Napoleon’s Jail – by Nina

 In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte the Emperor of France was imprisoned by the English on St Helena, a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Napoleon was born on Corsica but sailed to France when he was young and when he got older he joined the army and progressed in ranks very quickly, soon he was a general and had some troops of his own to order about. Then came the revolution, the king and queen were guillotined (had their heads chopped of) and a government was made. It was said that Napoleon helped them a lot and became very important. Napoleon fought many battles but in the middle of one he got news of the government falling apart and came back to France as quick as he could. When he got back he found the Government in a very bad way. He decided to take charge and become the president of France, but when things didn’t get any better he decided that maybe France wasn’t ready for a government just yet and crowned himself Emperor of France. Then came the Battle of Waterloo, he was defeated in a big battle with the English and imprisoned on St Helena. Napoleon died on St Helena in 1821.

At St Helena we decided to go on a tour of the island to see the Napoleonic sites.  First we went to the house that Napoleon stayed in for 7 months of his imprisonment on St Helena.  It was a pavilion for a house called Briars.  It had a lovely garden and windows all around the room.

Then we went to Longwood, the house he stayed at for the other 6 years of his imprisonment.  It was a large house with nice furniture and a large garden.  It looked to me like he had a fairly nice time there.

After that we went to Napoleon’s tomb.  It was in a beautiful valley with a small spring of water and some pine trees with bougainvillea on them.  The tomb was at the end of the valley and you could look down on it.

The Briars pavillion where Napoleon spent his first seven months – it was a single room, surrounded by windows overlooking a lovely garden.

Inside the pavilion a guide told us all about Napoleon’s time here.

Next we went to Longwood where Napoleon spent the last seven years of his life. 

Many of the furnishings were those present during Napoleon’s stay.

This is the chamber, and a replica of the bed where Napoleon actually died.

A painting of Napoleon on his death-bed.

Finally we went to Napoeon’s semi-final resting place.  He was buried here and then later dug up and re-buried in Paris.

- - -