Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)

Henderson Island is an uninhabited raised coral atoll in the south Pacific Ocean, annexed to the Pitcairn Islands colony in 1902. Measuring long and wide, it has an area of and is located northeast of Pitcairn Island at . The island was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1988. It is unsuitable for agriculture and has little fresh water. There are three beaches on the northern side and the remaining coast comprises steep, mostly undercut, cliffs up to in height.

History

Although Henderson is virtually uninhabitable, archaeological evidence suggests that it was inhabited by a small Polynesian permanent colony between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The reasons for the group's disappearance are unknown, but are probably related to the similar disappearance of the Polynesians on Pitcairn Island, on whom the Hendersonians would have depended for many of the basics of life. The Pitcairn Polynesians may in turn have disappeared because of the decline of nearby Mangareva; thus, Henderson was at the end of a chain of small, dependent colonies of Mangareva.On January 29, 1606, Henderson island was discovered by Portuguese sailor Pedro Fernandes de Queiros, who named it San João Baptista. On January 17, 1819 the island was re-discovered by British Capt. Henderson of the British East India Company ship Hercules, and named Henderson Island. On March 2, 1819, Captain Henry King, sailing aboard the...
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