Wish List: Far Flung Places of the Commonwealth

I am a history fan.  I wouldn’t say that I’m a buff, per se, but I like history.  I will spend my weekends relaxing in front of the TV watching all of the History Channel and History International shows.  History is a source of great entertainment for me. One big piece of world history that I enjoy is British history and the history of its many colonies (US, Australia, the former Empire and the Commonwealth now, for example.)  During Empire’s reign, the British traveled around the world and left their mark even on many of the most remote islands on the globe. These far flung places are places that I would love to see.

This wish list is really a pipe dream.  There are limited modes of transportation to these British Overseas Territories, either via boat or in the case of the latest one, via military transport or cargo ship.

Pitcairn Island; Pitcairn Islands.

Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island in the four island chain.  The remote Pacific island chain is most famously known for the home of the descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitians consorts.  All residents of the island can trace their ancestors to these men and women, even though, occasionally new people will arrive and join the island.

Adamstown, the only settlement and the capital of the Pitcairn Islands

Fletcher Christian led the mutiny against William Bligh, former sailing master for Captain James Cook and future governor of New South Wales, and his alleged cruelty as their captain on their voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit. Bligh and his loyal crew were set afloat by the mutineers for an arduous 47-day to Timor in the Dutch East Indies, now the split between East Timor and Indonesia.  The mutineers eventually headed to Pitcairn Island after trying to settle in Tahiti, where they subsequently scuttled the HMS Bounty in what is now called Bounty Bay. 

Today there are under 50 people on Pitcairn. 

Tristan da Cunha; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying 1,750 miles from the nearest land, South Africa. (This distance is more than the flight from Philadelphia to Denver.)

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the capital of Tristan da Cunha is named after Queen Victoria's son

First sighted in 1506 by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha, the island was named after himself. The archipelago wasn’t surveyed until 1767 by the French. In December 1810, an American, from Salem, MA, declared the land his until his death in 1812. The US used the islands as a base during the War of 1812, but the UK formally annexed the islands in 1816 as a measure to keep the French from staging any rescue operation to free Napoleon Bonaparte from Saint Helena, 1,510 miles north. (This distance is as long as the flight from Philadelphia to Denver.)

Today there are 275 people on Tristan da Cunha.

Diego Garcia; British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)

Diego Garcia was discovered by the Spanish explorer Diego García de Moguer in the 16th century, but was settled as a French colony in 1793. (What’s up with folks naming thing after themselves?) In 1814, it and the rest of the Chagos Archipelago were ceded to the United Kingdom in the Treaty of Paris.  This treaty ended the Napoleonic Wars, and this is the same time frame that Napoleon was in prison in Saint Helena.  Eventually the archipelago was governed by the colony of Mauritius and in 1965, the United Kingdom purchased the archipelago from Mauritius, declaring them to be a separate British Overseas Territory along with the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches from the Seychelles to build a military base.

A former copra plantation on Diego Garcia

There is controversy surrounding the island, most notably that displacement in 1971 of the local people, the Chagossians, to build Diego Garcia as a joint British and American military base.  Secondarily, Mauritius claims the right to the islands.

Today there are around 4000 military personnel and civilian contractors on Diego Garcia.

The biggest draw for me for the BIOT is that it has the coolest flag of any British dependency.

As cool as Maryland's, British Columbia's and Newfoundland and Labrador's Flags

Though they have the smallest population, the Pitcairn Islands are the most feasible to be a destination for the determined traveler since 80% of their economy is based in tourism and there is a ferry between Tahiti and Pitcairn for tourists.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.