The Other Exile

The first known inhabitant of St Helena – long before Napoleon – was a 16th-century Portuguese renegade.In 1506 Fernao Lopes, a member of his country’s minor nobility, travelled to Goa in search of honour and wealth. There he converted to Islam, married a Muslim, fought his former countrymen, and was eventually captured – his nose and hands publicly cut off for treachery. Eventually sailing for home, he jumped ship at St. Helena, becoming the island’s first inhabitant, with only a black cockere