Pitcairn Islands

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Pitcairn Islands (English)
Pitkern Ailen (Pitkern)
Pitcairn Islands
Flag of the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands Coat of Arms
flag coat of arms
Official language English , Pitkern
Capital Adamstown
Form of government British overseas territory
Head of state Queen Elizabeth II

represented by
Governor Laura Clarke
Head of government Mayor Charlene Warren-Peu (since 2020)
surface 49 km²
population 50 (as of 2020)
Population density 1 inhabitant per km²
currency New Zealand Dollars (NZD)
Pitcairn Islands Dollars
National anthem God Save the Queen
Time zone UTC − 8
License Plate PN
ISO 3166 PN , PCN, 612
Internet TLD .pn
Telephone code +649
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Pitcairn Islands in its region.svg
Pitcairn Island Group.svg

British Post Postage Stamp
British Post Postage Stamp

The Pitcairn Islands ( English Pitcairn Islands , Pitkern Pitkern Ailen ) are an isolated group of islands in the southeastern Pacific , which administratively belongs to the British overseas territories . The group is named after its second largest and at the same time only populated island, Pitcairn , which in turn was named after the British midshipman Robert Pitcairn, who was the first European to sight it in 1767.

geography

The archipelago consists of an island, an upscale atoll and two atolls with two or four islands:

Surname Type Land area
(km²)		 Total area
(km²) * 		Residents
2017		 Coordinates
Ducie atoll 0.7 3.2 - 24 ° 40 ′ 9 ″  S , 124 ° 47 ′ 11 ″  W.
Henderson Upscale atoll 43.1 43.1 - 24 ° 22 ′ 1 ″  S , 128 ° 18 ′ 57 ″  W.
Oeno atoll 0.65 16.0 - 23 ° 55 ′ 26 ″  S , 130 ° 44 ′ 3 ″  W.
Pitcairn Volcanic island 4.5 4.5 39 25 ° 4 ′ 12 ″  S , 130 ° 6 ′ 25 ″  W.

* including lagoons of the atolls

The Pitcairn Islands are scattered in the southern Pacific over an area that extends in an east-west direction for more than 600 kilometers. Oeno is about 430 kilometers east of the Gambier Islands , Ducie is about 1550 kilometers west of Easter Island .

The islands are peaks of volcanoes that rise from a depth of about 3500 to 3800 meters from the sea floor. They are links in two chains of deep-sea mountains running roughly in the ESE-WNW direction , the formation of which is attributed to hotspot volcanism . Oeno, Henderson and Ducie are part of the Southern Tuamotu Chain . Due to the drift of the Pacific Plate to the northwest, the age of the islands increases from east to west. Ducie in the east was created 8 million years ago, Oeno in the west 16 million years ago. In between lies the largest island in the archipelago with an area of ​​around 43 km², the upscale Henderson Atoll, with an age of 13 million years (all values ​​with an uncertainty of ± 1  Ma ).

The much younger island of Pitcairn, which was formed in several eruption phases about 0.93 million to 0.45 million years ago, is the eponymous part of the Gambier-Pitcairn chain, which runs parallel to the south about 100 kilometers . The island reaches a height of 347  m , making it the highest point in the archipelago. Pitcairn is also the only inhabited island in the archipelago.

Henderson's uplift, which is currently at an annual rate of 0.1 mm, is causally related to the formation of the island of Pitcairn. Their increasing weight led to an uplift of the sea floor below Henderson due to lithospheric bending.

Compared to the total land area of ​​the Pitcairn Islands of 49 km², their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is huge with an area of ​​more than 836,000 km².

population

Pitcairn's residents are mostly descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian wives. The islands of Oeno, Henderson and Ducie are uninhabited.

The residents are almost all Seventh-day Adventists .

