 The island of Redonda, viewed from the south in 2023 | |
 Redonda highlighted in Antigua and Barbuda | |
  Redonda  Redonda  Redonda | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Caribbean Sea |
| Coordinates | 16°56′18″N62°20′42″W / 16.93833°N 62.34500°W /16.93833; -62.34500 |
| Archipelago | Leeward Islands,Lesser Antilles |
| Length | 1.6 km (0.99 mi) |
| Width | 0.5 km (0.31 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 296 m (971 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Saint John[1] |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
Redonda (Antiguan and Barbudan Creole:Radonda orRadawnda) is anuninhabitedCaribbeanisland which is a dependency ofSaint John, Antigua and Barbuda,[2] in theLeeward Islands,West Indies. The island is about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) long, 0.5 kilometres (0.3 mi) wide, and is 296 metres (971 ft) high at its highest point.[3]
It lies between the islands ofNevis andMontserrat, 56.2 kilometres (34.9 mi) southwest ofAntigua. Redonda is closer to Montserrat than to any other island; it is located 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi) northwest of Montserrat and 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Nevis.
Redonda is home to vast numbers of sea birds, and the island was an important source ofguano before artificial fertilisers started to be mass-produced. Guano-mining operations started in the 1860s and ceased after the start ofWorld War I. During the 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.
The name "Redonda" means "round" inSpanish. In 1493, on his second voyage to the New World,Christopher Columbus saw the island and named it "Santa María la Redonda" (the name in the Spanish language means "Saint Mary the Round").
The island was annexed by the AntiguanParish of Saint John on 26 March 1872.[1]
At a distance, Redonda appears as if it were one very large rock. It is the remnant of an ancient extinctvolcano. The land rises from sea level mostly as sheer cliffs, especially on theleeward (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, toColumbus 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 (300 m). 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 1.6 square kilometres (400 acres) and 2.6 square kilometres (640 acres).
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.
A herd of feral goats and thousands of rats were cleared from the island in 2017 as part of anisland restoration programme.[4]
In 1493,Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first known Europeans to see Redonda, on his second journey. He claimed it for theCrown of Castile, but did not land there. He named the islandSanta María la Redonda, meaning Saint Mary the Round, reflecting the island's apparent profile when viewed from the side.
As the island is a rock of just over a square kilometre, it did not represent any interest for the powers involved in thecolonisation of the Americas and, for centuries, it was a refuge forpirates.
In the 1860s, the island became aBritish possession.[how?]
During the decades after the 1860s, the richguano deposits of Redonda weremined forfertiliser, with an annual yield of up to 7,000tons. Only during this time was the island inhabited by workers; the population was 120 in 1901. After the guano mining,aluminium phosphate forgunpowder production was discovered and mined. Acableway was constructed to transport material down to the loading pier on the coast.[5][6]
In 1914, during theFirst World War, the mining operations ceased, and most workers left the island. Maintenance workers remained on the island until 1929, when ahurricane destroyed almost all the remaining facilities.[5] 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 isMontserrat, and the second closest isNevis, in 1967 Redonda became a dependency of the more distantAntigua, now part ofAntigua and Barbuda.
Scientists from theMontserrat Volcano Observatory[7] visit the island in a helicopter periodically; they are using Redonda as an observation point from which to take measurements of theSoufrière Hills, an active volcano onMontserrat.
The island is a breeding colony for multiple species ofseabirds.[8] It has been designated anImportant Bird Area (IBA) byBirdLife International because it supportsred-footed,brown andmasked boobies, as well asmagnificent frigatebirds.[9]
Animalsendemic to the island include theRedonda ground dragon,[10] theRedonda anole[11] and an unnamed species of dwarf gecko.[12]
The island's local ecology was severely affected byinvasive species, particularly introducedgoats andrats, for almost a century.Island restoration efforts were initiated in 2016, beginning with removing the island's 60 goats and roughly 6,000 rats.[13][4] The Redonda Restoration Programme involves the Environmental Awareness Group, Wildlife Management International andFauna and Flora International. Several years after the goats were removed, some local plant life began to recover.[13][14]
In September 2023, the Redonda Ecosystem Reserve was established, covering nearly 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land and sea,[15] making it the largest marine protected area in the region.[16]
Redonda is the setting for the myth of the "Kingdom of Redonda".M. P. Shiel, an author of fantasy novels, claimed that in the year of his birth, 1865, his fatherMatthew Dowdy Shiell, fromMontserrat, decided to celebrate his first male child by arranging for the boy to be crownedKing of Redonda at the age of 15, in a ceremony purportedly carried out on the small island by a bishop.
Shiel first expressed 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 asJohn Gawsworth andJon Wynne-Tyson. Wynne-Tyson (King Juan II), his successor the Spanish novelistJavier Marías (King Xavier), and rival contenders for the Redondan title, such as Gawsworth, William L. Gates and Bob Williamson, were featured in aBBC Radio 4 documentary,Redonda: The Island with Too Many Kings, which was broadcast in May 2007.[17]
a cableway using baskets was built to transfer the mined phosphate to a pier for shipping
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook (2025 ed.).CIA.
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