Location of Easter Island.

Orthographic projection centered on Easter Island.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui ("Big Rapa")) is an island in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. Located 3,600 km (2,237 statute miles) west of continental Chile and 2,075 km (1,290 statute miles) east of Pitcairn Island, it is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world. It is located at 27°09′S 109°27′W, with a latitude close to that of the Chilean city of Copiapó, north of Santiago. The island is approximately triangular in shape, with an area of 163.6 km² (63 sq. miles), and a population of 3,791 (2002 census), 3,304 of which live in the capital of Hanga Roa. The island is famous for its numerous moai, the stone statues now located along the coastlines. Administratively, it is a province (containing a single municipality) of the Chilean Valparaíso Region. The standard time is six hours behind UTC (UTC-6) (five hours behind including one hour of daylight saving time). Easter Island and its location in South America from http://www. ... Easter Island and its location in South America from http://www. ... Image File history File links Orthographic projection centred over Easter Island 27°09′ S 109°25′ W File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Orthographic projection centred over Easter Island 27°09′ S 109°25′ W File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is the Eastern Polynesian language of Easter Island, forming its own subgroup of that classification. ... A mile is any of a number of units of distance, each in the magnitude of 1–10 km. ... Copiapó is a city in the little North of Chile in the region of Atacama (III) and capital of a province of the same name. ... The snowcapped Andes are a Santiago landmark Santiago (Spanish: ) is Chiles capital and largest city. ... Harbor scene in Hanga Roa Post Office in Hanga Roa Hanga Roa is the capital city of Easter Island, Chile, and is located in the southwest of the island. ... Rano Raraku Moai Moai are statues carved of compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). ... Valparaíso is Chiles fifth administrative region from north to south. ... Universal Time (UT) is a timescale based on the rotation of the Earth. ... It has been suggested that leap second be merged into this article or section. ... Central Standard Time ... Daylight saving time (DST), often referred to as daylight savings time, is a widely used system of adjusting the official local time forward, usually one hour, from its official standard time for the summer months. ...

History

Oral traditions and early history

Early European visitors to Easter Island recorded the local oral traditions of the original settlers. In these traditions, Easter Islanders claimed that a chief Hotu Matu'a arrived on the island in one or two large canoes with his wife and extended family. There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around AD 300-400, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest (non-Polynesian) settlers in Hawaii. Some scientists say that Easter Island was not inhabited until the later years of AD 700-800. This date range is based on glottochronological calculations and on three radiocarbon dates from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest clearance activities. (Diamond 2005:89) On the other hand, a recent study, including radiocarbon dates from what is thought to be very early materials, indicates that the island was settled as recently as AD 1200, the time of the deforestation of the island (Hunt and Lipo 2006). Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Largest city Honolulu Honolulu Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 10,941 sq mi  28,337 km² n/a miles  n/a km 1,522 miles  2,450 km 41. ... Today, Lexicostatistics is comprised as a subfield of Quantitative Linguistics. ... Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring isotope carbon-14 to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to ca 60,000 years. ... Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond (born 10 September 1937) is a Jewish-American nonfiction author, evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and biogeographer. ...

The Polynesians, who arguably settled the island are likely to have arrived from the Marquesas Islands from the west. These settlers brought bananas, taro, sweet potato, sugarcane, and paper mulberry, as well as pigs, chickens, and rats. The island at one time supported a relatively advanced and complex civilization. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the triangle Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ... The Marquesas Islands is a group of islands in French Polynesia. ... Species Hybrid origin; see text A banana plant is a herb, in the genus Musa, which because of its size and structure, is often mistaken for a tree. ... Binomial name Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott Taro corms for sale Taro (from Tahitian), more rarely kalo (from Hawaiian), is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. ... Binomial name Ipomoea batatas Linnaeus The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. ... Species Saccharum arundinaceum Saccharum bengalense Saccharum edule Saccharum officinarum Saccharum procerum Saccharum ravennae Saccharum robustum Saccharum sinense Saccharum spontaneum Sugarcane or Sugar cane (Saccharum) is a genus of between 6 and 37 species (depending on taxonomic interpretation) of tall grasses (family Poaceae, tribe Andropogoneae), native to warm temperate to tropical... A paper mulberry is a tree that grows in East Asia. ... Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. ... Trinomial name Gallus gallus domesticus A chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a type of domesticated bird which is often raised as a type of poultry. ... Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ...

