Redonda is an uninhabited

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 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 island is about long, wide, and is high at its highest point. This small island lies between the islands of Nevis 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. 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 adjective meaning "round". In 1493, on his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus 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. 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 programme. Redonda west coast detail

History

In 1493, Christopher Columbus 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 possession. During the decades after the 1860s, the rich

deposits of Redonda were

mined Mined may refer to: * Mined (text editor), a terminal-based text editor * Mining, the extraction of valuable geological materials from the Earth See also * Mind (disambiguation) * Mine (disambiguation) Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer ...

for fertiliser, 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 for gunpowder production was discovered and mined. A cableway was constructed to transport material down to the loading pier on the coast. In 1914, during the First World War, the mining operations ceased, and most workers left the island. Maintenance workers remained on the island until 1929, when a hurricane 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 Nevis, in 1967 Redonda became a dependency of the more distant

, now part of

. Scientists from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory visit the island in a helicopter periodically; they are using Redonda as an observation point from which to take measurements of the Soufrière Hills, an active volcano on

Ecology and conservation

Animals endemic to the island include the Redonda ground dragon, the

Redonda anole The Redonda anole (''Anolis nubilis'') is a species of anole lizard that is endemic to the small, uninhabited island of Redonda, part of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles. It is various shades of gray all over, occasionally wi ...

and an unnamed species of dwarf gecko. The island is a breeding colony for multiple species of seabirds. 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 and rats, for almost a century. Island restoration 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. 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".

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 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 ...

, from

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