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=== Polynesian settlement ===
TheVarious forms of evidence show the earliest known settlers of the Pitcairn Islands were [[Polynesia]]ns who appear to have occupied Pitcairn and Henderson for several centuries. Research has focused on whetheruntil the occupationislands waswere permanentabandoned: ofHenderson temporary,most andlikely ifbefore the occupants16th usedcentury theand naturalPitcairn resourcesin sustainably.the Although17th archaeologistsor believeearly that Polynesians were living on Pitcairn as late as the 15th18th century,. theThe islands were uninhabited when they were discovered by Europeans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared M |url=https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare |title=Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed |date=2005 |publisher=[[Penguin Group|Penguin]] |isbn=9780143036555 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/collapse00jare/page/132 132] |oclc=62868295 |quote=But by A.D. 1606 . . . Henderson's population had ceased to exist. Pitcairn's own population had disappeared at least by 1790 ... and probably disappeared much earlier. |author-link=Jared Diamond |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name = Molle-Aymericic>{{cite book |author1=Guillaume Molle |author2=Hermann Aymeric |title="Pitcairn before the mutineers" in "The Bounty from the beach: Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary essays" |date=2018 |publisher=AMU Press |pages=67-94 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/27524/bountyfrom.pdf?sequence=1#page=77}}</ref>
=== European arrival===
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==== Sexual assault trials of 2004 ====
{{main|2004 Pitcairn Islands sexual assault trial}}
In 2004, charges were laid against seven men living on Pitcairn and six living abroad. This accounted for nearly a third of the male population, and half of the island's adult males. After extensive trials, most of the men were convicted, some withon multiple counts of sexual encountersassaults withon children.<ref name="Tweedie 2004">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/pitcairnislands/1473399/Islander-changes-his-plea-to-admit-sex-assaults.html |title=Islander changes his plea to admit sex assaults |first=Neil |last=Tweedie |date=5 October 2004 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=29 November 2011 |location=London |archive-date=12 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812175937/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/pitcairnislands/1473399/Islander-changes-his-plea-to-admit-sex-assaults.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 25 October 2004, six men were convicted, including [[Steve Christian]], the island's mayor at the time.<ref name="Fickling 2004">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/26/davidfickling |title=Six found guilty in Pitcairn sex offences trial: Defendants claim British law does not apply |date=25 October 2004 |last=Fickling |first=David |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702134223/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/26/davidfickling |archive-date=2 July 2015 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Six guilty in Pitcairn sex trial |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3950033.stm |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2004 |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731092733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3950033.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=6 men convicted in Pitcairn trials |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/world/25iht-pitcaIRN.html |date=24 October 2004 |access-date=29 November 2011 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=5 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105131917/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/world/25iht-pitcaIRN.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, the islanders had about 20 firearms among them, which they surrendered ahead of the [[Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004|sexual assault trials]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tvnz.co.nz/content/441332 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317210435/http://tvnz.co.nz/content/441332 |archive-date=17 March 2015 |access-date=4 July 2015 |date=11 August 2004 |title=Pitcairn islanders to surrender guns |agency=Reuters |publisher=Television New Zealand |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> After the six men lost their final appeal, the British government set up a prison on the island at Bob's Valley.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10127299 |title=Pitcairners stay free till British hearing |last=Marks |first=Kathy |author-link=Kathy Marks |date=25 May 2005 |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804221357/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10127299 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed |publisher=Simon and Schuster |first=Kathy |last=Marks |author-link=Kathy Marks |date=2009 |isbn=9781416597841 |page=288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBl_hS0YgvIC&pg=PA288 |access-date=5 July 2015 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906043508/https://books.google.com/books?id=aBl_hS0YgvIC&pg=PA288 |url-status=live }}</ref> The men began serving their sentences in late 2006. By 2010, all had served their sentences or been granted home detention status.<ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702171040/http://smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last-pitcairn-rape-prisoner-released-20090423-afkt.html |archive-date=2 July 2015 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/last-pitcairn-rape-prisoner-released-20090423-afkt.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Last Pitcairn rape prisoner released |date=23 April 2009 |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
== Geography ==
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=== Flora ===
About nine plant species are thought to be [[endemismEndemism|occur onlyendemic]] onto Pitcairn. These include tapau, formerly an important timber resource, and the [[Angiopteris|giant nehe fern]]. Some, such as red berry (''[[Coprosma rapensis]]'' var. ''Benefica''), are perilously close to extinction.<ref>{{Cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/38851/10153343|title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|date=January 1998|access-date=2018-10-23|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035229/https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/38851/10153343|url-status=live}}</ref> The plant species ''[[Glochidion pitcairnense]]'' is endemic to Pitcairn and Henderson Islands.<ref>{{Cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/32345/9699838|title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|date=January 1998|access-date=2018-10-23|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035428/https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/32345/9699838|url-status=live}}</ref> Pitcairn is part of the [[Tuamotu tropical moist forests]] terrestrial ecoregion.<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=1|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Fauna ===
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