European contact with the island began in 1722 on Easter Sunday when Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen found about 2,000-3,000 inhabitants on the island, although the population may have been as high as 10,000-15,000 only a century or two earlier. The civilization of Easter Island was long believed to have degenerated drastically during the 100 years before the arrival of the Dutch, as a result of overpopulation, deforestation and exploitation of an extremely isolated island with limited natural resources. Evidence to support this sudden collapse is that the oral traditions of the islanders are obsessed with cannibalism. To severely insult an enemy one would say: "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth". This suggests that the food supply of the people ultimately ran out. (Diamond 2005:109) This article is about the Christian festival. ... Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ... Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond (born 10 September 1937) is a Jewish-American nonfiction author, evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and biogeographer. ...

Paintings in the so-called "Cave of the Men Eatresses".

All that can be said is that there was a massive, anthropogenic alteration of the ecosystem, and subsequently a cultural transition while a conclusion cannot be drawn for a catastrophic event. By the mid-19th century the population had recovered to about 4,000. Then in a mere 20 years, deportation via slave traders to Peru and diseases brought by Westerners almost exterminated the whole population - only 110 inhabitants were left on the island in 1877. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1026x1316, 848 KB)Questa immagine è stata creata in Italia ed è ora di pubblico dominio poiché il suo copyright è scaduto. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1026x1316, 848 KB)Questa immagine è stata creata in Italia ed è ora di pubblico dominio poiché il suo copyright è scaduto. ...

It is more likely these events (recollected by the surviving descendants) have led to the belief that they described ancient memories of a pre-contact collapse.

Easter Island was annexed for Chile in 1888 by Policarpo Toro. The native Rapanui have since gradually recovered from this low point in their numbers. The Rapanui are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ...

Moai-carving culture (?10th century CE - ?16th/17th century CE)

Trees are sparse on modern Easter Island, rarely forming small groves. The island once possessed a forest of palms and it has generally been thought that native Easter Islanders deforested the island in the process of erecting their statues. Experimental archaeology has clearly demonstrated that some statues certainly could have been placed on wooden frames and then pulled to their final destinations on ceremonial sites. Rapanui traditions metaphorically refer to spiritual power (mana) as the means by which the moai were "walked" from the quarry. Also important was the introduction of the Polynesian rat, which apparently ate the palm's seeds. However, given the island's southern latitude, the (as yet poorly documented) climatic effects of the Little Ice Age (about 1650 to 1850) may have contributed to deforestation and other changes. The disappearance of the island's trees seems to coincide with a decline of the Easter Island civilization around the 17th-18th century AD. Midden contents show a sudden drop in quantities of fish and bird bones as the islanders lost the means to construct fishing vessels and the birds lost their nesting sites. Soil erosion due to lack of trees is apparent in some places. Sediment samples document that up to half of the native plants had become extinct and that the vegetation of the island was drastically altered. Chickens and rats became leading items of diet and there are (not unequivocally accepted) hints at cannibalism occurring, based on human remains associated with cooking sites, especially in caves. Obsidian spear points and the toppling of many statues indicate a breakdown of the social structure, possibly even leading to civil strife, though almost certainly not on as massive a scale as is often assumed. The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... See Grove for other meanings (disambiguation) of the word grove. A grove is a small group of trees such as a sequoia grove. ... The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling lasting approximately from the 14th to the mid-19th centuries, although there is no generally agreed start or end date: some confine the period to 1550-1850. ... A midden, or kitchen midden, is a dump for domestic waste. ... Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557 as described by Hans Staden. ...

Thor Heyerdahl pointed out many cultural similarities between Easter Island and South American Indian cultures. However, present-day Polynesian archeology strongly denies any non-Polynesian influence on the island's prehistory, and the discussion has become very political around the subject. Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 in Larvik, Norway–April 18, 2002 in Colla Micheri, Italy) was a world-famous Norwegian marine biologist with a great interest in anthropology, who became famous for his Kon-Tiki Expedition in which he sailed by raft 4,300 miles from South America...

Some scholars have argued Polynesian sailors may have reached the central-south coast of Chile. Some "Polynesian-like" cultural traits, including words like toki, have been described among the Mapuche people from southern Chile. Mapuche (Mapudungun; Che, People + Mapu, of the Land) are the original Amerindian inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. ...

