Henderson Island, UK
Rating: 8,6/10 (3728 votes)  Henderson Island is an uninhabited coral island, the largest of the Pitcairn Islands owned by Great Britain in Polynesia. The island is located in the South Pacific Ocean and is difficult for people to access. Limestone soils are not at all fertile, and even climbing the local slopes is not an easy undertaking, since they simply crumble underfoot. The center of the island is overgrown with impenetrable thorny bushes.
However, it is thanks to the non-interference of man in the local nature that Henderson Island was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, because there are unique and untouched deposits of phosphates, as well as very rare birds. All this is planned to be preserved in the future, because in the 1980s, when the American Arthur Ratliff wanted to acquire the island and build a runway on it, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused him in the name of preserving the natural resources of this place.
Henderson Island owes its origin to three underwater volcanoes: Adams, Young and Bounty, which raised the atoll above sea level. Moreover, most of the island is surrounded by relatively new coral reefs. The highest point of the island is 33 m above sea level.
It is curious that, despite the uninhabitedness of the island, clear traces of people were found here. In the cave, where the only source of fresh water on the island is located, skeletons of people, as well as rock inscriptions and drawings, stone tools were discovered. Where these settlers came from is not exactly clear, but there is an assumption that in the XII-XV centuries ancient Polynesians from the Gambier archipelago lived here for some time. The reason for their disappearance from the island is also shrouded in mystery today.
The island was"opened" twice: first, in 1606, Pedro Fernandez Quiros landed here, who called the island San Juan Baptista, and then in 1819 the British ship"Hercules" stopped here, whose captain Henderson gave the island his name, which eventually followed him and stuck. Today the island is sometimes visited by small tourist groups, and the inhabitants of the Pitcairn Island occasionally come here for the valuable Thespesia populnea and Cordia subcordata timber, from which wonderful crafts are made.We also recommend reading Jurassic Coast in the UK Topic: Henderson Island, UK. |