The main settlement and at the same time the only settlement on the Pitcairn Islands is Adamstown , where around 50 people live. The place is named after the last surviving bounty mutineer, John Adams . Adamstown still had 220 inhabitants in 1948, but the number of inhabitants has been falling continuously for decades, as younger, well-educated islanders mostly migrate to New Zealand , Australia and the United Kingdom due to a lack of job prospects .

history

According to archaeological studies, the islands of Pitcairn and Henderson were probably settled from Mangareva around the year 1000 AD . Despite their remoteness, they formed, together with Mangareva, an extensive exchange system with verifiable relationships with the Tuamotu and Austral Islands . Pitcairn supplied high quality fine-grain basalt and volcanic glasses that were used as tools because of their sharpness; from Henderson probably came sea ​​turtles and red bird feathers. Around 1450 this exchange system collapsed. Social tensions on Mangareva due to overpopulation and lack of resources are believed to be a possible cause . It is also assumed that as a result of the deforestation of the islands, it was no longer possible to build large canoes. The now self-reliant populations of Pitcairn and Henderson probably survived for a few more generations. Henderson was abandoned around 1600; The island of Pitcairn, which offers better livelihoods, was probably abandoned in the course of the 17th century. When the islands were first visited by Europeans, they were already uninhabited.

The first European to discover parts of the Pitcairn Islands was the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós , who was in Spanish service . During his expedition to the Pacific, which began in Callao in December 1605 , he sighted an island on January 26, 1606, which he initially called "Luna Puesta" in his 1609 memorandum to King Philip III. but called "La Encarnación". Three days later he reached another island, which he named "San Juan Bautista". Both islands were not investigated and were soon forgotten. It is believed that the first island mentioned is Ducie Atoll, which was rediscovered in 1791 by Edward Edwards , the captain of HMS Pandora , in search of the mutineers of the Bounty and his patron, the Earl of Ducie , was named. The second island discovered by Quirós is probably identical to the island of Henderson, rediscovered in January 1819 by James Henderson, the captain of the Hercules , and named after him.

The first European ship to call at Pitcairn Island was the HMS Swallow under Captain Philipp Carteret . He named the island after his midshipman Robert Pitcairn, who first sighted the island on July 2, 1767.

The last part of the Pitcairn Islands to be discovered from a European point of view is the Oeno atoll, which was probably spotted by James Henderson as early as 1819, but was not given a name. In December 1823 or January 1824, George Worth, the captain of the whaler Oeno , discovered the atoll and named it after his ship.

The British-Tahitian settlement of the island of Pitcairn took place on January 15, 1790. On April 28, 1789, parts of the crew of the ship Bounty mutinied and took over command. The mutineers returned to Tahiti , where the ship had previously stayed for a few months. Their leader Fletcher Christian refused to stay in Tahiti for fear of being arrested . After an unsuccessful attempt to settle on Tubuai , they returned. Secretly that night Christian left Tahiti again with only eight men, around a third of the mutineers. Of the natives, twelve women and six men joined. The plan was to find an uninhabited island, destroy the ship and spend the rest of life there without ever being seen by Europeans again.

After the Cook , Tonga and eastern Fiji Islands had been combed in vain for a place to stay for two months , Christian came upon a description of Pitcairn by Captain Carteret, who was there when it was discovered in 1767, but was unable to enter the island due to heavy surf . It promised ideal conditions for survival: a river serving as a freshwater source and fertile vegetation. In addition, the maps of that time were very imprecise. It was therefore extremely unlikely that a British ship would find the island and arrest the mutineers, which would have meant certain death.

Pitcairn has been a British Crown Colony since 1838 . On the instructions of the British Consul of Tahiti, R. T. Simons, a cutter sailed from Pitcairn to Oeno, Henderson and Ducie in 1902 to annex the islands to the British Kingdom. The territory has been on the UN list of sovereign territories without self-government since 1946 .

In the 1980s, an American multimillionaire attempted to acquire the islands from the United Kingdom for tourist use. So should u. a. an airfield to be built on Henderson. What is rather curious is the "Principality of Freedonia" micronation project launched in 1992 , which tries in vain to buy the Pitcairn Islands from the United Kingdom.

Constitutional law

The Pitcairn Islands are the last remaining British overseas territory in the Pacific Ocean.

The head of state of the Pitcairn Islands is the British Queen. It is the British High Commissioner presence in New Zealand, the ex officio also governor of the Pitcairn Islands is. The Pitcairn Islands are semi-autonomous, the interests of the island's population are represented by a magistrate elected every three years and headed by a directly elected mayor.

Infrastructure

On the main inhabited island of Pitcairn, a telephone network with a New Zealand area code is operated by Pitcairn Telecom , which also enables an Internet connection. There are two government satellite phones available for emergencies. A mobile network does not exist on Pitcairn.

