EASTER ISLAND

THE MOST ISOLATED ISLAND IN OUR HISTORY IS EASTER ISLAND.   INHABITANTS THE RAPA MII HAVE SURVIVED FAMINES, EPIDEMICS,AND CANNIBALISM, SLAVE RAIDS.

THESE FOLKS CLAIMED THEIR CHIEF CAME HERE WITH 1 OR 2 CANOES WITH HIS EXTENDED FAMILY. THEY WERE LIKELY POLYNESIAN.  THERE IS  CONSIDERABLE INFORMATION ABOUT EASTER ISLAND'S ORAL HISTORY AND IT WAS FIRST SETTLED ABOUT 300 TO 400 AD.  OR IT MAY HAVE BEEN SETTLED @ 1200 A.D.   THESE FIRST SETTLERS WERE WHO CAME FROM POLYNESIA AND THEY BROUGHT BANANAS, TARO AND MULBERRIES, CHICKEN AND RATS.  THE ISLAND DEPORTED AN ADVANCED AND COMPLEX CIVILIZATION.

THERE IS SOME CONTROVERSY THAT SETTLERS  CAME FROM THE LEGENDS.  SOME SAY THAT THE STOCKY PEOPLE HAD CONFLICTS WITH SLIM PEOPLE. SOUTH AMERICAN RAFTS MAY HAVE DRIFTED HERE.

EUROPEANS ARRIVED IN 1722  AND THE ISLAND'S POPULATIONS DROPPED TO 3000 FROM 15,000 A CENTURY EARLIER.  EUROPEAN DISEASES AND SLAVE RAIDING  OF THE 1860'S REDUCED POPULATION.

EASTER ISLAND WAS GIVEN BY THE ISLAND'S FIRST RECORDED VISITOR IN 1722.    THE ISLANDS SPANISH NAME IS ISLA DE PASCUA.  IT IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED ISLANDS.  EASTER ISLAND IS 24 KM x 12 KM WEST  WITH AN ATTITUDE OF 507 M .  THEY ONLY HAVE 3 FRESHWATER LAKES AND NO RIVERS.

THIS ISLAND IS A VOLCANIC HIGH ISLAND WITH 3 EXTINCT VOLCANOES.  POIKE FARM THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN HEADLANDS  GIVES THE ISLAND ITS ROUGH SHAPE.IT DOES HAVE CRATERS AND MANY LAVA TUBES.  A BASALT FLOWS.  ITS MOUNTAIN RISES OVER 2000 M. ABOVE SEA LEVEL.  IN THE EARLY 1900'S STEAM CAME OUT OF THE CRATER HERE. EASTER ISLAND HAS A TROPICAL RAIN FOREST.  WINTERS ARE MILD.  DURING MAY IT HAS MUCH RAINFALL. THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY CYCLONES HURRICANES, SLAVE RAIDS, COLONIALISM AND DEFORESTATION.   THEY SURVIVED EPIDEMICS AND DEFORESTATION.  THERE ARE ONGOING STUDIES BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS.  THERE ARE ONGOING STUDIES  BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS FOR DATING THE  ISLAND'S  PREHISTORY..  SOME RADIOCARBON DATES ABOUT 1200 A.D.  THE ARCHITECTURE  AND STATUES BEGAN SOON AFTER THIS DATE.  THE ISLAND WAS  POPULATED BY POLYNESIANS WHO CAME BY CANOE FROM GAMBIER ISLAND, 2000 MILES AWAY. 

IN 1999 A VOYAGE WITH RECONSTRUCTED BOATS OF POLYNESIAN REACHED EASTER ISLAND IN ONLY 19 DAYS.

