Easter Islandis one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, and largely due to its isolation, Rapa Nui's history is unique. There are many scientific hypotheses and guesses regarding the time of settlement of Rapa Nui, the racial background of the local residents, the cause of the death of a unique civilization, whose representatives built huge stone sculptures (moai) and knew writing (rongorongo), which has not yet been deciphered by linguists. With the discovery of the island in 1722 by the Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen and the appearance of the first Catholic missionaries, fundamental changes took place in the life of the Rapanui people: the hierarchical relationships that existed in the past were forgotten, and the practice of cannibalism was stopped.

Time of settlement of Easter Island

Radiocarbon dating data obtained by scientists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo from the University of California (USA) during the study of eight samples of charcoal from Anakena indicate that the island of Rapa Nui was inhabited around 1200 AD. BC, which is 400-800 years later than previously thought, and only 100 years before trees began to disappear on the island.

According to the legends of the ancient Rapanui people, collected by Sebastian Englert, Easter Island appeared thanks to the giant Uoke, who with his staff destroyed a large country comparable to Khiva (the Polynesian name for the Marquesas Islands). The first settlers of Rapa Nui were Ngata Wake and Te Ohiro. They landed on an island near the town of Te Rotomea and stopped at Vai Marama (the name of a small lake near Mataveri). Woke began to destroy the island again, and to stop the giant, Te Ohiro cast a spell, after which Woke's staff broke and the island was saved.

Having sailed to Easter Island, the scouts landed at Hanga Tepa'u (Vinapu Beach), and then went to the Rano Kao volcano, where Ku'uku'u planted yams. They then began to walk around the island to find a suitable place where the ariki of Hotu Matu'a could land. However, the Poike Peninsula and Hanga Hoonu Bay were not suitable for large canoes. In Hanga Hoonu Bay they spotted a large sea turtle, which was in fact the spirit that had haunted them throughout their journey. The scouts decided to go after the turtle. So they reached Hiro Moko (part of Anakena Bay), where the travelers decided to raise the turtle.

However, the travelers did not have time to sail away: after a two-month voyage, Hotu Matu'a Ariki had already approached three islands near Easter Island near the Rano Kao volcano in two canoes. Near the island of Motu Nui, Ira and Raparenga explained to the leader that the island was unsuitable for life, but Ariki still decided to land on it. Then the scouts told how to swim to Anakena Bay, which they found convenient for landing. Two canoes sailed in different directions to explore the entire island: Hotu Matu'a sailed from the east, and Tuu Ko Iho and his wife Ariki sailed along the western shore of Rapa Nui. During the voyage, Ava Reipua gave birth to a son, who was named Tu'u Maheke. The king landed at Hiro-Moko, and the queen at Hanga-Hiro. Soon houses were built on the shore of Anakena Bay where the settlers lived.

Theory of American settlement of the island

In his works on Easter Island, the Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl put forward a hypothesis according to which the islands of Polynesia were inhabited by American Indians. In his opinion, population migration occurred in two stages. The islands of Polynesia were originally settled in the mid-1st millennium AD. e. immigrants from Peru who had fair skin, aquiline noses, and thick beards. They contributed to the spread of the megalithic type of civilization in the Pacific Ocean, the most striking example of which was the Rapanui civilization.

Having explored Easter Island, Heyerdahl supported his hypothesis with several arguments. First, he argued that the technique used to build the Rapa Nui ahu and moai was similar to that of similar structures in the Andes. He found the greatest similarity between the ahu Vinapu on Rapa Nui and several buildings in Cusco that date back to the pre-Inca period. However, there are clear differences between them: the structures in Cusco were built from solid polished stone, while on Easter Island the ahu were built by covering rough stone masonry with small stone slabs.

Secondly, while studying the Rapa Nui writing, Heyerdahl discovered the similarity of the graphic representation of signs in Rapa Nui with the writing of the Kuna Indian tribe, but at the same time doubted the direct connection between these two languages. In his opinion, writing on Easter Island appeared in the 5th century along with the Peruvian leader Hotu Matu'a, with whom the first settlers of Rapa Nui arrived.