The Birdman cult (?16th/17th century CE - 19th century CE)

The surviving population developed new traditions to allot the remaining resources. In the cult of the birdman (Rapanui: tangata manu), a competition was established in which every year a representative of each clan, chosen by the leaders, would dive into the sea and swim across to Motu Nui, a nearby islet, to search for the season's first egg laid by a manutara (sooty tern). The first swimmer to return with an egg would secure control over distribution of the island's resources for his clan for the year. The tradition was still in existence at the time of first contact by Europeans. Motu Nui Islet located at the southern part of Easter Island. ... Binomial name Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 The Sooty Tern, Sterna fuscata, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. ...

Whatever the reasons for this apparent decline, it was European intervention that delivered the final blow to Rapanui culture. In his article From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui, Benny Peiser notes evidence of self-sufficiency on Easter Island when Europeans first arrived. Although stressed, the island may still have had at least some (small) trees remaining, mainly toromiro. Cornelis Bouman, Jakob Roggeveen's captain, stated in his log book, "...of yams, bananas and small coconut palms we saw little and no other trees or crops." According to Carl Friedrich Behrens, Roggeveen's officer, "The natives presented palm branches as peace offerings. Their houses were set up on wooden stakes, daubed over with luting and covered with palm leaves," indicating living palm trees were still available, though these were likely coconuts introduced after the extinction of the native palm. Binomial name Sophora toromiro Toromiro (Sophora toromiro) is a species of tree formerly a common in the forests of Easter Island. ... Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ...

Easter Island has suffered from heavy soil erosion during recent centuries, likely as a result of its deforestation. However, this process seems to have been gradual and may have been aggravated by extensive sheep farming throughout most of the 20th century. Jakob Roggeveen reported that Easter Island was exceptionally fertile, producing large quantities of bananas, potatoes and thick sugar-cane. In 1786 M. de La Pérouse visited Easter Island and his gardener declared that "three day's work a year" would be enough to support the population. Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ... Lapérouse by François Rude (1784-1855), in 1828 Lapérouse Jean François Galaup, count (comte) de La Pérouse (August 23, 1741 - 1788) was a French naval officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania. ...

Rollin, a major of the French expedition to Easter Island in 1786, wrote, "Instead of meeting with men exhausted by famine... I found, on the contrary, a considerable population, with more beauty and grace than I afterwards met in any other island; and a soil, which, with very little labour, furnished excellent provisions, and in an abundance more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants." (Heyerdahl & Ferdon, 1961:57).

Most of the adult males were abducted and enslaved by Chileans and Peruvians in the middle of the 19th century.

Today

Until the 1960s, the surviving Rapanui descendants were forced to live in a confined settlement in squalid conditions at the outskirts of Hanga Roa. Since finally being allowed to live free, they have re-embraced their ancient culture, or what could be reconstructed of it. A yearly cultural festival, the Tapati celebrates native pastimes.

Rapa Nui is not the island's original name. It was coined by labour immigrants from Rapa in the Bass Islands, who likened it to their home island. The Rapanui name for Rapa Nui was Te pito o te henua (The Navel of the World) due to its isolation, but this too seems to have been derived from another location, possibly a Marquesan landmark. Rapa or Rapa Iti as it is sometimes called in more recent years (to distinguish it from Rapa Nui, one name for Easter Island), is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands. ... The Marquesas Islands is a group of islands in French Polynesia. ...

Recent events have shown a tremendous increase of tourism on the island, coupled with a large inflow of people from mainland Chile which threatens to alter the Polynesian identity of the island. Land disputes have created political tensions since the 1980s, with part of the native Rapanui opposed to private property and in favor of traditional communal property (see Demography below). Polynesians settled the vast Polynesian triangle by 700AD Polynesian culture refers to the aboriginal culture of the Polynesian-speaking peoples of Polynesia and the Polynesian outliers. ... The Rapanui are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ...

Mataveri International Airport serves as the island's only airport. The airport's single 2903 m (9524 ft) runway was lengthened by the U.S. space program to serve as an alternate emergency landing site for the space shuttle. Mataveri International Airport (IATA airport code: IPC) located on Easter Island, is one of the worlds most remote airports, served only by the Chilean carrier LAN Airlines (formerly LanChile). ...