IN 1860'S THE ISLAND HAD A STRONG CLASS SYSTEM WITH A HIGH CHIEF  WELDING GREAT POWER OVER 9 OTHER CLANS THEIR RESPECTIVE CHIEFS.  THE HIGHEST CHIEF WAS WIELDING GREAT POWER OVER 9 OTHER CLANS AND RESPECTIVE CHIEFS.  THE LIVING HAD A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DEAD.  AND THE DEAD PROVIDED EVERYTHING THROUGH OFFERINGS PROVIDED THE DEAD WERE ALONG THE COAST WITH A BETTER PLACE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.  MOST SETTLEMENTS WERE ALONG THE COAST.  CANNIBALISM PROBABLY TOOK PLACE HERE.  ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS  SHOWED THAT THE ISLAND HAD MANY TREES.  MANY MORE TREES GREW UP TO 50' OR MORE.  MOST FOLKS RAISED CROPS, CHICKENS, ANDPICKED NATIVE PLANTS VS. FISHING.

BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS THEY HAD A BIG UPHEAVAL IN THEIR SOCIAL SYSTEM BROUGHT  ABOUT BY A CHANGE ON THEIR ISLANDS ECOLOGY AND LOSS OF AREAS.  BY 1700 THEIR POPULATION DROPPED 3000 FOLKS. THE LARGE STATUES HAD BEEN BUILT IN ORDER TO CONTACT THEIR ANCESTORS.  BUT HUMAN BEINGS COULD CONTACT THE DEAD THROUGH A COMPETITION.  THERE WERE PETROGLYPHS WHO REPRESENTED WTHAT REPRESENTED BIRD MAN AND WERESIMILAR TO THOSE IN HAWAII.  SOME OF THE STATUES HAD BEEN TOPPLED.  DURING WARS.  BY THE 1800'S ONLY 1 MOAI STANDING ON THE ISLAND.

BY  1871 A GREAT REDUCTION OF POPULATION OCCURED FROM DISEASE, WAR OR CHANGE IN LAND TENURE.  THERE WERE MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE MISSIONARIES.  IN 1870'S THEY BOUGHT SOME OF THE ISLANDS.  DURING THE 1960'S CHILI TOOK OVER THIS ISLAND AND BROUGHT ANOTHER PRESIDENT TO POWER. IT HAS ABOUT 5800 RESIDENTS OF WHICH 60%  ARE ABORIGINAL PAPUA MUI.  THESE FOLK'S WORDS  ALSO MEAN LANDS END.  IT WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED "EYES LOOKING TO THE SKY".

 LATER SOME MISSIONARIES MOVED A COUPLE HUNDRED FOLKS TO TAHITI. TO WORK.  MUCH OF THEIR ISLAND'S POPULATION HAD BEEN LOST.  BY 1973 PRIVATE PROPERTY WAS RESTORED.  BY 2010 MEMBERS OF THE INDIGENOUS HITORAGI CLAN OCCUPIES THE HANGAROO ECO VILLAGE.  ITS CHILIAN COUNTER PARTHAD
SOME PALMS CLOSE TO 100 YEARS OLD TO REACH MAXIMUM HEIGHT.

PREHITORICALLY THE FOLKS ATE DOLPHIN AND TUNA.  THEY HAD A SUDDEN DROP IN TREES AND ATE LESS FISH SINCE THEY HAD FEWER BOATS.  LATER THEY FINALLY ATE TARO ROOT, SWEET POTATOES, YAMS, CASSAVAS AND BANANAS WITH SOME CROP FAILURE.  THEIR HOUSE TYPE IS CALLED A BOAT HOUSE BECAUSE THEY HAD ROOFS THAT RESEMBLE AN OVERTURNED BOAT.

THE STATUARY QUARRY OF VOLCANIC TUFF WAS ONLY 1 KM FROM THE COAST AND IT HAD A 100 M HIGH CLIFF.  SOME OF THE MOAI PICTURED HERE WERE RAISED UP UPWARD AGAIN.  THEY HAVE LOCATED ABOUT 890 STATUES.  THERE ARE ABOUT 4000 PETROGLYPHS CATALOGUED HERE. THEY MARK A TERRITORY OR MEMORIALIZE A PERSON.

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