level. It is named after Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, the Queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. It is the highest point of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of the islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the Tristan da Cunha group...
.
The mountain is the peak of the massive shield volcano
Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...
which forms the island. A 300 m (984.3 ft) wide summit crater caps the peak, and it contains a heart-shaped crater lake
Crater lake
A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not...
. This lake is normally frozen during the winter, and the upper slopes of the volcano are covered in snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
.
The only recorded historical eruption occurred in 1961 from a vent on the north shore of the island. The island community had to be evacuated.
Queen Mary's Peak was used by sailors on the route from Europe to the Indian Ocean and beyond as a navigational aid. In the 17th century the East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
instructed captains to sail via Tristan. In 2004, Ellen MacArthur
Ellen MacArthur
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor, up until 2009, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo...
sighted the Peak on her record-breaking circumnavigation of the world.
Climbing the Peak
The first known attempt to climb the Peak was in 1793 by the FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
Aubert Dupetit-Thouars but this was without success. However from this expedition hundreds of plants were collected and catalogued. In January 1817 the first successful climb was made to the Peak. Today, Queen Mary's Peak makes a wonderful but steep climb and can take about 5 to 10 hours depending on the capability of the walker. The walk & climb is only allowed when accompanied by a local guide.
Queen Mary's Peak is the brand name for Tristan da Cunha island knitwear that is exported to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
See also
- Geography of Tristan da CunhaGeography of Tristan da CunhaTristan da Cunha is an archipelago of five islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the largest of which is the island of Tristan da Cunha itself and the second-largest the remote bird haven Gough Island...
- List of mountains and hills of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- List of volcanoes in Tristan da Cunha