Jamestown

Jamestown, seaport town and capital of the British overseas territory of St. Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. The town was founded in 1659, when the British East India Company built a fort and established a garrison at the site on James Bay, naming it for the duke of York (later James II). Jamestown, consisting of little more than a single street, runs up a narrow, deep-sided valley for about 1 mile (1.6 km) to a height of 500 feet (150 metres). The main sources of revenue are customs duties, wharfage, and the sale of postage stamps to philatelists. Plantation House (the governor’s residence; built 1792) and the Cathedral of St. Paul’s are 2 miles (3 km) south of the town. Longwood House, where Napoleon I was exiled and died in 1821, is 2.5 miles (4 km) southeast and is owned by the government of France. Pop. (2008 prelim.) 714.