Palmerston Island - a paradise island where one large family lives

Palmerston is a tiny atoll belonging to the Cook Islands. This is one of the most remote areas of the Pacific Ocean. The closest location to the atoll is New Zealand, and even the coral islands are more than three thousand kilometers away. Airplanes do not fly here, but the only transport that happens on the islands is a cargo ship delivering food to Palmerston twice a year. Extremely rare tourists get to these places, only those who are ready for a long voyage. But Palmerston is known not only for its isolation and paradise landscapes, it has a truly amazing story, because, in fact, one large family lives on the island.

Palmerston consists of several islets that surround the lagoon. Captain Cook discovered this coral paradise in the seventies of the XVIII century. It was he who named the atoll in honor of the famous British politician Henry Palmerston. However, for almost a century the islands were uninhabited, until in the 1860s they were chosen by the carpenter William Marsters, who made barrels for whalers. Marsters fell in love with the atoll and a few years after his first visit to Palmerston, he decided to settle here with his wife and her relatives. Marsters quickly built up the island: he used the wood that was carried ashore after a shipwreck. Within a few years, houses, a church and a small room for a school appeared in which there was only one office. The carpenter had three wives and 17 heirs, it is their descendants who inhabit Palmerston today. Now 62 people live here, and 59 of them are relatives of Marsters.

A large family of Marsters Before his death, the owner of the atoll made sure that each spouse had equal rights: so that the territories were divided equally between women. And this right remains today: there is even a council on Palmerston that represents the interests of all three families. It is considered the only authority on the island. Family marriages are prohibited.

Life on the island is very simple: residents do not use money among themselves, they need them only in order to buy something from the outside world. They live by fishing. Twice a year, a ship comes here that takes about two tons of frozen parrot fish. It also brings them basic products and other things - cereals, soap, gasoline.

Local telephone and solar panels

There are no shops on the islands and only two toilets, and they use rainwater for drinking, like 150 years ago. The only connection with the outside world is a satellite phone. In addition to the cargo ship, boats with travelers come to the atoll several times a year. Since there are no hotels on Palmerston, local families host them. Such a piece of paradise on Earth, where one large family lives.