The 44 inhabitants of a remote island in the South Pacific plan to share their rocky home with tourists, ending two centuries of isolation that began when mutineers from the British warship Bounty landed and settled there.
Islanders receive mail about three times each year.
A few cruise ships stop each year in Pitcairn, but tourists do not stay on the island. Pitcairn's inhabitants are descendants of Bounty mutineers who landed there in 1790. Children born on the island are sent to high school in New Zealand and many never return. Islanders recently voted for their governor, British High Commissioner to New Zealand Martin Williams, to begin negotiations with the New Zealand consortium, Wellesley Pacific, on tourist development. The island has made international headlines in recent weeks because of allegations of sexual assaults among the inhabitants.