7 Most Isolated Humans On The Planet

3. The Pitcairn Islands

The Pitcairn Islands are a little group of four volcanic islands in the Southern Pacific. Although it is technically a British territory, the islands are spread over hundreds of miles of ocean, and yet only have a land areas of 18 square miles.

The inhabitants are the weirdest part of the island. There are only around 56 of them, and it is thought that the vast majority of those are directly descended from the mutinous crew, and accompanying Tahitians, of the HMS Bounty, which was sent on a botanical mission to collect breadfruit in the 1700s, but instead found itself being burnt off the coast of the Pitcairns.

In 2004, seven men on the islands were charged with sexual assault, making up a third of the population. The extreme isolation of the islands enabled thier inhabitants to escape the scrutiny of the rest of the world, and continue practices that most would consider to be abusive. One investigation found that most of the girls on the island had their first child between the ages of 12 and 15.

The trial was even subject to a conspiracy theory that it was an attempt by the British government to do away with the able bodied men of the island and shut the community down.