Editing History of Saint Helena (section)

==Ecological significance==
Saint Helena has been a very integral part of man's exploration of the Earth and development of sciences, especially ecological sciences. When the island was first discovered, it was one of the most isolated and pristine piece of land ever encountered by humans. This, along with its relatively small size, allowed ecologists to study the effects of man and time with limited variables. [[Richard Grove]], Author of ''Green Imperialism,'' among other works, explains how imperialist deforestation of Saint Helena made apparent for the first time the devastating effects humans can have on the world around them. Saint Helena Island was famous for the work that [[Georg Forster]] and [[Johann Reinhold Forster]] performed on the famous Cook Voyage aboard [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']] in 1775. This voyage was the beginning of ecological conservatism.<ref name= "Green Imperialism">Grove, Richard. ''Green Imperialism''. Cambridge University Press, 1995</ref> Before any ideas of conservatism, there were economic factors causing the destruction of Saint Helena, but also colonial ideology behind the mass destruction of tropical landscapes throughout the last 400 years.<ref>Grove, Richard. "Conserving Eden: The (European) East India Companies and Their Environmental Policies on St. Helena, Mauritius and in Western India, 1660 to 1854." ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'', 1993</ref> The [[deforestation]] of Saint Helena by European East India Companies in the 15th and 16th centuries led to one of the first ecological legislation, the Forest Act of Saint Helena.<ref name= "Green Imperialism" />

The Forsters' ''Resolution'' voyage with Captain [[James Cook]] was motivated to discover a connection between nature and human development. At first, they believed that nature must have some sort of effect on human development which could answer why there are different levels of development throughout the world. However, their discoveries on Saint Helena Island were to the contrary, they found that man has more effect on nature than they originally believed. After allowing human destructive power to reach Saint Helena, the Forsters noticed flooding from the removal of vegetation and mass slaughter of the turtle population. The consequence of the imperial destruction was a fundamental understanding of the importance of vegetal cover in the tropical environment. Other writers, such as Peter Kalm who wrote about deforestation and draught in North America without connecting the two phenomena, influenced the Forsters' theories on the importance of vegetation.<ref name="Green Imperialism" />

The Forster expedition started the ecological study of Saint Helena, but others have been studying the island since then. Because the island has been extremely affected by human interaction and destruction, scientists have attempted to discern the original vegetal makeup of the island. A scientific study is the only way to determine the original vegetation because there is no direct evidence of plant life from when the island was discovered. One study determined that because the island is volcanic in nature, any plant life existing on the island would have travelled there from elsewhere. It is most likely that the original plant life would have travelled from southern Africa because of the south-easterly prevailing winds and currents.<ref name= "Cronk">Cronk, Q.C.B. "The History of the Endemic Flora of St Helena: Late Miocene 'Trochetiopsis- Like' Pollen from St Helena and the Origin of Trochetiopsis." ''New Phytologist'', 1990</ref>