Satellite antennas enable the reception of television and radio programs. A maximum of two transmitters can be delivered to households at the same time.

A radio station in Adamstown operates official radio traffic , for example for communication with the supply ships.

See also

Web links

Commons : Pitcairn Islands  - Collection of images and audio files
Wikimedia Atlas: Pitcairn Islands  - geographical and historical maps
Wiktionary: Pitcairn Islands  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Welcome to Pitcairn Islands Tourism - Pitcairn Stats. In: visitpitcairn.pn. Pitcairn Islands Tourism, accessed June 9, 2020 .
  2. ^ Philip Carteret: An account of a voyage round the world, in the years MDCCLXVI, MDCCLXVII, MDCCLXVIII, and MDCCLXIX . In: John Hawkesworth (Ed.): An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere . Vol. I. William Strahan and Thomas Cadell, London 1773, Chap. III, p. 561 (English, online ).
  3. ^ A b Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , Executive summary - Introduction, pp. i (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]). The Ducie related distances in this source are incorrect.
  4. ^ Andrew Howley: Hokulea Visits the Pitcairn Islands. In: Worldwide Voyage. National Geographic Society , March 24, 2017, accessed March 29, 2019 .
  5. ^ Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , 3.4 Ducie - Key Facts, pp. 33 (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]).
  6. ^ Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , 3.3 Oeno - Key Facts, pp. 29 (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]).
  7. ^ A b Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , Executive summary - Seafloor bathymetry and geological history, pp. ii (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]).
  8. ^ Steve G. Blake, John M. Pandolfi: Geology of Selected Islands of the Pitcairn Group, Southern Polynesia . In: Leonard Vacher, Terrence Quinn (Ed.): Geology and Hydrogeology of Carbonate Islands (=  Developments in Sedimentology . Volume 54 ). Elsevier, Amsterdam a. a. 2004, ISBN 0-444-51644-1 , chap. 12 , p. 407-432 , doi : 10.1016 / S0070-4571 (04) 80034-7 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  9. ^ Robert A. Duncan, Ian McDougall , Robert M. Carter, Doug S. Coombs: Pitcairn Island - another Pacific hot spot? In: Nature . tape 251 , no. 5477 , October 25, 1974, p. 679-682 , doi : 10.1038 / 251679a0 (English).
  10. Jump up ↑ Hélène Delavault et al .: Sulfur and lead isotopic evidence of relic Archean sediments in the Pitcairn mantle plume . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . tape 113 , no. 46 , November 15, 2016, p. 12952–12956 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1523805113 (English).
  11. ^ Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , 1.3 Geology / geomorphology, pp. 4 (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]).
  12. ^ Robert Irving, Terry Dawson: The Marine Environment of the Pitcairn Islands . A report to Global Ocean Legacy, a project of the Pew Environment Group . Dundee University Press, Dundee 2012, ISBN 978-1-84586-161-2 , Introduction, pp. 1 (English, pewtrusts.org [PDF; 3.6 MB ; accessed on June 14, 2020]). The Ducie related distances in this source are incorrect.
  13. ↑ CIA World Factbook: Pitcairn Islands. People and Society. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  14. ^ Marshall I. Weisler: Henderson Island prehistory: colonization and extinction on a remote Polynesian island . In: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . tape 56 , no. 1-2 , September 1995, ISSN  0024-4066 , pp. 377-404 , here pp. 388-390: Chronology , doi : 10.1111 / j.1095-8312.1995.tb01099.x (English).
  15. ↑ Guillaume Molle, Aymeric Hermann: Pitcairn before the Mutineers: Revisiting the Isolation of a Polynesian Island . In: Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega (Ed.): The Bounty from the Beach. Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Essays . ANU Press, Acton, Australia 2018, ISBN 978-1-76046-244-4 , chap. 2 , p. 67–94 , here pp. 71–74: The settlement of Pitcairn , doi : 10.22459 / BB.10.2018.02 (English).
