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Pitcairn Islands


Pitcairn Islands

Sommaire

Main information

  • Capital : Adamstown

  • Coordinates (1) :


  • Population : 50 inhabitants

  • Area : 5 km2

  • ZEE (3) : 0 km2

  • Currency : New Zealand dollar

  • Population density : 10 hab/km2

Map of Pitcairn Islands

Carte de Pitcairn Islands
  • Administration :
    The Governor of the Pitcairn Group of Islands is the British High Commissioner to New Zealand who does not live on the island. Daily affairs are dealed with the mayor and Chairman of the Island Council.

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Geography

    The territory is composed of four islands : Ducie, Henderson, Oeno and Pitcairn. Today there are inhabitants only on Pitcairn. The inhabitants of the territory live thanks to fishing, craft, subsitence farming because Pitcairn valleys are fertile and make possible production of fruits and vegetables like bananas, citrus, melons, bananas, sugarcane and beans. There are about fifteen workers in the population. Most of revenues come from collection stamps and the tiny trade with passing ships. As there is neither port nor airstrip, the only access to the island is to join ships on the sea by longboats.
    There are sometimes expeditions which break their journey at Pitcairn when the weather permits it.

  • Main towns :
    Adamstown

  • Main islands :
    Pitcairn Island, Oeno Island, Henderson Island, Ducie Island

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Localisation

Localisation de Pitcairn Islands
(1)
Zone :
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History

    Some Polynesian would have been the first inhabitants of Pitcairn and Henderson and would have lived there for several centuries. However when the Portugese de Queirós discovered for Spain Ducie and Henderson,a wooded island, in 1606, both were at that time apparently uninhabited. Oeno was discovered in 1824 by the American Captain George Worth. Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by the crew of the HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Philip Carteret. It took the name of a young sailor who was the first to catch sight of the island from the boat. The island was settled by the mutineers of HMAV Bounty (against the captain William Bligh left adrift) and some Tahitian in 1790 and set fire to the Bounty in the Bounty Bay. Some of them survived through fishing and farming. Most of them died because of tensions, alcoholism, disease and in particular because of a war between Tahitian and mutinees (which implied the death of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny against Bligh). John Adams and Ned Young turned to the Scriptures using the ship's Bible as their guide for a new and peaceful society. Young eventually died of an asthmatic infection. The Pitcairners also converted to a form Christianity based on a Bible's study by two mutinees ; their religion is currently adventism due to a successful mission at the end of the 19th century. An American boat came to the island in 1808 and then amnesty for mutiny was granted to John Adams who was the last living man there with nine women and some chilren and had restored peace on the island. The island became a British colony in 1838 . In 1938 Ducie, Henderson, Pitcairn and Oeno were incorporated into a new British entity : thePitcairn Group of Islands. Because of emigration particularly toward New Zealand, population to about 50 people today. British government has decided to set up a prison for the island after the sentence of six inhabitants for sexual abuses.

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(1) These coordinates are approximate.
(2) Pour ce qui est des TAAF et des îles éparses, ce nombre varie très souvent. Leur population donnée ici n'est donc qu'une approximation très imprécise fournie à titre purement indicatif.
(3) ZEE : Zone économique exclusive. Ces chiffres sont approximatifs.




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