Pitcairn Island

Pitcairn Island, volcanic island (2005 est. pop. 45), 2.5 sq mi (6.5 sq km), South Pacific, SE of Tuamotu Archipelago. Adamstown is the capital and only settlement. The first British Pacific Islands possession (1838), the island is officially administered by the British High Commissioner to New Zealand as part of the Pitcairn Islands dependency, which includes three neighboring, uninhabited atolls (Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno). Local matters, however, are handled by a mayor and council. Handicrafts, honey, and postage stamps are the main source of income, and the remote island is dependent on British and European Union aid. Pitcairn has no port or natural harbor; goods must be ferried from ships anchored offshore.

The island was named in 1767 by Capt. Philip Carteret, a British naval officer, after Robert Pitcairn, the midshipman who first sighted it. It was colonized in 1790 by mutineers from the Bounty and Tahitian women, who discovered vestiges of previous Polynesian settlement. Their descendants, who speak an English dialect and are Seventh-day Adventists, still inhabit the island. In 1856 overpopulation caused the removal of the inhabitants, at their request, to Norfolk Island, but some soon returned to Pitcairn. In 1957 the remains of the Bounty were discovered off the southern end of the island.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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