  16. ↑ Guillaume Molle, Aymeric Hermann: Pitcairn before the Mutineers: Revisiting the Isolation of a Polynesian Island . In: Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega (Ed.): The Bounty from the Beach. Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Essays . ANU Press, Acton, Australia 2018, ISBN 978-1-76046-244-4 , chap. 2 , p. 67–94 , here pp. 76–79: Exploitation of stone resources , doi : 10.22459 / BB.10.2018.02 (English).
  17. ↑ Guillaume Molle, Aymeric Hermann: Pitcairn before the Mutineers: Revisiting the Isolation of a Polynesian Island . In: Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega (Ed.): The Bounty from the Beach. Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Essays . ANU Press, Acton, Australia 2018, ISBN 978-1-76046-244-4 , chap. 2 , p. 67–94 , here pp. 85–88: Tracing ancient inter-island mobility and exchange in south-east Polynesia , doi : 10.22459 / BB.10.2018.02 (English).
  18. ^ Marshal Weisler, Richard Walter: East Polynesian connectivity . In: Tamar Hodos et al. (Ed.): The Routledge Handbook of Archeology and Globalization . Routledge, Abingdon / New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-415-84130-6 , chap. 4.7, p. 369–386 , here pp. 376–379: The Mangareva-Pitcairn group: sustainability only with connectivity (English, limited preview in the Google book search).
  19. ^ Jared Diamond : Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive . 2nd Edition. Penguin Books, London 2011, ISBN 978-0-241-95868-1 , pp. 131 ff . (English).
  20. ↑ Guillaume Molle, Aymeric Hermann: Pitcairn before the Mutineers: Revisiting the Isolation of a Polynesian Island . In: Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega (Ed.): The Bounty from the Beach. Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Essays . ANU Press, Acton, Australia 2018, ISBN 978-1-76046-244-4 , chap. 2 , p. 67–94 , here pp. 88–91: The abandonment of Pitcairn: Why, when and how? , doi : 10.22459 / BB.10.2018.02 (English).
  21. ↑ Clements Markham (ed.): The voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606 . tape 1 . The Hakluyt Society, London 1904, III. Narrative of the Voyage of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros in 1606, for the Discovery of the Austrial Regions - Chapter V, p. 191–192 (English, full text ).
  22. ↑ Clements Markham (ed.): The voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606 . tape 2 . The Hakluyt Society, London 1904, Appendix II. - Memorial of Quiros, 1609, p. 487–503 , here table p. 487 (English, full text ).
  23. ↑ Clements Markham (ed.): The voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606 . tape 1 . The Hakluyt Society, London 1904, III. Narrative of the Voyage of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros in 1606, for the Discovery of the Austrial Regions - Chapter VI, p. 192–193 (English, full text ).
  24. ↑ Harald A. Rehder, John E. Randall: Ducie Atoll: Its history, physiography and biota . In: Atoll Research Bulletin . No. 183 , Jan. 15, 1975, ISSN  0077-5630 , History, pp. 2-9 , doi : 10.5479 / si.00775630.183.1 (English).
  25. ↑ Thomas Farel Heffernan: Stove by a Whale - Owen Chase and the Essex . Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 1990, ISBN 0-8195-6244-0 , Chapter Three: Ne Cede Malis , pp. 77–118 , here p. 80 (English, limited preview in Google book search).
  26. ^ Philip Carteret: An Account of a Voyage Round the World, in the Years MDCCLXVI, MDCCLXVII, MDCCLXVIII, and MDCCLXIX . In: John Hawkesworth (Ed.): An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the order of His Present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere . Vol. I. William Strahan and Thomas Cadell, London 1773, Chap. III. The Passage from Masafuero to Queen Charlotte's Islands; several Mistakes corrected concerning Davis's Land, and an Account of some small Islands, supposed to be the same that were seen by Quiros , S. 557-568 , here p. 561 (English, full text ).
  27. ↑ Steve Dehner: The Armchair Navigator I - Supplements to Post-Spanish Discoveries in the Pacific Ocean . Bad Tattoo Inc., 2019, Oeno Island, p. 2–4 (English, full text in Google Book Search).
  28. ↑ Dea Birkett: Snake in Paradise - My Trip to Pitcairn Island . btb Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-72715-4 .
  29. ^ Pitcairn Telecom. Official website. (English)
  30. ↑ a b FAQ. Pitcairn Islands Immigration. Retrieved March 29, 2019.

Coordinates: 25 ° 4 ′  S , 130 ° 6 ′  W