Pitcairn Islanders
|
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (49 (2016)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Pitcairn Islands 49 |
|
 Norfolk Island
|
38.4% (2011) |
 New Zealand
|
177 (36 born-overseas) (2013) |
 Australia
|
75 (2011) |
| Languages | |
| English · Pitkern | |
| Religion | |
| Seventh-day Adventist Church | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Englishmen · Tahitians · Scotsmen · Irishmen · Descendants of the Bounty mutineers · | |
Pitcairn Islanders also referred to as Pitkerners, are the inhabitants or citizens of the Pitcairn Islands. The Pitcairn Islands is a nation, mainly inhabited by Euronesians of British and Tahitian descent. The culture held in common by most Pitcairn Islanders is mainstream Pitcairn culture, a mixture of British and Polynesian culture derived from the traditions of the settlers who landed in 1790. Most of the people today are descended from the HMS Bounty mutineers of English, Scottish descent and the Tahitian companions, including the few who settled afterwards. As of 2016, there are a total of 49 people inhabiting the island.
There is also a Pitcairn diaspora particularly in Norfolk Island, New Zealand and mainland Australia. As a result from overcrowding on the island, in 1856 all 194 Pitkerners immigrated to Norfolk Island aboard the Morayshire (including a baby born en route) but 16 of them returned to Pitcairn on the Mary Ann in 1858, followed by a further four families in 1864.
Pitcairn Island was sighted on 3 July 1767 by the crew of the British sloop HMS Swallow, commanded by Captain Philip Carteret. The island was named after Scottish Midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a fifteen-year-old crew member who was the first to sight the island.
“we discovered land to the northward of us. Upon approaching it the next day (Friday, 3 July), it appeared like a great rock rising from the sea... and it having been discovered by a young gentleman, son to Major Pitcairn of the Marines, we called it Pitcairn’s Island.”
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Wikipedia