Easter Island

Easter Island (Polynesian Rapa Nui, Spanish Isla de Pascua) lies in the south Pacific Ocean, west and slightly north of Santiago, Chile and is part of the territory of Chile (Valparaíso Region). The island is approximately triangular, with the southwest tip located at 27°10' S, 109°25' W, and is about 2000 km from the nearest inhabited island. The island is famous for its numerous prehistoric stone statues located along the coastlines. Population is about 2000.

Table of contents

1 The history of Easter Island 2 Moais 3 Deforestation and Decline 4 Rongorongo 5 Mythology 6 Demography 7 External links

The history of Easter Island

Moais

There are more than 600 large monolithic stone heads, called Moai, on the island. Most were carved out of the rock at Rano Raraku. The quarry there seems to have been abandoned abruptly, with half-carved statues left in the rock. The most common theory is that the statues were carved by the Polynesian inhabitants of the islands 500 or more years ago. See the moai page for a more extensive discussion.

Deforestation and Decline

Modern Easter Island has few trees. The island once possessed a forest of palms, but it is thought that the native Easter Islanders completely deforested the island in the process of erecting their statues, as well as constructing fishing boats and buildings. There is evidence that the disappearance of the island's trees coincided with the collapse of the Easter Island civilization. Midden contents from that time period show a sudden drop in quantity of fish and bird bones as the islanders lost the means to construct fishing vessels and the birds lost their nesting sites. Chickens and rats became leading items of diet. There is also some evidence of cannibalism, from human remains.

The small surviving population of Easter Island eventually developed new traditions to allot the few remaining resources. In the cult of the birdman, a competition was established in which every year a representative of each tribe, chosen by the leaders, would dive into the sea and swim across to Motu Nui, a nearby islet, to search for the egg of the Sooty Tern. The first to return with one would secure control of the island's resources for his tribe for the rest of the year. This tradition was still in existence at the time of first contact by Europeans.

Rongorongo

There are tablets found on the island bearing a mysterious script. The script, known as Rongorongo, has never been deciphered despite the work of generations of linguists. A Hungarian scholar, Wilhelm or Guillaume de Hevesy, in 1932 called attention to the apparent similarities between some of the rongorongo characters of Easter Island and those of the prehistoric script of the Indus Valley in India, correlating dozens (at least 40) of the former with corresponding signs on seals from Mohenjo-daro. This correlation has been re-published in later books, for example by Z.A. Simon (1984: 95). The rongorongo may mean peace-peace, and their texts may record peace treaty documents, possibly between the long ears and the conquering short ears. Such explanations have, however, been strongly disputed.

Mythology

See also: Makemake, Kumulipo, Hiro, Polynesian mythology

Demography

Approximately 2000 people live on the island. Nearly all of them live in the town of Hanga Roa. Seventy per cent are Polynesian, and most of the remainder come from the Chilean mainland.

External links

• Easter Island Research
• DMoz category
• Spanish DMoz category
• Google: Easter Island
• Easter Island
• Finding Easter Island
• Rongorongo, the hieroglyphic script of Easter Island, has remained a mystery since its discovery
• Map of Easter Island from Map South Pacific
• Map of Easter Island from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.
• Pictures of Easter Island from Chmouel Boudjnah photos travel's collection.
• Easter's End by Jared Diamond.