Ecology

Easter Island, together with its closest neighbor, the tiny island of Sala-y-Gomez 400 km further East, is recognized by ecologists as a distinct ecoregion, called the Rapa Nui subtropical broadleaf forests. The original subtropical moist broadleaf forests are now gone, but paleobotanical studies of fossil pollen and tree molds left by lava flows indicate that the island was formerly forested, with a range of trees, shrubs, ferns, and grasses. A large palm, related to the Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) was one of the dominant trees, as was the toromiro tree (Sophora toromiro). The palm is now extinct, and the toromiro is extinct in the wild, and the island is presently covered almost entirely in grassland. A group of scientists partly led jointly by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Göteborg Botanical Garden, are making efforts in order to reintroduce the toromiro to Easter Island. An interesting fact is the presence of the bulrush nga'atu which is also found in the Andes (where it is known as totora); there are indications that nga'atu was not present before the 1300s-1500s. Before the arrival of humans, Easter Island had vast seabird colonies, no longer found on the main island, and several species of landbirds, which have become extinct. Map of Sala-y-Gómez Isla Sala y Gómez is a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. ... An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, also known as tropical rain forests or tropical wet forests, are a tropical and subtropical biome. ... Paleobotany (from the Greek words paleon = old and botanikos = of herbs) is the branch of paleontology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use in the reconstruction of past environments and the history of life. ... SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), hollyhock (Sildalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... A broom shrub in flower A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ... Classes Marattiopsida Osmundopsida Gleicheniopsida Pteridopsida A fern, or pteridophyte, is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the Division Pteridophyta, formerly known as Filicophyta. ... An area of grass-like plants Grass generally describes a monocotyledonous green plant characterized by slender leaves, called blades, which usually grow arching upwards from the ground. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (also known as Palmae), the Palm Family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the monocot order, Arecales. ... Binomial name Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill. ... Binomial name Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill. ... Binomial name Sophora toromiro Toromiro (Sophora toromiro) is a species of tree formerly a common in the forests of Easter Island. ... Species About 60-70 species, including: Sophora alopecuroides - Sophora Root Sophora chrysophylla - Mamane Sophora microphylla - Kowhai Sophora tetraptera - Kowhai Sophora toromiro - Toromiro Sophora tomentosa Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. ... An Inner Mongolian Grassland. ... The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond upon Thames and Kew in southwest London, England. ... The entrance of Göteborg Botanical Garden in the spring. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of taxa. ...

Cultural artifacts

The Moai

Main article: Moai

Moai in Hanga Roa, with Chilean Navy training ship Buque Escuela Esmeralda cruising behind. This moai is currently the only one with replica eyes

A Moai

The large stone statues, or moai, for which Easter Island is world famous were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. Archeologists now estimate that ceremonial site construction and statue carving took place largely between about AD 1100 and 1600, with some statues probably still being carved at about the time Jacob Roggeveen arrived. According to recent archaeological research 887 monolithic stone statues, called moai, have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. This number is not final, however. The on-going statue survey continues to turn up new fragments, and mapping in Rano Raraku quarry (see below) has documented more unfinished statues than previously known. In addition, some statues incorporated into ceremonial site construction surely remain to be uncovered. Although often identified as "heads", the statues actually are heads and complete torsos. Some upright moai, however, have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils. Most moai were carved out of a distinctive, compressed volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site called Rano Raraku. The quarry there seems to have been abandoned abruptly, with half-carved statues left in the rock. However, on closer examination the pattern of use and abandonment is more complex. The most widely-accepted theory is that the statues were carved by the ancestors of the modern Polynesian inhabitants (Rapanui) at a time when the island was largely planted with trees and resources were plentiful, supporting a population of 10,000-15,000 native Rapanui. The majority of the statues were still standing when Jacob Roggeveen arrived in 1722. Captain James Cook also saw many standing statues when he landed on the island in 1774. By the mid-19th century, all the statues had been toppled, presumably in internecine wars. Rano Raraku Moai Moai are statues carved of compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). ... Image File history File links Moai_and_Esmeralda. ... Image File history File links Moai_and_Esmeralda. ... Harbor scene in Hanga Roa Post Office in Hanga Roa Hanga Roa is the capital city of Easter Island, Chile, and is located in the southwest of the island. ... Image File history File links Easter-island-moai. ... Image File history File links Easter-island-moai. ... Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island, Chile. ... The Rapanui are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ... James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance, c. ...

