Pitcairn

Current Events
by Leslie T. Waldorf
Ocean Challenge

Pitcairn Island
from Class Afloat News, October 21, 1996

The story of Pitcairn mirrors that of Easter Island. Both are small volcanic islands isolated in the middle of the Pacific whose human populations struggled to live on limited resources. But Pitcairn was harder hit by its isolation probably because of its smaller size: after a few hundred years of settlement, it went through a long period with no inhabitants at all.

Why did human populations colonize this far-off place and why did its civilization completely die out? Recent studies have found that Pitcairn and nearby Henderson island were both settled around 1000 A.D. Pitcairn had two resources that Henderson lacked: rich volcanic soil and a reliable fresh water supply. It exported volcanic stone to Henderson, which used it for making tools. Henderson held its own attraction for settlers in the form of untapped fish and shellfish supplies as well as large colonies of flightless land birds and nesting sea birds and turtles. They exported these goods.

Scientists trace the length of contact between the islands through evidence of traded items on them. We learn that the relationship between Pitcairn and Henderson islands lasted until around 1450 A.D. Then all signs of human existence on either island disappeared around 1600 A.D. Theories abound as to what had happened.

Could the people no longer have children because incest taboos prevented marriage amongst such a close-knit group? Had inbreeding caused disastrous genetic problems? Was there a change in climate that made survival difficult? Had cannibalism taken over? Clearly they had used up their resources, but beyond that no one knows for sure what happened. It seems likely that all these factors worked in combination.

In 1789, after nearly two hundred years with no humans on the island, a British ship named the HMS Bounty landed there. The famous mutineers of the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian made their home on the island. Today, most of the 56 people living on Pitcairn are descendants from this initial group. Like their island predecessors, they depend on contact with the outside world for survival.