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Pitcairn Islands facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Flag of the Pitcairn Islands
Flag of the Pitcairn Islands
Pitcairn Islands-CIA WFB Map
A map of the islands.
Mutiny HMS Bounty
The mutineers turning Bligh and part of the officers and crew adrift from the Bounty, 29 April 1789

The Pitcairn Islands are a group of islands in the southern Pacific. People only live on the second-largest of the four islands. That island is named Pitcairn. It is governed by the United Kingdom. It has the smallest number of people of any country. In 2007, 48 people lived there.

The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history still shows in the surnames of many of the islanders. There are only four family names (as of 2010): Christian, Warren, Young and Brown.


History

Originally people from Polynesia lived on the Pitcairn Islands, but there was no one living on the islands when they were discovered (found) by Captain Philip Carteret of H.M.S. Swallow on 2 July 1767. The island was named after Robert Pitcairn, a 15 year old midshipman who was the first person on the Swallow to see it. Robert is believed to have been lost at sea in early 1770 when the ship he was on, HMS Aurora, went missing in the Indian Ocean.

The Islands

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Islas Pitcairn para niños

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