Rongorongo

Tablets found on the island and bearing a mysterious script known as Rongorongo have never been deciphered despite the work of generations of linguists. In 1932 Hungarian scholar Wilhelm or Guillaume de Hevesy called attention to apparent similarities between some of the rongorongo characters of Easter Island and 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 was re-published in later books, for example by Z.A. Simon (1984: 95), but later works showed these comparisons to be spurious. Rongorongo script sample For Rongorongo, an ancestress of some New Zealand Māori tribes, see Rongorongo (wife of Turi) Rongorongo or rongo-rongo (recitation in the Rapa Nui language) is one of three scripts of Easter Island, the others being the tau and mama scripts. ... The following is a list of linguists, those who study linguistics. ... It has been suggested that Ancient Metropolitan City be merged into this article or section. ... Mohenjo-daro (literally, mound of the dead), like Harappa, was a city of the Indus Valley civilization. ...

Some writers have asserted rongorongo means peace-peace and that their texts record peace treaty documents, possibly between the long ears and the conquering short ears. However, such explanations have been strongly disputed, particularly since the "long-ear/short ear" designations of historical islanders have become increasingly unsupportable.

Like most indigenous tellers of Easter Island histories or legends, islanders continue to have questionable motives for their accounts and have always been creative, imaginative and quick to give answers to inquisitive archaeologists and historians. Rongorongo's purpose and intent remain as puzzling as the script's meaning. While there have been many claims of translation, none have withstood peer review. Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ...

Demography

Population at the 2002 census was 3,791 inhabitants, up from 1,936 inhabitants in 1982. This tremendous increase in population is due mainly to the arrival of people of European descent from the mainland of Chile. Consequently, the island is losing its native Polynesian identity. In 1982 around 70% of the population were Rapanui (the native Polynesian inhabitants). At the 2002 census however, Rapanui were only 60% of the population of Easter Island. Chileans of European descent were 39% of the population, and the remaining 1% were Native American from mainland Chile. 3,304 of the 3,791 inhabitants of the island live in the town of Hanga Roa. Polynesians settled the vast Polynesian triangle by 700AD Polynesian culture refers to the aboriginal culture of the Polynesian-speaking peoples of Polynesia and the Polynesian outliers. ... The Rapanui are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ... A Hupa man, 1923 The term indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European explorers in the 15th century, as well as many present-day ethnic groups who identify themselves with those historical peoples. ... Harbor scene in Hanga Roa Post Office in Hanga Roa Hanga Roa is the capital city of Easter Island, Chile, and is located in the southwest of the island. ...

Rapanui have also migrated out of the island. At the 2002 census there were 2,269 Rapanui living in Easter Island, while 2,378 Rapanui lived in the mainland of Chile (half of them in the metropolitan area of Santiago). The snowcapped Andes are a Santiago landmark Santiago (Spanish: ) is Chiles capital and largest city. ...

Population density on Easter Island is only 23 inhabitants per km² (60 inh. per sq. mile), much lower than in the 17th century heyday of the moai building when there were between 10,000 and 15,000 native Rapanui on the island. Population had already declined to only 2,000-3,000 inhabitants before the arrival of Europeans. In the 19th century, disease due to contacts with Europeans, as well as deportation of 2,000 Rapanui to work as slaves in Peru, and the forced departure of the remaining Rapanui to Chile, carried the population of Easter Island to the all time low of 111 inhabitants in 1877. Out of these 111 Rapanui, only 36 had descendants, and they are the ancestors of all the 2,269 Rapanui currently living on the island.

Mythology

• Hiro
• Kumulipo
• Makemake
• Polynesian mythology

In Polynesian mythology, Hiro was a hero who explored the western Pacific Ocean and returned with the ability to wank, which he introduced to the people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). ... In Huna, the ancient Hawaiian religion, the Kumulipo is an epic poem, over two thousand lines long, that was recited from memory by kahunas at important ceremonies and festivals. ... In Polynesian mythology (Rapa Nui), Makemake was the creator of humanity and the chief god of the bird cult. ... Polynesia is a triangle of islands in the Pacific Ocean. ...

