History of the Pitcairn Islands
Encyclopedia
The history
of the Pitcairn Islands
begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians
in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. Pitcairn was settled again in 1790 by a group of British
mutineers of the HMS Bounty
and Tahiti
ans.
n culture that had since vanished. Archaeologists believe that Polynesians lived on the island from the 11th to the 15th century A.D. These first Pitcairners seem to have operated a trading relationship with the more populous island of Mangareva
, 250 miles to the west, in which food was exchanged for the high quality rock and volcanic glass available on Pitcairn. It is not certain why this society disappeared, but it is probably related to the deforestation
of Mangareva and the subsequent decline of its culture; Pitcairn was not capable of sustaining large numbers of people without a relationship with other populous islands.
Thus, the island was uninhabited when it was discovered by Spain by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós in January 1606 CE/AD. It was rediscovered by the British
in 1767, and named after the crew member who first spotted the island.
and their Tahiti
an companions arrived on the island. The group consisted of Fletcher Christian
and eight other mutineers from the Bounty. These were Ned Young
, John Adams
, Matthew Quintal, William McCoy, William Brown, Isaac Martin, John Mills and John Williams. Also with them were six Polynesian men and twelve Tahitian women, as well as a Tahitian baby girl named Sally, daughter of one of the women, who would become a respected person in the community. The settlers took everything off the Bounty and then burnt the ship to hide all trace of their existence. The wreck of Bounty is still visible underwater in Bounty Bay.
Though the islanders learned to survive quite comfortably by farming and fishing, violence and illness caused many problems. Much of the violence was caused by some of the mutineers and the Polynesian men wanting the same women, there being fewer women than men. Two of the women died in accidents in 1790, exacerbating the problem. Another problem was that when the land was divided between the families, the Polynesian men were not given any property and were treated like slaves by some of the mutineers, particularly Williams and McCoy. Two of the Polynesian men were killed by another Polynesian man, by order of the mutineers. The violence culminated one day in September or October 1793, when all four of the remaining Polynesian men attempted to massacre the mutineers. Martin, Christian, Mills, Brown and Williams were killed. The Polynesian men soon began fighting among themselves, however. One was killed during this fight, another was killed by one of the women, one was killed by Quintal and McCoy and a final one was killed by Young. This murder of nearly half of the island's population dramatically changed the community. With many of the mutineers having children with their wives, women and children began to outnumber the men. The women became dissatisfied and tried to leave the island. When this failed, they attempted to kill the men, but they eventually became reconciled.
Soon, Young and Adams, who began to assume leadership of the community and help the women and children as much as possible, drifted apart from Quintal and McCoy, particularly after McCoy discovered how to brew alcohol from a local plant. McCoy committed suicide while drunk in 1798, and Quintal was killed by Adams and Young in 1799 after he threatened to kill the entire community. Shortly thereafter, Young and Adams became interested in Christianity, and Young taught Adams to read using the Bounty's bible. After Young's death from asthma in 1800, John Adams
was the only mutineer left alive on Pitcairn. Several ships had apparently discovered the island during the 1790s, and one even landed to pick coconuts, but these ships did not encounter the community. The community's first contact with a foreign ship came in 1808 when an American ship, the Topaz commanded by Mayhew Folger
, landed on the island. The captain and crew were impressed by the community. They updated Adams and the growing population of women and children on the events in the world of the past 20 years, and promised to tell the world about what had happened to them. By this time, Adams had set up a school for the island's children, in which the teaching of Christianity was an important part. He was known as "father" by all members of the community.
The Pitcairners continued to be contacted more often by ships. During the 1820s, three British adventurers named John Buffett, John Evans and George Nobbs
settled on the island and married children of the mutineers. Following Adams's death in 1829, a power vacuum emerged. Nobbs, a veteran of the British and Chilean navies, was Adams's chosen successor, but Buffett and Thursday October Christian
, the son of Fletcher and the first child born on the island, who had the task of greeting visiting ships, were also important leaders during this time. In 1831, the islanders temporarily abandoned Pitcairn to immigrate to Tahiti. Six months later they returned to Pitcairn aboard the ship of William Driver
, the American sea captain who'd coined the term "Old Glory" for the US Flag. He agreed to take aboard these descendants after learning they were unable to become accustomed to their new home, and a dozen people, including Thursday October Christian, had died of disease. The islanders were now even more leaderless, as drunkenness became a problem and Nobbs was unable to gain enough support. In 1832, an adventurer named Joshua Hill
, claiming to be an agent of Britain, arrived on the island and was elected leader, styling himself President of the Commonwealth of Pitcairn. He ordered Buffett, Evans and Nobbs to be exiled, banned alcohol and ordered imprisonments for the slightest infractions. He was eventually driven off the island in 1838, and a British ship captain helped the islanders draw up a law code. The islanders set up a system whereby they would elect a chief magistrate every year as the leader of the island. Other important positions on the island were those of schoolmaster, doctor and pastor. Nobbs, however, was the effective leader of the island.
