Redonda

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This article is about the Caribbean island. For the genus of brush-footed butterflies, see Redonda (genus).

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

Redonda in the distance, as seen from a boat. The northern tip of the island is to the right.

Redonda is a very small, uninhabited Caribbean island or islet which is politically a part of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda^[1], in the Leeward Islands, West Indies.

This small island lies 56.2 km (34.9 miles) southwest of Antigua, in the waters between the islands of Nevis and Montserrat. Redonda is closer to Montserrat than to any other island, it is located at 22.5 km (14 miles) northwest of Monserrat, and 32 km (20 miles) southeast of Nevis.

The island is a remnant of the cone of an extinct volcano, and it protrudes steeply from the sea, mostly as sheer cliffs. The land area measures somewhere between 1.6 km² (400 acres) and 2.6 km² (640 acres). The highest point is 296 m (971 feet).

[edit] History

Christopher Columbus discovered Redonda in 1493 on his second journey. He claimed it for the Spanish crown, 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. In the 1860s, the island became a British possession.

The tiny island of Redonda is internationally known, in a minor way, for a curious on-going myth of the "Kings of Redonda", a story which interweaves fact and fiction. According to a (possibly imaginary) version of events, first recounted decades later by M.P. Shiel, a minor author of fantasy novels: in the year of his birth, 1865, his father Matthew Dowdy Shiell, from Montserrat, decided to celebrate his first male child by arranging (supposedly legitimately) 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.

M.P. Sheil, the son and author, was the first person to ever mention the idea of the "Kingdom of Redonda" and that was 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 and the like, such as John Gawsworth and Jon Wynne-Tyson (who later tired of the trouble the position caused him). However, the title of "King" of Redonda is currently disputed by at least four different people, some of whom do not have any special literary connection to the original "King".

During the decades after the 1860s, the rich guano (phosphine oxide) deposits of Redonda were mined for fertiliser, with an annual yield of up to 7,000 tons. Only during this time was the island inhabited by workers; (the population was 120 in 1901).

During the First World War, the mining operations ceased, and the workers left the island, which has remained uninhabited since then. It became a dependency of Antigua and Barbuda in 1967.

In 2007, the Wellington Arms pub in Southampton, England, attempted to declare themselves an embassy of the "nation" of Redonda, in order to gain diplomatic immunity from a nationwide ban on smoking in enclosed workplaces, including pubs.^[2]^[3]

The island is currently uninhabited but for wildlife and a flock of feral goats, who manage to survive on the poor grazing on top of the island.

[edit] References

^ Government of Antigua and Barbuda Constitution
^ "Pub 'embassy' dodges smoking ban", BBC.co.uk. 27 June 2007. Accessed 21 Dec 2007.
^ Pub landlord fights smoke ban by declaring his boozer an embassy, Luke Salkeld, Daily Mail, URL accessed 26 June 2007.

This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.