See also

• Rapa Nui language
• Rongorongo
• Thor Heyerdahl
• Rapa Nui (film)
• Kings of Easter Island

The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is the Eastern Polynesian language of Easter Island, forming its own subgroup of that classification. ... Rongorongo script sample For Rongorongo, an ancestress of some New Zealand Māori tribes, see Rongorongo (wife of Turi) Rongorongo or rongo-rongo (recitation in the Rapa Nui language) is one of three scripts of Easter Island, the others being the tau and mama scripts. ... Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 in Larvik, Norway–April 18, 2002 in Colla Micheri, Italy) was a world-famous Norwegian marine biologist with a great interest in anthropology, who became famous for his Kon-Tiki Expedition in which he sailed by raft 4,300 miles from South America... Rapa Nui DVD cover Rapa Nui is a 1994 film directed by Kevin Reynolds. ...

References

• Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books: 2005. ISBN 0143036556.
• Hunt, T. L., Lipo, C. P., 2006. Science, 1121879. URL Late Colonization of Easter Island

Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond (born 10 September 1937) is a Jewish-American nonfiction author, evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and biogeographer. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Easter Island

• Travel guide to Easter Island from Wikitravel
• "Easter Island and Its Mysteries" Translation of the 1934 classic by Stéphen-Chauvet
• Guide to Easter Island from the Easter Island Foundation
• PBS NOVA: Secrets of Easter Island
• RONGORONGO by Sergei V. Rjabchikov
• RONGORONGO, Easter Island Writing by Sergei V. Rjabchikov
• Several Rongorongo Records (Symbolism of Archaic Beliefs) by Sergei V. Rjabchikov
• http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/eisp/ Field work reports of the Easter Island Statue Project
• BBC Horizon: The Mystery of Easter Island
• Easter Island Research
• The Easter Island Story from Mysterious Places
• Open Directory Project: Easter Island
• Easter Island from Sacred Destinations
• Easter Island
• Finding Easter Island
• Rongorongo, the hieroglyphic script of Easter Island, has remained a mystery since its discovery
• http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/easter_island/index.html Map of Easter Island] from Map South Pacific
• Map of Easter Island from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.
• Easter's End by Jared Diamond.
• "Let Sleeping Moai Lie" by Roderick Eime
• Eastern Island - Myth - story of HOTU MATUA.
• Rapa Nui subtropical broadleaf forests (World Wildlife Fund)
• From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui by Benny Peiser
• Interview with Bill Basener, the man who created a mathematical model of the society's collapse
• Pictures of Easter Island from Chmouel Boudjnah photos travel's collection.
• Easter Island Travel Photos by the author of Moon Handbooks South Pacific
• Flickr: Photos tagged with easterisland
• Easter Island Fact sheet with photographs
• A handbook for Rapanui anthropology, archaeology, management and history, in Spanish
• News report of recent dating, indicating ca. AD 1200 settlement

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Wikitravel is a project to create an open content, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide. ... The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as DMoz (from Directory. ... Note: After losing a court case in 2002 on the use of the initials WWF, the organization previously known as the World Wrestling Federation has rebranded itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. WWF - The Conservation Organization was formerly known as World Wildlife Fund and Worldwide Fund for Nature. ...

Blogs

• Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

The Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, sometimes also called the Tubuai Islands, after one of the main islands. ... The Gambier Islands (French: ÃŽles Gambier or Archipel des Gambier) are a small group of islands in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. ... Map of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of islands that stretches 2,400 km in a northwesterly direction from the southern tip of the Island of Hawai‘i. ... The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the Pacific Ocean. ... The Loyalty Islands. ... The Marquesas Islands is a group of islands in French Polynesia. ... New Zealand consists of a large number of islands. ... Samoa Islands may refer to: Samoa, a country in the South Pacific American Samoa, a U.S. territory, also in the South Pacific This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Society Islands (French: ÃŽles de la Société or offically Archipel de la Société) are a group of islands in the south Pacific, administratively part of French Polynesia. ... See Tonga (disambiguation) for alternative meanings. ... A Satellite photo of the Acteon Group, 4 atolls in the southeastern Tuamotus. ... The Collectivity of Wallis and Futuna (French: Collectivité de Wallis et Futuna) is a group of mainly three volcanic tropical islands (Wallis, Futuna, and Alofi) with fringing reefs located in the South Pacific Ocean. ...