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 About Us  >  History  and  Culture Pitcairn,  The bounty islands
Who were the first settlers?
We do not know who first settled this small volcanic island about 9.6 km. round and 4 km. at its greatest length. But settlers there were, for early visitors from Europe found many relics of Polynesian civilization, probably from Mangareva some 490 km. to the north-west. There were roughly hewn stone gods still guarding sacred sites; carved in the cliff faces were representations of animals and men; burial sites yielding human skeletons; and there were earth ovens, stone adzes, gouges and other artefacts of Polynesian workmanship.

Discovery by Europeans: 1767
"It is so high that we saw it at a distance of more than fifteen leagues, and it having been discovered by a young gentleman, son to Major Pitcairn of the marines, we called it PITCAIRN'S ISLAND".

In these few words were recorded the first sight and naming of Pitcairn by a European. That was in July 1767, and the words are those of an Englishman, Captain Philip Carteret of H.M.S. Swallow, who was however, unable to land because of the surf "which at this season broke upon it with great violence".

No one except the determined Captain Cook was interested in Carteret's report and his search for the island was deflected by an outbreak of scurvy. So Pitcairn might have become the home of ex-sailors with their Polynesian families and, like other islands in these latitudes, a casual stopover for whalers looking for land and fresh food. But its destiny was to be quite different.

The tale of the mutiny of His Majesty's armed ship Bounty, which led to the founding of the Pitcairn community, is well known. A coastal trader named Bethia was refitted and re-christened as Bounty for a voyage to Tahiti to collect breadfruit tree seedlings to take to the West Indies for cultivation as food for slaves. The master's mate, Fletcher Christian, and others of the crew mutinied. Casting adrift the Commander, Lieutenant William Bligh, and eighteen loyal officers in the ship's boat, the mutineers sailed the Bounty back to Tahiti, then to Tubuai in the Austral Group.

There, relations with the inhabitants soon deteriorated and, spurred by the fear of discovery and arrest, eight of the mutineers set sail with Christian in search of an uninhabited island, secure from the outside world. To help them the men took with them six Tahitian men and, to look after them and be their consorts, twelve Tahitian women.

Settlement by the mutineers: 1790

For two months the men on the Bounty combed the Cooks, Tonga and the eastern islands of Fiji for a home, and it was almost in desperation that Christian, recalling or stumbling on Carteret's account, sailed eastwards again for Pitcairn, which he reached on 15 January 1790. "With a joyful _expression such as we had not seen on him for a long time past" Christian returned from the shore to report that the people who had once planted Pitcairn with coconut palms and breadfruit had either died or left it. The island was lonely and inaccessible, uninhabited, fertile and warm; it exceeded his highest hopes.

The Bounty was anchored in what is now called Bounty Bay and stripped of all her contents, including pigs, chickens, yams and sweet potatoes, which were laboriously hauled up the aptly named Hill of Difficulty to the Edge, a small, grassy platform over-looking the Bay. Then, fearing that if any European vessel sighted the ship retribution would inevitably follow, the mutineers ran the Bounty ashore and set her on fire so that no trace of her, or clue to their whereabouts, would remain visible from the sea.

For more events in the fascinating history of Pitcairn Island from 1790 to the present day, please see “Significant dates” below.

Significant dates:
July 1767: The first known sighting of the Island by European mariners was made by a midshipman on HMS Swallow. Captain Philip Carteret called it Pitcairn’s island.

December 1787: HMAV Bounty sets sail from Spithead, England. Purpose of journey) was to collect breadfruit from Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies.

March 1788: Captain Bligh promotes Fletcher Christian to Acting second Lieutenant.

26 October 1788: Bounty arrives at Tahiti and stays for five and a half months.

28 April 1789: Fletcher Christian takes over Bounty and sets Bligh and 18 men adrift in an open boat.

May 1789: Bounty arrives at Tubuai, then leaves three days later.

6 June 1789: Bounty returns to Tahiti and takes aboard Polynesian men, women, a baby and livestock.

23 June 1789: Bounty arrives back at Tubuai.

22 September 1789: Bounty returns to Tahiti. 16 mutineers decide to stay, nine sail on Bounty along with six Polynesian men, 12 women and a baby girl.

January 1790: The mutineers sight Pitcairn Island, which had previously been incorrectly charted.

23 January 1790: Bounty is set alight in Bounty Bay and sinks.

1790: Puarei and Tinafanaea die. Oha and Tararo are murdered.

September 1793: Fletcher Christian, John Mills, Isaac Martin, John Williams are killed on the same day by the Polynesian men.

1798: William McCoy, intoxicated, commits suicide.

1799: Matthew Quintal is killed by Edward Young and John Adams, supposedly in self-defence.

December 1800: Christmas Day, Edward Young dies of asthma. John Adams is the sole surviving mutineer.

6 February 1808: Captain Mayhew Folger of Topaz, an American ship, re-discovers Pitcairn.

17 September 1814: Two British ships, HMS Briton and HMS Tagus arrive at Pitcairn. The calendar error made by Fletcher Christian is corrected.

5 March 1829: John Adams dies, aged 65, followed nine days later by his wife. Teio (Mary).

March 1831: Decision made to re-settle the islanders in Tahiti. While there 12 islanders die of disease, including Thursday October Christian, Fletcher Christian’s older son.

3 September 1831: Islanders return to Pitcairn on Charles Doggett.

June 1856: All 194 islanders emigrate to Norfolk Island on Morayshire.

1859 16: homesick Pitcairn Islanders return to Pitcairn Island on Mary Ann.

1864: A further four families from Norfolk Island return to Pitcairn Island.

1886: The islanders convert to the Seventh-day Adventist faith.

1914: Opening of the Panama Canal places Pitcairn on the direct shipping route to New Zealand.

1940: Pitcairn’s first postage stamps are issued.

1957: Bounty anchor is raised from Bounty Bay.

January 1990: Bicentenary celebrations take place on Pitcairn.

8 January 1999: Bounty cannon (perhaps the last) is raised from the wreck site.

26 August 2005: New museum officially opened by His Excellency The Governor (Richard Fell)

13 October 2005: Official opening of the newly paved road up The Hill of Difficulty.


The people of Pitcairn Island are descended from the mutineers of Bounty who, led by Fletcher Christian landed there in 1790 with six Polynesian men, twelve Polynesian women and an infant girl.

From the earliest days of the settlement, outsiders have settled and married into island families introducing new blood to the island. These immigrants have included English, Norwegian, Danish, American, Mangarevan and New Zealand.

Typical activities in the life of a Pitcairner include gardening, public work, carving, basket weaving and other handicrafts, government jobs, baking, household duties, fishing, trading on ships and taking care of the family

While a large amount of food supplies are ordered from New Zealand and shipped to the island, the island gardens and fruit grown on the island are vital in the islanders’ diet.

Pitcairners speak a dialect of English known as Pitkern, which is a mixture of old and modern English with some Tahitian words and phrases.