HELIGOLAND, properly HELIGELAND, i.e., HOLY LAND, a small cluster of islets belonging to Great Britain in the German Ocean, about 25 miles off the coast of Holstein, and about the same distance from the mouth of the Elbe. The group consists of Heligoland (which gives name to the whole cluster), Sandy Island, and a great number of banks, reefs, and uninhabited cliffs, of which latter the largest is called the Monk. The islet of Heligoland is only about three miles in circumference. It consists of two distinct parts, the low ground and the rock. The latter, which rises with an almost perpendicular abruptness to the height of between 150 and 200 feet above the sea, consists of a reddish sandstone, and has a very striking aspect from the sea. The flats at its foot produce a little corn, and are chiefly valuable for the excellent double harbour which they present. To the east of them is an excellent roadstead, well sheltered, and capable of accommodating the largest vessels. Heligoland is said to have been at one time much larger than it is now; and Sir C. Lyell, in his Principles of Geology, endeavours to prove, that since the year 800 it has been gradually crumbling away before the action of the currents. Portions of the island, it is quite true, have been
Heliostatus swept away; but it has also been thought that the famous map by Meyer, which exhibits the island as containing nine parishes, &c., is a mere fiction. A comparison of the oldest extant maps of good authority shows, that the amount of destruction for the whole circumference in the course of a century does not exceed three feet. The people of Heligoland live chiefly on the rocky part of the island; a few fishermen only inhabiting the flats. The native inhabitants support themselves principally by fishing and piloting. Though the island has been in possession of the English since 1807, there are almost no English residents except the governor and his suite, and the garrison. During the great continental war, however, when Heligoland became the depot of a vast quantity of merchandise, which was thence smuggled into the Continent, the population rose to upwards of 4000, and the commercial interests of the place became very considerable. A lighthouse and batteries have been erected by the English for the protection of the island and shipping. Heligoland was anciently inhabited by the Frisii, and it is believed that the famous temple of the Frisian god Fosete stood on the island. This temple was destroyed in the eighth century, at the time when the inhabitants embraced Christianity. The existing natives speak the language of the old Frieslanders, whose customs, manners, and dress, they have also retained with slight modifications. Pop. about 2300.