In 1838, Pitcairn became the first British colony
in the Pacific and also the second country in the world, after Corsica
under Pascal Paoli in 1755, to give women the right to vote. By the mid 1850s
the Pitcairn community was outgrowing the island and they appealed to Queen Victoria
for help. Queen Victoria offered them Norfolk Island
and on 3 May 1856, the entire community of 193 people set sail for Norfolk Island on board the Morayshire. They arrived on 8 June after a miserable 5 week trip. However, after 18 months, 17 returned to Pitcairn and 5 years later another 27 returned. While the island was uninhabited, several ships visited the island and vandalised John Adams's grave. The island was also nearly annexed by France
, whose government did not realize that the island had just been inhabited. George Nobbs and John Buffett stayed on Norfolk Island. By this time, the American Warren family had also settled on Pitcairn Island. During the 1860s, further immigration to the island was banned. In 1886, most of the island left the church of England and converted to the Seventh-day Adventist Church
after receiving literature from that religious group. Missionaries arrived on the island a few years later, and the conversion of an entire community became a great propaganda boost for the religion. Important leaders of Pitcairn during this time were Thursday October Christian II
, Simon Young and James Russell McCoy. McCoy, who was sent to England for education as a child, spent much of his later life on missionary journeys. In 1887, Britain officially annexed the island, and it was officially put under the jurisdiction of the governors of Fiji
.
. In 1999 the position of chief magistrate was replaced by the position of mayor. Another change for the community is the decline of the Adventist church, where there are now only 8 regular worshippers.
Since a population peak of 233 in 1937, the island is suffering from emigration, primarily to New Zealand
, leaving a current population of 45.
Currently, the continued existence of the colony is threatened by allegations of a long history and tradition of sexual abuse
of girls as young as 10 and 11. On September 30, 2004, seven men resident on Pitcairn, and a further six now living abroad, went on trial
facing 55 charges of sex-related offences. Among the accused was Steve Christian
, Pitcairn's Mayor, who faced several charges of rape, indecent assault, and child abuse. On October 25, 2004, six men were convicted including Steve Christian. A seventh, the island's former Magistrate Jay Warren
, was acquitted.
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
of the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands , officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Pacific...
begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. Pitcairn was settled again in 1790 by a group of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
mutineers of the HMS Bounty
HMS Bounty
HMS Bounty , famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the...
and Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
ans.
Pitcairn before the Bounty
When the Bounty mutineers arrived on Pitcairn, it was uninhabited. However, they found the remains of an earlier PolynesiaPolynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n culture that had since vanished. Archaeologists believe that Polynesians lived on the island from the 11th to the 15th century A.D. These first Pitcairners seem to have operated a trading relationship with the more populous island of Mangareva
Mangareva
Mangareva is the central and most important island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north...
, 250 miles to the west, in which food was exchanged for the high quality rock and volcanic glass available on Pitcairn. It is not certain why this society disappeared, but it is probably related to the deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
of Mangareva and the subsequent decline of its culture; Pitcairn was not capable of sustaining large numbers of people without a relationship with other populous islands.
Thus, the island was uninhabited when it was discovered by Spain by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós in January 1606 CE/AD. It was rediscovered by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1767, and named after the crew member who first spotted the island.
The Bounty mutiny and the settlement of Pitcairn
On January 15, 1790, the mutineers of BountyHMS Bounty
HMS Bounty , famous as the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April 1789, was originally a three-masted cargo ship, the Bethia, purchased by the British Admiralty, then modified and commissioned as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the...
and their Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
an companions arrived on the island. The group consisted of Fletcher Christian
Fletcher Christian
Fletcher Christian was a master's mate on board the Bounty during William Bligh's fateful voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit plants...
and eight other mutineers from the Bounty. These were Ned Young
Ned Young
Edward "Ned" Young , was a British sailor, mutineer from the famous HMS Bounty incident, and co-founder of the mutineers' Pitcairn Island settlement. He was noted for his ability to sleep through important events....
, John Adams
John Adams (mutineer)
John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams; He used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the ship Topaz...
