AHC: Pitcairn islands not "rediscovered" until the 20th or 21st century?
- Thread starter ArKhan
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The place had normalized ephebophilia. 12/13 year old girls were considered whiny if they rejected adult men.
I don't think the discovery did that much difference. More of the same, probably?
I don't think the discovery did that much difference. More of the same, probably?
It's pretty much impossible to remain unrediscovered until the 21st century, though it could remain so probably into the 1930's or so.
As to the effects, well the population would die out eventually basically and at best what would be discovered would be a few elderly and middle-aged people and maybe a younger person, though it could very well end-up with everyone dieing off before re-discovery, leading to the ship that goes there finding the remnants of small villages, cemeteries and possibly a few scattered skeletons.
As to the effects, well the population would die out eventually basically and at best what would be discovered would be a few elderly and middle-aged people and maybe a younger person, though it could very well end-up with everyone dieing off before re-discovery, leading to the ship that goes there finding the remnants of small villages, cemeteries and possibly a few scattered skeletons.
Inbreeding is a big problem threatening the survival of several endangered species, but the major differences between those cases and the mutineers is a, compared to humans generations are significantly shorter in all animals, b, animal groups are almost never made up of generically unrelated individuals.
There are probably lots of Polynesian islands that were settled with a smaller "batch of genes" than Pitcairn. Polynesian populations were also vulnerable to epidemics, which is the largest long-term risk of originating from a small gene-pool.
Their legal defense was that such was the common law age of consent as was practiced at the time their community became autonomous. The British court rejected this claim on the grounds that there was never formal autonomy in the colony, which is sort of surprisingly legalistic; then again early marriages were common in the early 19th c.
What if the ones who reestablish contact are the American Navy during the second world war? I know that was they way many uncontacted people in the pacific where discovered. Some even had US military bases put up on their islands. How would the people of the Pitcairns react to this? Would a US navy base mean the islands would go to the US after the war?
Worse, I think the mutineers killed all the Tahitian men not long after arriving, probably before they could father any children. Before eventually killing off all of each other except two.
I think they'd die out within 150 years without new blood. Although maybe the genetic diversity of being half Polynesian and half European would help them out some.
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On the contrary I've read that Pitcairn islanders (and their descendants) were all quite healthy and that there are no signs of genetic problems developing. Not sure how many people have came sense the original population, but to my understanding it was just a handful of Europeans(whalers mostly I think) that have sense come to live on Norfolk, and even less on Pitcarin.
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Indeed it would have. Mixed race individuals have a much lower instance of genetic disease, and more diverse antibodies and digestive enzymes. The opposite is true for inbreed individuals, so the two forces would've balanced out.