Palmerston Island: End of the "British Ariki"?

Abstract

<p>Almost lost in Polynesia's vast expanses are two very small but special islands whose inhabitants, at least in historical times, from birth have spoken either only English or a hybrid English-Polynesian idiom. Renowned is, of course, Pitcairn Island, whose remnant population to a large degree can still claim descent from the infamous eighteenth-century mutineers of HMS Bounty and their Tahitian companions. Nearly unknown to the world, on the other hand, is the fascinating story of Palmerston Island in the Cook archipelago.</p>