Climate: tropical; marine; mild, tempered by trade winds

Terrain: rugged, volcanic; small scattered plateaus and plains

Natural resources: fish; Ascension is a breeding ground for sea turtles and sooty terns; no minerals

Land use: 7% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 7% meadows and pastures; 3% forest and woodland; 83% other

Environment: very few perennial streams

Note: Napoleon Bonaparte's place of exile and burial; the remains were taken to Paris in 1840

- People
Population: 6,657 (July 1990), growth rate 0.6% (1990)

Birth rate: 13 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: NEGl migrants/1,000 population (1990)