Thirdly, the Rapa Nui built single and double canoes similar to the Peruvian ones, wore feather headdresses like the South American Indians, and deformed the earlobe by placing large jewelry in it.

Theory of Melanesian settlement of the island

The legend of the short-eared and long-eared would not have aroused such great interest among scientists of the 20th century if the point of view about the racial difference between the Rapanui and Polynesians and the similarity of the inhabitants of Easter Island with the Melanesians had not been widespread among them. This hypothesis, widely debated in scientific circles in the mid-20th century, was put forward by the scientist José Imbelloni. However, there were also many opponents; for example, this hypothesis was not supported by the anthropologist Harry Shapiro, who devoted a lot of time to studying the structure of the skulls of the ancient Rapanui people and defended the point of view of the Polynesian origin of the inhabitants of Easter Island. British anthropologist Henry Balfour identified several features that were similar between the Rapa Nui and Melanesian cultures. Firstly, similar obsidian points used by the ancient Rapanui people were found on the island of New Guinea. Secondly, the Rapa Nui figurines have the same aquiline nose as the Papuan ones. Third, ear deformation was also widespread among Melanesian peoples. Fourthly, the cult of “bird people” was widespread not only on Easter Island, but also on the Solomon Islands.

The natives who greeted the Dutch sailors on Easter Sunday 1722 seemed to have nothing in common with the giant statues of their island. Detailed geological analysis and new archaeological finds made it possible to uncover the mystery of these sculptures and learn about the tragic fate of the stonemasons.

The island became desolate, its stone sentries fell, and many of them drowned in the ocean. Only the pitiful remnants of the mysterious army managed to rise with outside help.

Briefly about Easter Island

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui in local parlance, is a tiny (165.5 sq. km) piece of land lost in the Pacific Ocean halfway between Tahiti and Chile. It is the most isolated inhabited place (about 2000 people) in the world - the nearest Town (about 50 people) is 1900 km away, on Pitcairn Island, where the rebellious Bounty crew found refuge in 1790.

The coastline of Rapa Nui is decorated with hundreds of frowning idols - the natives call them “moai”. Each is hewn from a single piece of volcanic rock; the height of some is almost 10 m. All the statues are made according to the same model: a long nose, drawn-out earlobes, a gloomily compressed mouth and a protruding chin over a stocky torso with arms pressed to the sides and palms resting on the stomach.

Many "moai" are installed with astronomical precision. For example, in one group, all seven statues look at the point (photo on the left) where the sun sets on the evening of the equinox. More than a hundred idols lie in the quarry, not completely hewn or almost finished and, apparently, waiting to be sent to their destination.

For more than 250 years, historians and archaeologists could not understand how and why, with a shortage of local resources, primitive islanders, completely cut off from the rest of the world, managed to process giant monoliths, drag them for kilometers over rough terrain and place them vertically. Many more or less scientific theories were proposed, with many experts believing that Rapa Nui was at one time inhabited by a highly developed people, perhaps bearers of American pre-Columbian culture, who died as a result of some kind of catastrophe.

A detailed analysis of its soil samples allowed us to reveal the secret of the island. The truth about what happened here can serve as a sobering lesson for people everywhere.

Born sailors. Once upon a time, the Rapanui people hunted dolphins from canoes dug out of palm trunks. However, the Dutch who discovered the island saw boats made of many planks fastened together - there were no large trees left.

History of the discovery of the island

On April 5, Easter Day 1722, three Dutch ships under the command of Captain Jacob Roggeveen stumbled upon an island in the Pacific Ocean that was not shown on any map. When they dropped anchor off its eastern shore, a few natives sailed up to them in their boats. Roggeveen was disappointed, The islanders' boats, he wrote: “poor and fragile... with a light frame covered with many small planks”. The boats were leaking so much that the rowers had to bail out water every now and then. The landscape of the island also did not warm the captain’s soul: “Its desolate appearance suggests extreme poverty and barrenness.”.

Conflict of civilizations. Images from Easter Island now adorn museums in Paris and London, but obtaining these exhibits was not easy. The islanders knew each “moai” by name and did not want to part with any of them. When the French removed one of these statues in 1875, a crowd of natives had to be held back with rifle shots.

