page_title: Pitcairn Islands
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pitcairn Islands / History
caption_attribution_description: IMG_3884
context_page_description: The Pitcairn Islands, officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands — Pitcairn proper, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno — are scattered across several hundred miles of ocean and have a combined land area of about 18 square miles. Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The nearest places are Mangareva to the west and Easter Island to the east.
  Pitcairn is the least populous national jurisdiction in the world. The Pitcairn Islanders are a biracial ethnic group descended mostly from nine Bounty mutineers and a handful of Tahitian captives, an event that has been retold in many books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. As of January 2020, there were 43 permanent inhabitants.
caption: West side of the Pitcairn Islands
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