Heligoland Island

Heligoland rises from the German Bight, a small red sandstone island far from the low coasts of the North Sea. Its position near the approaches to the Elbe and Weser gave it value to sailors and merchants. Denmark held the island from 1714 until British forces occupied it in 1807. During the Napoleonic wars it became a centre for trade and smuggling around the restrictions imposed on British goods.