Henderson Island

Henderson Island is an uninhabited uplifted coral island in the south Pacific Ocean,. It was designated a World Heritage Site because of its bird life and untouched phosphate reserves.

The island itself is too small and steep for agriculture and has no fresh water. The raised coral platform has 15 metres (49 ft) (50 ft) coastal cliffs (mostly undercut) with three beaches on the northern side. It has a maximum elevation of 33 metres (110 ft).

All four land bird species are endemic to the island (Henderson Crake, Henderson Fruit Dove, Henderson Lorikeet and Henderson Reed-warbler). There are also fifteen non-endemic seabirds. Other endemic species include nine plants (of the sixty-three species on island), four land snails (of sixteen species), and one butterfly (only species on island).

Although Henderson is virtually uninhabitable, archaeological evidence suggests that it was inhabited by a small Polynesian permanent colony between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries until this group disappeared.

Year	Decision	Comments
1988	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

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Lynn Salmon (US):
Our Henderson Island visit is described on our
web page:

http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/henderson.html

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