Despite the friendly behavior of the brightly colored natives, the Dutch went ashore, prepared for the worst, and formed into a battle square under the astonished gaze of their hosts, who had never seen other people, let alone firearms.

The visit was soon overshadowed by tragedy. One of the sailors fired. Then he claimed that he allegedly saw the islanders lifting stones and making threatening gestures. The “guests,” on Roggeveen’s orders, opened fire, killing 10-12 hosts on the spot and wounding as many more. The islanders fled in horror, but then returned to the shore with fruits, vegetables and poultry - to appease the ferocious newcomers. Roggeveen noted in his diary an almost bare landscape with sparse bushes no higher than 3 m. On the island, which he named after Easter, the only things of interest were the unusual statues (heads) standing along the shore on massive stone platforms (“ahu”).

At first these idols shocked us. We could not understand how the islanders, who did not have strong ropes and a lot of construction wood to make mechanisms, were nevertheless able to erect statues (idols) at least 9 m high, and quite voluminous ones at that.

Scientific approach. French traveler Jean Francois La Perouse landed on Easter Island in 1786, accompanied by a chronicler, three naturalists, an astronomer and a physicist. As a result of 10 hours of research, he suggested that in the past the area was wooded.

Who were the Rapanui people?

People settled Easter Island only around the year 400. It is generally accepted that they arrived in huge boats from Eastern Polynesia. Their language is close to the dialects of the inhabitants of the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands. Ancient fishhooks and stone adzes of the Rapanui people found during excavations are similar to the tools used by the Marquesanes.

At first, European sailors encountered naked islanders, but by the 19th century they were weaving their own clothes. However, family heirlooms were more valued than ancient crafts. Men sometimes wore headdresses made from the feathers of birds long extinct on the island. Women wove straw hats. Both of them pierced their ears and wore bone and wooden jewelry in them. As a result, the earlobes were pulled back and hung almost to the shoulders.

Lost Generations - Answers Found

In March 1774, the English captain James Cook discovered about 700 natives emaciated from malnutrition on Easter Island. He suggested that the local economy had been badly damaged by the recent volcanic eruption: this was evidenced by the many stone idols that collapsed from their platforms. Cook was convinced: they were hewn out and placed along the coast by the distant ancestors of the current Rapanui people.

“This work, which took an enormous amount of time, clearly demonstrates the ingenuity and tenacity of those who lived here during the era of the statues’ creation. Today’s islanders almost certainly have no time for this, because they do not even repair the foundations of those that are about to collapse.”

Scientists have only recently found answers to some of the mysteries of the Moai. Analysis of pollen from sediments accumulated in the island's swamps shows that it was once covered with dense forests, thickets of ferns and shrubs. All this was teeming with a variety of game.

Exploring the stratigraphic (and chronological) distribution of finds, scientists discovered in the lower, most ancient layers the pollen of an endemic tree close to the wine palm, up to 26 m high and up to 1.8 m in diameter. Its long, straight, unbranched trunks could serve as excellent rollers for transportation of blocks weighing tens of tons. Pollen from the plant “hauhau” (triumphetta semi-three-lobed) was also found, from the bast of which ropes are made in Polynesia (and not only).

The fact that the ancient Rapanui people had enough food follows from DNA analysis of food remains on excavated dishes. The islanders grew bananas, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, taro, and yams.

The same botanical data demonstrate the slow but sure destruction of this idyll. Judging by the contents of swamp sediments, by 800 the forest area was declining. Tree pollen and fern spores are displaced from later layers by charcoal - evidence of forest fires. At the same time, woodcutters worked more and more actively.

Wood shortages began to seriously affect the islanders' way of life, especially their menus. A study of fossilized garbage heaps shows that at one time the Rapa Nui people regularly ate dolphin meat. Obviously, they caught these animals swimming in the open sea from large boats hollowed out from thick palm trunks.

When there was no ship timber left, the Rapanui people lost their “ocean fleet,” and with it their dolphin meat and ocean fish. In 1786, the chronicler of the French expedition La Perouse wrote that in the sea the islanders only caught shellfish and crabs that lived in shallow waters.

