History of the Pitcairn Islands History of the Pitcairn Islands The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. Pitcairn was settled again in 1790 by a group of British mutineers on HMS "Bounty" and Tahitians. When the "Bounty" mutineers arrived on Pitcairn, it was uninhabited. However, they found the remains of an earlier Polynesian culture that had since vanished. Archaeologists believe that Polynesians lived on the island from the 11th to the 15th century. These first Pitcairners seem to have operated
Raine Island and waters of the Wuthathi people, who shared their interests in the area with the Erubam Le (Darnley Island), the Ugarem Le (Stephen Island) and Meriam Le ( Murray Island) Torres Strait Islanders During the 1890s the island was mined for guano. The waters around the island were treacherous for early European navigators. More than thirty shipwrecks can be found off the coast of the island including HMS "Pandora", a vessel that in 1791 was involved in the capture of a group of mutineers from the HMS "Bounty". As a consequence, the beacon was built by convict labour in 1844,