Redonda is an

uninhabited The list of uninhabited regions includes a number of places around the globe. The list changes year over year as human beings migrate into formerly uninhabited regions, or migrate out of formerly inhabited regions. List As a group, the list of ...

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

that is a part of

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

, in the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. The island is about long, wide, and is high at its highest point. This small island lies between the islands of

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Ne ...

and

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

, southwest of

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

. Redonda is closer to Montserrat than to any other island; it is located at northwest of Montserrat, and southeast of Nevis. Redonda is home to vast numbers of sea birds, and the island was an important source of

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

before artificial fertilisers started to be mass-produced. Guano-mining operations started in the 1860s and ceased after the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During these mining operations a few buildings and other installations were put in place on the island, and some physical remnants of that phase in its history are still visible. "Redonda" is the female form of the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

adjective meaning "round". In 1493, on his second voyage to the New World,

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

discovered the island and named it "Santa María la Redonda" (the Spanish language meaning "Saint Mary the Round"). The island was annexed by the Antiguan Parish of Saint John on the 26th of March, 1872.

Description

At a distance, Redonda appears as if it were one very large rock. It is the remnant of an ancient extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

. The land rises from sea level mostly as sheer cliffs, especially on the

leeward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

(west) side. At the top of the island there is a relatively flat but tilted area of grassland which slopes to the east. There is no source of fresh water other than rain. Judging by the name he gave the island, to

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

the island appeared to be rounded, at least in profile. In reality the island is long and narrow, and reaches a height of almost 1,000 feet. The actual land area of the island is hard to estimate because of the extreme steepness of the slopes, but it is calculated to be somewhere between and . Redonda is uninhabited. The difficult topography, the lack of a safe place to land a boat, and the absence of any freshwater source other than rainfall makes the island inhospitable to humans. Sunny Redonda w hut

A herd of feral goats and thousands of rats were cleared from the island in 2017 as part of a

island restoration The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic species, as well as ...

programme. Redonda west coast detail

History

In 1493,

and his crew became the first known Europeans to see Redonda, on his second journey. He claimed it for the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accessi ...

, but did not land there. He named the island ''Santa María la Redonda'', meaning Saint Mary the Round, reflecting the island's apparent profile when viewed from the side. Because the island is a rock of just over a square kilometre, it did not represent any interest for the powers involved in the

colonisation of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although Norse colonization of North America, the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizin ...

and, for centuries, it was a refuge for

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

. In the 1860s, the island became a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

possession. During the decades after the 1860s, the rich

deposits of Redonda were mined for

fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, with an annual yield of up to 7,000

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s. Only during this time was the island inhabited by workers; the population was 120 in 1901. After the guano mining,

aluminium phosphate Aluminium phosphate is a chemical compound. In nature it occurs as the mineral berlinite. Many synthetic forms of aluminium phosphate are known. They have framework structures similar to zeolites and some are used as catalysts, ion-exchangers or ...

for

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

production was discovered and mined. A

cableway Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...

was constructed to transport material down to the loading pier on the coast. In 1914, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the mining operations ceased, and most workers left the island. Maintenance workers remained on the island until 1929, when a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

destroyed almost all the remaining facilities. The island has remained uninhabited since then. Two stone huts still stand from the time when the island was occupied. Although the closest island to Redonda is

, and the second closest is

, in 1967 Redonda became a dependency of the more distant

, now part of

. Scientists from the

Montserrat Volcano Observatory The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) is a volcano observatory which is located on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, where the Soufrière Hills volcano (SHV) has been actively erupting since 1995. The MVO staff describe their activities ...

visit the island in a helicopter periodically; they are using Redonda as an observation point from which to take measurements of the

Soufrière Hills The Soufrière Hills are an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and has continued to ...

, an active volcano on

Ecology and conservation

Animals

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the island include the Redonda ground dragon, the Redonda anole and an unnamed species of dwarf gecko. The island is a breeding colony for multiple species of

seabirds Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine (ocean), marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ev ...

. The island's local ecology was severely affected by

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, particularly introduced

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of Caprinae, goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a membe ...

and

rats Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

, for almost a century.

Island restoration The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic species, as well as ...

efforts were initiated in the 2016, beginning with removing the island's 60 goats and roughly 6000 rats. The Redonda Restoration Programme involves the Environmental Awareness Group, Wildlife Management International and

Fauna and Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserva ...

. Several years after the goats were removed, some local plant life began to recover.

Micronation

Redonda is the setting of the myth of the "

Kingdom of Redonda The Kingdom of Redonda is the name for the micronation associated with the tiny uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda. The island lies between the islands of Nevis and Montserrat, within the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain, in the Wes ...

M. P. Shiel Matthew Phipps Shiell (21 July 1865 – 17 February 1947), known as M. P. Shiel, was a British writer. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a ''de facto'' pen name. He is remembered mainly for supernatura ...

, an author of fantasy novels, claimed that in the year of his birth, 1865, his father Matthew Dowdy Shiell, from

, decided to celebrate his first male child by arranging for the boy to be crowned

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of Redonda at the age of 15, in a ceremony purportedly carried out on the small island by a bishop. Shiel first mentioned the idea of the "Kingdom of Redonda" in a promotional leaflet for his books. Since then, the title has been "passed down", and continues to the present day. For a period of time the "Royal" lineage of Redonda had a more or less solely literary theme, with the title being given to writers, such as

John Gawsworth Terence Ian Fytton Armstrong (29 June 1912 – 23 September 1970), better known as John Gawsworth (and also sometimes known as T. I. F. Armstrong), was a British writer, poet and compiler of anthologies, both of poetry and of short stories. He ...

and

Jon Wynne-Tyson Jon Linden Wynne-Tyson (6 July 1924 – 26 March 2020) was an English author, publisher, Walters, Kerry S., Portmess, Lisa, 1999, ''Ethical Vegetarianism: From Pythagoras to Peter Singer'', SUNY Press, p. 233, . Quaker, activist and pacifist, w ...

. Wynne-Tyson (King Juan II), his successor the Spanish novelist

Javier Marías Javier Marías Franco (20 September 1951 – 11 September 2022) was a Spanish author, translator, and columnist. Marías published fifteen novels, including '' A Heart So White'' (''Corazón tan blanco,'' 1992'')'' and '' Tomorrow in the Battle ...

(King Xavier), and rival contenders for the Redondan title, such as Gawsworth, William L. Gates and Bob Williamson, were featured in a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

documentary, ''Redonda: The Island with Too Many Kings'', which was broadcast in May 2007.BBC Radio 4.
Redonda: The Island with Too Many Kings
', 27 May 2007.

Notes

References

External links

Antigua and Barbuda Museum
* {{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Antigua and Barbuda Stacks (geology) Dependencies of Antigua and Barbuda Former populated places in Antigua and Barbuda Populated places established in the 15th century 1967 establishments in Antigua and Barbuda States and territories established in 1967 Saint John Parish, Antigua and Barbuda