The end of the moai

Stone statues began to appear around the 10th century. They probably represent Polynesian gods or deified local chiefs. According to Rapa Nui legends, the supernatural power of “mana” raised the hewn idols, led them to a designated place and allowed them to wander at night, protecting the peace of the makers. Perhaps the clans competed with each other, trying to carve the “moai” larger and more beautiful, and also to place it on a more massive platform than its competitors.

After 1500, practically no statues were made. Apparently, there were no trees left on the devastated island necessary to transport and raise them. Since about the same time, palm pollen has not been found in swamp sediments, and dolphin bones are no longer thrown into garbage dumps. The local fauna is also changing. All local land birds and half of the sea birds are disappearing.

The food supply is getting worse, and the population, which once numbered about 7,000 people, is declining. Since 1805, the island has suffered from raids by South American slave traders: they take away some of the natives, many of the remaining ones suffer from smallpox contracted from strangers. Only a few hundred Rapa Nui survive.

The inhabitants of Easter Island erected “moai”, hoping for the protection of the spirits embodied in stone. Ironically, it was this monumental program that led their land to environmental disaster. And the idols rise as eerie monuments to thoughtless management and human recklessness.

Easter Island
(historical excursion)

(from the series "On the outskirts of the planet")

Easter Island(or Rapa Nui) is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, and thanks largely to its isolation, Rapa Nui's history is unique. It is part of Polynesia(Oceania subregion). There are many scientific hypotheses and guesses regarding the time of settlement of Rapa Nui, the racial background of the local residents, the cause of the death of a unique civilization, whose representatives built huge stone sculptures ( moai) and knew writing ( rongorongo), which has not yet been deciphered by linguists. With the discovery of the island in 1722 by the Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen and the appearance of the first Catholic missionaries, fundamental changes took place in the life of the Rapanui people: the hierarchical relationships that existed in the past were forgotten, and the practice of cannibalism was stopped. In the mid-19th century, local residents became the target of the slave trade, as a result of which most of the Rapa Nui people died, and along with them many elements of the unique local culture were lost. On September 9, 1888, the island was annexed by Chile. In the 20th century, Rapa Nui became an object of great interest for researchers trying to unravel the secrets of the disappeared Rapa Nui civilization (among them was the Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl). During this time, there were some improvements in the island's infrastructure and the quality of life of the Rapa Nui people. In 1995, Rapa Nui National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the 21st century, the island continues to attract tourists from all over the world, and tourism has become the main source of income for the local population.

Rongo-rongo, a writing system that
has not yet been deciphered by linguists.
Fragment of a small table from Santiago

Time of settlement of Easter Island
Radiocarbon dating data obtained by scientists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo from the University of California (USA) during the study of eight samples of charcoal from the bay Anakens, indicate that the island of Rapa Nui was inhabited around 1200 AD. BC, which is 400-800 years later than previously thought, and only 100 years before trees began to disappear on the island. Previously it was believed that the colonization of Rapa Nui took place in 800-1200. n. e., and the environmental disaster, which was characterized by the disappearance of palm trees on the island, began at least 400 years after settlement. However, the issue of colonization of the island has not yet been reached, and it is likely that this figure can be refuted.

The slope of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku, strewn with stone moai sculptures

Theories of the settlement of Easter Island
There are even more hypotheses regarding where the first (and subsequent) settlers to the island came from. So, for example, a follower American settlement theories of the Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl believes that the islands of Polynesia were inhabited by American Indians in the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. immigrants from Peru, who were subsequently almost completely destroyed by a new wave of emigrants who sailed from the northwestern coast of North America by 1000-1300. n. e. There are also adherents among scientists Melanesian theory according to which the island was inhabited by Melanesians - a group of peoples from the islands Melanesia in the Pacific Ocean adjacent to Australia and New Guinea. Among specialists studying Easter Island, there are other hypotheses (settlement from the islands of Polynesia, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, etc.). Thus, throughout the 20th century, many scientific hypotheses have been proposed that identify several centers from where Rapa Nui was settled, but the final point has not been set.

Activities of the ancient Rapanui people
Easter Island is a treeless island with infertile volcanic soil. In the past, as now, the slopes of volcanoes were used for planting gardens and growing bananas. According to Rapa Nui legends, some plant species were introduced by the king Hotu Matu'a, who sailed to the island from the mysterious homeland of Marae-renga. This could really happen, since the Polynesians, settling new lands, brought with them seeds of plants that had important practical significance.

