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The Remote Pacific Island Where Everyone Is Related To One Man
One of the most isolated places on Earth
From the air, Palmerston Island looks wholly unremarkable. It is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of similar atolls that dot the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is made up of twelve motu or small islets that ring a large lagoon. Most of the area is made up of sharp coral and the island cannot be approached by large ships due to the underwater hazards. The central lagoon is seven miles across, and the amount of dry land on Palmerston is just over one square mile.
Palmerston Island resides in the Cook Islands and is roughly 675 miles southwest of Samoa.
The thing that is remarkable about Palmerston Island is the fact that it is inhabited. Not only do a small number of people live on the island, they are all related to one man. The people of Palmerston Island are a part of a large interconnected family born out of the polygamy of one man by the name of William Marsters.
Marster’s Island
In 1863, William Marsters sailed to Palmerston Island from another nearby atoll. He brought with him two wives of Polynesian descent. At the time, the island was uninhabitable. It had been charted by Captain Cook (which the island chain as a whole is still named after) a century earlier…
