Henderson Island
Henderson Island is an uninhabited uplifted coral island in the south Pacific Ocean, annexed to the Pitcairn Islands colony in 1902. It has an area of twelve square miles (31 km²) and is 120 miles (193 km) northeast of Pitcairn at . It has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1988 because of its bird life and untouched phosphate reserves. The island itself is too small and steep for agriculture and has no fresh water. Although Henderson is virtually uninhabitable, archaeological evidence suggests that it was inhabited by a small Polynesian permanent colony between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries (CE) until this group disappeared. The reasons for its disappearance are unknown, but are probably related to the similar disappearance of the Polynesians on Pitcairn Island, on whom the Hendersonians would have depended for many of the basics of life (the Pitcairn Polynesians may in turn have disappeared because of the decline of nearby Mangareva; thus, Henderson was at the end of a chain of small, dependent colonies). Today, Henderson is rarely visited except by Pitcairners looking for wood. However, in 1957, a man lived the life of a castaway on the island for approximately two months, accompanied by a pet chimpanzee, apparently as a publicity stunt. He was eventually rescued by locals from Pitcairn. [1]
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