The inhabitants of the island were well aware of the Bounty's location, which is still visible underwater in Bounty Bay, but the wreckage gained significant attention in 1957 when documented by National Geographic explorer Luis Marden. In 1790, nine of the mutineers from the Bounty, along with the native Tahitian men and women who were with them (six men, 11 women, and a baby girl), settled on Pitcairn Island and set fire to the Bounty. European settlement įurther information: HMS Bounty and Mutiny on the Bounty This made Pitcairn difficult to find, as highlighted by the failure of captain James Cook to locate the island in July 1773. Robert Pitcairn was a son of British Marine Major John Pitcairn, who later was killed at the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in the American War of Independence.Ĭarteret, who sailed without the newly invented marine chronometer, charted the island at 25☀2′S 133☂1′W / 25.033°S 133.350°W / -25.033 -133.350, and although the latitude was reasonably accurate, his recorded longitude was incorrect by about 3°, putting his coordinates 330 km (210 mi) to the west of the actual island. The island was named after midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crew member who was the first to sight the island. Pitcairn Island was sighted on 3 July 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Philip Carteret. However, some sources express doubt about exactly which of the islands were visited and named by Queirós, suggesting that La Encarnación may actually have been Henderson Island, and San Juan Bautista may have been Pitcairn Island. He named them La Encarnación (" The Incarnation") and San Juan Bautista ("Saint John the Baptist"), respectively. Portuguese sailor Pedro Fernandes de Queirós came upon Ducie and Henderson Islands while sailing for the Spanish Crown, arriving on 26 January 1606. Eventually, important natural resources were exhausted, inter-island trade broke down and a period of civil war began on Mangareva, causing the small human populations on Henderson and Pitcairn to be cut off and eventually to become extinct.Īlthough archaeologists believe that Polynesians were living on Pitcairn as late as the 15th century, the islands were uninhabited when they were rediscovered by Europeans. They traded goods and formed social ties among the three islands despite the long canoe voyages between them, which helped the small populations on each island survive despite their limited resources. The earliest known settlers of the Pitcairn Islands were Polynesians who appear to have lived on Pitcairn and Henderson, and on Mangareva Island 540 kilometres (340 mi) to the northwest, for several centuries from at least the 11th century. 2.5 Pitcairn Islands Dark Sky SanctuaryĪdamstown, the only settlement on the Islands Polynesian settlement and extinction.
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