Redonda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redonda is also the Spanish name for the musical term "whole note")

Redonda is an unpopulated Caribbean island, a part of Antigua and Barbuda. It lies 54 km or 33 miles WSW of the main island, Antigua, and can be seen from there. It is an extinct volcano steeply protruding from the sea. The land area measures 1.5 km² (0.58 mi²). The highest peak, King Juan's Peak, is 296 m (971 feet) high.

Christopher Columbus discovered Redonda in 1493 on his second journey, claimed it for the Spanish crown and named it Santa Maria la Redonda, but did not land on it. In the 1860s the island became a British possession.

During the ensuing decades, the phosphate deposits of the island were mined, with an annual yield of up to 7,000 tons. Only during this time was the island inhabited (population 120 in 1901).

During the First World War, the mining operations ceased and the workers left Redonda, which has been uninhabited since then.

The island was claimed by Matthew Dowdy Shiell as the Kingdom of Redonda. Although it is not an independent state, the Kingdom of Redonda is recognized by the UK through a 19th century decree. His son, M. P. Shiel, was crowned as King Felipe in 1880. The throne of the Realm of Redonda passed to the neo-romantic poet and bibliographer John Gawsworth as H.M. Juan I, who passed it to his literary executor John Wynne-Tyson, an independent publisher, styling himself H.M. Juan II. Wynne-Tyson abdicated in 1997 in favour of Javier Marías, the Spanish novelist who, as H.M. Xavier I, also became Shiel's and Gawsworth's literary executor.