Background: Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions. Pitcairn was the first Pacific island to become a British colony (in 1838) and today remains the last vestige of that empire in the South Pacific. Outmigration, primarily to New Zealand, has thinned the population from a peak of 233 in 1937 to about 50 today.
Pitcairn Islands Geography
Location: Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Peru to New Zealand
Geographic coordinates: 25 04 S, 130 06 W
Map references: Oceania
Area: total: 47 sq km
land: 47 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km