Pitcairn: the strangest island in the UK where people serve labor

Despite the fact that the era of slavery and serfdom is long behind, on the globe there is an unusual island, whose inhabitants are obliged to serve labor. And this island does not belong to a poor state, lost in the vastness of the ocean, but to Great Britain. Today we will talk about the unusual island of Pitcairn.

Pitcairn is the only inhabited island from all overseas territory of Great Britain. The Pitcairn Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, south of the equator and include 5 islands that are of volcanic and coral origin.

We are interested in the island of Pitcairn with an area of 4.6 square meters. km was uninhabited until it was populated by European sailors in 1790. Although, according to research, from the XI to the XV century, the island was inhabited by Polynesians, but for some reason they left Pitcairn before the arrival of the sailors. And the ancestors of the modern inhabitants of Pitcairn found themselves on the island under very unusual circumstances.

The three-masted Bounty ship, owned by England, traveled from Tahiti to Jamaica when a rebellion broke out on board. The captain and part of his crew of sailors loyal to him were put into a boat and driven out of the ship, while the rebels continued on their way to the Bounty. Fletcher Christian, who led the riot, decided to establish a colony on one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, which they would meet along the way, but most sailors wanted to return back to Tahiti. The ship sailed towards Tahiti, on the way they stopped on another island, where several Tahitian men and women joined them. After almost a year of wandering and unsuccessful attempts to establish a colony, the remaining members of the Bounty crew and several local residents ended up on Pitcairn Island.

The island, whose location was erroneously mapped, was far from trade routes, was little known and uninhabited. In addition, he did not have a convenient bay for landing, so he served as an ideal refuge for the rebels. Fletcher Christian and his associates rightly believed that English justice would seek them, so they wished to settle as far as possible.

As a result of this adventurous operation, in the winter of 1790, 9 British men and 18 natives — 12 women and 6 men — ended up on Pitcairn Island. But peace on the island did not last long: quarrels and armed conflicts broke out several times among the settlers. Be that as it may, the population of the island grew, and in 1838 Pitcairn was declared a colony of Great Britain.

The heyday of the island came in the 1915-1940s, when the population of the island exceeded 200 people and flourished due to maritime trade. Due to overpopulation, some people even had to be relocated to other islands.

But today life on Pitcairn is not so rosy, there are no more than 50 people living here, who are mainly engaged in fishing and farming. The younger generation prefers to move to Australia or New Zealand, as they have few prospects in their homeland in search of a good job. Despite the warm sea, ideal climate and picturesque nature, tourism on the island is poorly developed: its remoteness and lack of infrastructure affects it. The economic situation is so bleak that the entire able-bodied population of the island between the ages of 16 and 65 is obligatorily involved in community service.