Easter Island

Not many people have heard about one the most intriguing historical mysteries: Easter Island. It lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, secluded by almost 2500 miles of water (BBC). The Rapanui, the people of Easter Island, were an amazing civilization that were nearly wiped out by a series of terrible tribulations. In only a few centuries, their society was reduced to only about 100 people (BBC), which in turn led to loss of much of the Rapanui unusual culture. Although science is attempting to piece together their story, there is no person that can really tell us about the original people of Easter Island. No one could really tell us about how the amazing statues they built, that ultimately led to their downfall. 

Scientists and scholars have debated about where the original population of Easter Islanders originated from; however, only recently has genetic science resolved the great question: where did they sail from? DNA evidence from the skeletons excavated on Easter Island, have been studied, and “contain a so-called Polynesian motif (BBC)”. It is believed that these people arrived on the island around A.D. 400 (Clark). The society was booming and by the year 1550, the population rose to an estimated 9,000 people (Clark).  One of the most interesting parts of the Rapanui culture were the colossal statues that they created and moved around the island. These statues, called moai, are said to have been made to immortalize a specific chief, and to watch over the people and to worship their ancestors (BBC). Unfortunately, though, these moai triggered the downfall of the Rapanui society.

  When the first European, Dutchman Jacob Roggenveen, arrived on Easter Island in 1722, he reported a land devoid of trees (Smithsonian). Studies show that Easter Island used to be covered in palm trees, however, the moai that the Rapanui created, required extensive amounts of trees to make and move. The complete deforestation of Easter Island was the product of the Rapanui obsession with moai. Treeless, soil erosion hit farming and these people were unable to make canoes to fish, or to escape the horror of their own making (BBC). They turned on each other and resorted to cannibalism.

This led to one disaster after another because after 1722 it became fashionable for explorers to visit Easter Island. However, with new visitors come new diseases. There was an outbreak of Syphilis, which has appeared in the bones of many of the native islanders (BBC). Nonetheless, their hardships weren’t finished there. In 1862, Peruvian slave traders captured 1,500 Rapanui people, which at the time was one third of the population, and took them to South America. After a year, they were brought back to their homes, but only 15 had survived. The survivors didn’t know what they had returned with. But by 1877, a smallpox epidemic left only 111 Rapanui people alive.

Now, after all these years of regrowth, the Easter Islanders are still affected by the creation of moais. All the inhabitants of Easter Island now have Chilean roots and have only passed down fragmented bits and pieces of their ancestors’ culture and legends (BBC). And now, even after all the culture these people have already lost, the 21st century is taking over. As of a few months ago, Easter Island has a new luxury hotel. I believe that this advance in attempting to attract tourism is going to cause these people to lose even more of their culture.

KW