Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 3 July 1767
- In terms of population, Pitcairn is today the smallest of all the remaining British colonies. The mutineers from the Bounty sailed to the island of Pitcairn with women brought from Tahiti, settled there and started families.
On this day in 1767 the Pitcairn Island in the Pacific was discovered.
It is one of the most isolated places on the entire planet Earth. Pitcairn Islands are located thousands of kilometers away from the coast of South America and New Zealand, positioned roughly halfway between them.
In terms of population, Pitcairn is today the smallest of all the remaining British colonies. Specifically, only 50 inhabitants live there. Pitcairn Island has an area of approximately 4.6 square kilometers. It was discovered by British explorer Philip Carteret, the commander of HMS Swallow. The island was named after a 15-year-old crewmember of that ship, Robert Pitcairn, who was allegedly the first to spot the island.
Pitcairn is historically particularly interesting by the fact that the crew of the Bounty, which rebelled against their commander William Bligh, found refuge there. The mutiny on the Bounty has already been addressed in a series of films, and was led by Fletcher Christian (he was portrayed, among others, by Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson).
The mutineers from the Bounty sailed to the island of Pitcairn with women brought from Tahiti, settled there and started families. Their descendants live on Pitcairn even today. Indeed, they have preserved the original surnames from the Bounty. For example, the current mayor of Pitcairn is named Shawn Christian and is a descendant of the mentioned Fletcher Christian.
