The Unusual Island of the Colorblind

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. On the eastern side is a tiny atoll called Pingelap. (An atoll is a group of islets connected in a ring by a coral reef. Atolls nearly or completely enclose a lagoon.)

Satellite Image of Pingelap Atoll

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Pingelap, a municipality of the Federated States of Micronesia, consists of three of these tiny islets, only one of which is inhabited. About 250 people live on Pingelap, but that was not always the case. Pingelap has an amazing history, and even more so, it has a unique claim to fame.

The part of the world where 455 acre Pingelap is located has never been a stranger to typhoons, but in 1775, while western parts of the world were caught in the throes of revolution, Pingelap was struck by a devastating typhoon. The typhoon named Lengkieki nearly wiped its civilization out. Only about twenty people survived. One of those who survived the typhoon and the famine which followed was the atoll's king, Nahnmwarki Mwanenised. 

But after years of research, it was discovered that the king was the source of a recessive gene, an inherited trait, that due to the geographic and cultural isolation of Pingelap, was bred into future generations of the tiny population. The gene began showing up about four generations later. By the sixth generation, about 5% of the population was affected. 

The trait was "rod monochromatism", also called achromatopsia--to the layman, complete colorblindness. 

People with the condition see in shades of black, white, and gray. "Color" is only a word to them. Oftentimes their vision is blurry, and they are very sensitive to light, so they have trouble seeing in sunlight. Their night vision, however, is much stronger than people who do not have achromatopsia. They can often easily spot faint light. Sometimes the use of eyeglass lenses in dark, red, or blue can aid them in filtering the bright light of day.

On Pingelap, the island king seemed to have been the only person to carry the trait after the time of typhoon Lengkieki, but he passed the gene along. Island lore says that the gene was actually introduced into the populace before King Nahnmwaarki Mwanenised's time by a marooned Irish sailor. Nowadays, approximately 250 people live on the tropical paradise of Pingelap, and amazingly, 10% of them are monochromatics. Meanwhile, world-wide, the condition is extremely rare, with only 1 in 30,000 people having this complete form of colorblindness. In the United States, that's only around 10,000 people of the nation's more than 343 million.

Pingelap became known as the Island of the Colorblind and as a living case study of the condition (see the book below). The small atoll has also played important roles in both world wars. The Peace Corp and U.S. Air Force have a presence there today.

The Island of the Colorblind, a 1997 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks about achromatopsia on the Micronesian atoll of Pingelap.

For more on the island's history, it's beauty, and it's unique population, here is a video that delves further into this interesting atoll of the Pacific: 

Pingelap, the Village of Colorblind

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I began researching achromatopsia while working on my upcoming novel The Girl from Tomorrow's Town, book five in Barbour's Enduring Hope series, releasing in Spring of 2026. One of my story's protagonists who works as a roustabout with a famous circus has the condition. I hope you'll join my newsletter to catch the upcoming cover reveal and to learn more about this exciting story, as well as discover some of the further nuances surrounding the lifestyle of those with total monochromatism.  

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