, Matthew Quintal, William McCoy, William Brown, Isaac Martin, John Mills and John Williams. Also with them were six Polynesian men and twelve Tahitian women, as well as a Tahitian baby girl named Sally, daughter of one of the women, who would become a respected person in the community. The settlers took everything off the Bounty and then burnt the ship to hide all trace of their existence. The wreck of Bounty is still visible underwater in Bounty Bay.
Though the islanders learned to survive quite comfortably by farming and fishing, violence and illness caused many problems. Much of the violence was caused by some of the mutineers and the Polynesian men wanting the same women, there being fewer women than men. Two of the women died in accidents in 1790, exacerbating the problem. Another problem was that when the land was divided between the families, the Polynesian men were not given any property and were treated like slaves by some of the mutineers, particularly Williams and McCoy. Two of the Polynesian men were killed by another Polynesian man, by order of the mutineers. The violence culminated one day in September or October 1793, when all four of the remaining Polynesian men attempted to massacre the mutineers. Martin, Christian, Mills, Brown and Williams were killed. The Polynesian men soon began fighting among themselves, however. One was killed during this fight, another was killed by one of the women, one was killed by Quintal and McCoy and a final one was killed by Young. This murder of nearly half of the island's population dramatically changed the community. With many of the mutineers having children with their wives, women and children began to outnumber the men. The women became dissatisfied and tried to leave the island. When this failed, they attempted to kill the men, but they eventually became reconciled.
Soon, Young and Adams, who began to assume leadership of the community and help the women and children as much as possible, drifted apart from Quintal and McCoy, particularly after McCoy discovered how to brew alcohol from a local plant. McCoy committed suicide while drunk in 1798, and Quintal was killed by Adams and Young in 1799 after he threatened to kill the entire community. Shortly thereafter, Young and Adams became interested in Christianity, and Young taught Adams to read using the Bounty's bible. After Young's death from asthma in 1800, John Adams
John Adams (mutineer)
John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers who settled on Pitcairn Island in January 1790, the year after the mutiny. His real name was John Adams; He used the name Alexander Smith until he was discovered in 1808 by Captain Mayhew Folger of the ship Topaz...
was the only mutineer left alive on Pitcairn. Several ships had apparently discovered the island during the 1790s, and one even landed to pick coconuts, but these ships did not encounter the community. The community's first contact with a foreign ship came in 1808 when an American ship, the Topaz commanded by Mayhew Folger
Mayhew Folger
Mayhew Folger was an American whaler who captained the sealing ship Topaz that rediscovered the Pitcairn Islands in 1808. Only one of 's mutineers was still alive: Alexander Smith, whose alias was John Adams....
, landed on the island. The captain and crew were impressed by the community. They updated Adams and the growing population of women and children on the events in the world of the past 20 years, and promised to tell the world about what had happened to them. By this time, Adams had set up a school for the island's children, in which the teaching of Christianity was an important part. He was known as "father" by all members of the community.
Renewed contact with the outside world
In 1814 the Royal Navy discovered the existence of the colony. They were favourably impressed by the islanders and felt it would be "an act of great cruelty and inhumanity" to arrest John Adams.The Pitcairners continued to be contacted more often by ships. During the 1820s, three British adventurers named John Buffett, John Evans and George Nobbs
George Hunn Nobbs
George Hunn Nobbs was an English missionary on Pitcairn Island and later Norfolk Island, where his many descendants still live today....
settled on the island and married children of the mutineers. Following Adams's death in 1829, a power vacuum emerged. Nobbs, a veteran of the British and Chilean navies, was Adams's chosen successor, but Buffett and Thursday October Christian
Thursday October Christian I
Thursday October Christian was the first son of Fletcher Christian and his Tahitian wife Mauatua. He was conceived on Tahiti, and was the first child born on the Pitcairn Islands after the mutineers took refuge on the island...
, the son of Fletcher and the first child born on the island, who had the task of greeting visiting ships, were also important leaders during this time. In 1831, the islanders temporarily abandoned Pitcairn to immigrate to Tahiti. Six months later they returned to Pitcairn aboard the ship of William Driver
William Driver
William Driver was a U.S. ship captain. He coined the phrase Old Glory for the U.S. flag.Young Capt. William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts was presented a beautiful flag by his family and a group of friends. Driver was delighted with the gift. He exclaimed, "I name her 'Old Glory,'" and Old Glory...
, the American sea captain who'd coined the term "Old Glory" for the US Flag. He agreed to take aboard these descendants after learning they were unable to become accustomed to their new home, and a dozen people, including Thursday October Christian, had died of disease. The islanders were now even more leaderless, as drunkenness became a problem and Nobbs was unable to gain enough support. In 1832, an adventurer named Joshua Hill
Joshua Hill (Pitcairn Island leader)
Joshua Hill was an American adventurer.In 1832 he arrived on Pitcairn Island which was first inhabited in the 1790s by British mutineers from the HMS Bounty and some Tahitians who joined them. The descendants of the mutineers had recently migrated to Tahiti following the death of the last...
