The Pitcairn Islands, officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands—Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno—are scattered across several hundred miles of ocean and have a combined land area of about 18 square miles (47 km2). Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The islands nearest to the Pitcairn Islands are Mangareva at 688 km to the west and Easter Island at 1,929 km to the east.
The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific Ocean, with a population of about 50. The politics of the islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Mayor is the head of government. The territory's constitution is the Local Government Ordinance of 1964. In terms of population, the Pitcairn Islands is the smallest democracy in the world.
The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and eighteen loyalists adrift in the ship's open launch. The mutineers variously settled on Tahiti or on Pitcairn Island. Bligh navigated more than 3,500 nautical miles in the launch to reach safety and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.
Adamstown is the capital of, and the only settlement on, the Pitcairn Islands, the only British Overseas Territory that is located in the Pacific Ocean.
The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. Polynesian people established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. They lived on Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, and on Mangareva Island 540 kilometres (340 mi) to the northwest, for about 400 years.
Fletcher Christian was an English seaman who led the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, during which he seized command of the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty from Lieutenant William Bligh.
Steven Raymond Christian is a politician, convicted sex offender and child rapist from the Pitcairn Islands. He was mayor of the islands from 1999 until 2004, when he was removed from office after being found guilty in the Pitcairn child sexual abuse trial.
In 2004, seven men living on Pitcairn Island faced 55 charges relating to sexual offences against children and young people. The accused represented a third of the island's male population and included Steve Christian, the mayor. On 24 October, all but one of the defendants were found guilty on at least some of the charges. Another six men living abroad, including Shawn Christian, who later served as mayor of Pitcairn, were tried on 41 charges in a separate trial in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2005.
The Pitcairn Supreme Court is the supreme court of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory. It is a superior court of record. Provisions for a supreme court were set out in amendments to the Old Constitution Order in the 1990s. The court first sat for the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004, and its powers were further elaborated on in the Constitution Order 2010.
The descendants of the Bounty mutineers include the modern-day Pitcairn Islanders as well as a little less than half of the population of Norfolk Island. Their common ancestors were the nine surviving mutineers from the mutiny on HMS Bounty which occurred in the south Pacific Ocean in 1789. Their descendants also live in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
Pitcairn Islanders, also referred to as Pitkerners and Pitcairnese, are the inhabitants of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory including people whose families were previously inhabitants and maintaining cultural connections. Most Pitcairn Islanders are Descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
HMS Bounty, also known as HM Armed Vessel Bounty, was a small merchant vessel that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787 for a botanical mission. The ship was sent to the South Pacific Ocean under the command of William Bligh to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them to the West Indies to be grown as food to feed the West Indies' large population of enslaved persons. That mission was never completed owing to a 1789 mutiny led by acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian, an incident now popularly known as the Mutiny on the Bounty. The mutineers later burned Bounty while she was moored at Pitcairn Island in the Southern Pacific Ocean in 1790. An American adventurer helped land several remains of Bounty in 1957.
Gerard Bromley Robert Christian served as Magistrate of the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island from 1910 to 1919. As is commonly the case with the small population of Pitcairn, he was closely related to several other island leaders, notably cousins Edgar Allen Christian, Frederick Martin Christian, and Charles Richard Parkin Christian. He was also the grandson of Thursday October Christian II and was the father of John Lorenzo Christian. He was born and died on Pitcairn Island.
Ivan Roa Christian was a politician from Pitcairn. He was the Chief Magistrate of Pitcairn Island from 1976 to 1984. As his surname suggests, he is descended from the original mutineers who settled the island, led by Fletcher Christian. He is related to a number of other island leaders, including his father Richard Edgar Christian, his uncle Charles Richard Parkin Christian and his great-grandfather Thursday October Christian II. Through his marriage to Verna Young, he is the father of Steve Christian and Brenda Christian.
Edgar Allen Christian was a politician from Pitcairn Island. He served as Chief Magistrate in 1923, 1924 and 1932. As is commonly the case with the small population of Pitcairn, he was closely related to several other island leaders, notably brother Frederick Martin Christian, cousins Gerard Bromley Robert Christian and Charles Richard Parkin Christian, and grandfather Thursday October Christian II.
Frederick Martin "Fred" Christian was a politician from Pitcairn. He was the Chief Magistrate of Pitcairn Island on three occasions between 1921 and 1943, and was a Pitcairn councillor in 1956.
Warren Clive Christian served as Magistrate of the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island twice, in 1950-51 and 1958-60. Christian was the son of Richard Edgar Christian and Adelia Carrie Jordan McCoy. He is related to numerous other island leaders, notably grandfather James Russell McCoy, uncles Charles Richard Parkin Christian and Matthew Edmond McCoy, brother Ivan Christian, and nephew and niece, Steve Christian and Brenda Christian.
Charles Christian, Jr. served as Magistrate of the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island in 1847. He was the son of Charles Christian and Sully. He married Charlotte Quintal and had 16 children. Christian died on Norfolk Island.
The Women of Pitcairn Island is a 1956 American adventure drama film directed by Jean Yarbrough and starring Lynn Bari, John Smith and Sue England.
Richard Edgar Christian was a Pitcairn Islander. He served as Chief Magistrate of Pitcairn in three spells between 1926 and 1940, and was also the island's first postmaster.