, claiming to be an agent of Britain, arrived on the island and was elected leader, styling himself President of the Commonwealth of Pitcairn. He ordered Buffett, Evans and Nobbs to be exiled, banned alcohol and ordered imprisonments for the slightest infractions. He was eventually driven off the island in 1838, and a British ship captain helped the islanders draw up a law code. The islanders set up a system whereby they would elect a chief magistrate every year as the leader of the island. Other important positions on the island were those of schoolmaster, doctor and pastor. Nobbs, however, was the effective leader of the island.
In 1838, Pitcairn became the first British colony
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in the Pacific and also the second country in the world, after Corsica
Corsican Republic
In November 1755, Pasquale Paoli proclaimed Corsica a sovereign nation, the Corsican Republic, independent from the Republic of Genoa. He created the Corsican Constitution, which was the first constitution written under Enlightenment principles, including the first implementation of female...
under Pascal Paoli in 1755, to give women the right to vote. By the mid 1850s
1850s
- Wars :* Crimean war fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance consisting of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire...
the Pitcairn community was outgrowing the island and they appealed to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
for help. Queen Victoria offered them Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
and on 3 May 1856, the entire community of 193 people set sail for Norfolk Island on board the Morayshire. They arrived on 8 June after a miserable 5 week trip. However, after 18 months, 17 returned to Pitcairn and 5 years later another 27 returned. While the island was uninhabited, several ships visited the island and vandalised John Adams's grave. The island was also nearly annexed by France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, whose government did not realize that the island had just been inhabited. George Nobbs and John Buffett stayed on Norfolk Island. By this time, the American Warren family had also settled on Pitcairn Island. During the 1860s, further immigration to the island was banned. In 1886, most of the island left the church of England and converted to the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
after receiving literature from that religious group. Missionaries arrived on the island a few years later, and the conversion of an entire community became a great propaganda boost for the religion. Important leaders of Pitcairn during this time were Thursday October Christian II
Thursday October Christian II
Thursday October Christian, Jr. was a Pitcairn Islands political leader. He was the grandson of Fletcher Christian and son of Thursday October Christian , and mother, Teraura . He was also known as "Doctor", "Duddie" or "Doodie". He spent several years on Norfolk Island but returned to Pitcairn in...
, Simon Young and James Russell McCoy. McCoy, who was sent to England for education as a child, spent much of his later life on missionary journeys. In 1887, Britain officially annexed the island, and it was officially put under the jurisdiction of the governors of Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
.
Recent developments
During the twentieth century, most of the chief magistrates have been from the Christian and Young families, and contact with the outside world continued to increase. In 1970 the British high commissioners of New Zealand became the governors of Pitcairn. Since April 2006 the governor has been George FergussonGeorge Fergusson
The Hon. George Duncan Raukawa Fergusson is a British diplomat. He was the British High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, and the Governor of the Pitcairn Islands, from 2006 to 2010.-Biography:...
. In 1999 the position of chief magistrate was replaced by the position of mayor. Another change for the community is the decline of the Adventist church, where there are now only 8 regular worshippers.
Since a population peak of 233 in 1937, the island is suffering from emigration, primarily to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, leaving a current population of 45.
Currently, the continued existence of the colony is threatened by allegations of a long history and tradition of sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
of girls as young as 10 and 11. On September 30, 2004, seven men resident on Pitcairn, and a further six now living abroad, went on trial
Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004
On 30 September 2004, seven men living on Pitcairn Island , went on trial facing 55 charges relating to sexual offences. On 24 October, all but one of the defendants were found guilty on at least some of the charges they faced...
facing 55 charges of sex-related offences. Among the accused was Steve Christian
Steve Christian
Steven Raymond Christian is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands.-Mayor:...
, Pitcairn's Mayor, who faced several charges of rape, indecent assault, and child abuse. On October 25, 2004, six men were convicted including Steve Christian. A seventh, the island's former Magistrate Jay Warren
Jay Warren
Jay Calvin Warren is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands.-Political roles:Jay Warren was elected Mayor of the last remaining British dependency in Oceania in the general election held on 15 December 2004, defeating Brenda Christian, who had held the Mayoralty in...
, was acquitted.
External links
- Brief history of Pitcairn
- Pitcairn - The Early History As told in contemporary books, reports, letters and other documents.