The ancient Rapanui people were very knowledgeable about agriculture. Therefore, the island could easily feed several thousand people. One of the island's problems has always been the shortage of fresh water. There are no deep rivers on Rapa Nui, and water after rains easily seeps through the soil and flows towards the ocean. The Rapanui people built small wells, mixed fresh water with salt water, and sometimes just drank salt water.

There are no deep rivers on Rapa Nui, and water after rains
easily seeps through the soil and flows towards the ocean

In the past, Polynesians, when setting out in search of new islands, always took with them three animals: a pig, a dog and a chicken. Only chicken was brought to Easter Island - later a symbol of well-being among the ancient Rapanui people. The Polynesian rat is not a domestic animal, but it was also introduced by the first settlers of Easter Island, who considered it a delicacy. Subsequently, gray rats, brought by Europeans, appeared on the island.

The waters surrounding Easter Island are teeming with fish, especially off the rocks of Motu Nui (a small islet southwest of Rapa Nui), where seabirds breed in large numbers. Fish was the favorite food of the ancient Rapanui people, and during the winter months there was a taboo on catching it. On Easter Island, a huge number of fish hooks were used in the past. Some of them were made from human bones, they were called mangai-iwi, others are made of stone, they were called mangai-kahi and was mainly used for tuna fishing. Only privileged residents had hooks made of polished stone. After the death of the owner, they were placed in his grave. The very existence of fishhooks indicates the development of the ancient Rapanui civilization, since the technique of polishing stone is quite complex, as is the achievement of such smooth forms. Fishhooks were often made from enemy bones. According to the beliefs of the Rapanui people, this is how it was transmitted to the fisherman mana of the deceased person, that is, his strength. The Rapanui also hunted turtles, which are often mentioned in local legends.

An ancient fishhook made from a human femur,
or mangai-iwi, from Easter Island.
Consists of two parts connected by a rope

The ancient Rapanui people did not have as many canoes (the Rapanui name is vaka rap. vaka), as, for example, other peoples of Polynesia plowed the waves of the Pacific Ocean. In addition, there was a clear shortage of tall and large trees.

Very little is known about the structure of ancient Rapanui society that existed before the 19th century. Due to the export of the local population to Peru, where they were used as slaves, epidemics of diseases brought to the island by Europeans, and the adoption of Christianity, Rapanui society forgot about the previously existing hierarchical relationships, family and tribal ties. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were ten tribes, or mata, on Rapa Nui, whose members considered themselves descendants of eponymous ancestors, who, in turn, were descendants of the first king of the island Hotu Matu'a. According to Rapa Nui legend, after the death of Hotu Matu'a the island was divided between his sons, who gave names to all the Rapa Nui tribes. The ancient Rapanui people were extremely warlike. As soon as hostility began between the tribes, their warriors painted their bodies black and prepared their weapons for battle at night. After the victory, a feast was held at which the victorious warriors ate the meat of the defeated warriors. The cannibals themselves on the island were called kai-tangata. Cannibalism existed on the island until the Christianization of all the inhabitants of the island.

Anakena Bay, where, according to Rapa Nui legend, King Hotu Matu landed

Disappearance of the Rapa Nui civilization
When Europeans first landed on the island in the 18th century, Rapa Nui was a treeless area. However, recent research work on the island, including the study of found pollen samples, suggests that in the distant past, during the settlement of Rapa Nui, Easter Island was covered with dense vegetation, including extensive forested areas. As the population increased, these forests were cut down, and the liberated lands were immediately sown with agricultural plants. In addition, the wood was used as fuel, material for the construction of houses, canoes for fishing, and also for carrying the huge statues of the island, or moai. As a result, by about 1600 the forests on the island were completely destroyed. The construction of the moai ceased at this time.

Sketch by Ludwig Lewis Choris (1816) from the book "Atlas in Pictures of the Voyage around the World of the frigate Venus, 1830-1839",
showing two types of Rapanui canoes. One of them is with an outrigger, the other is without.
Oars are also depicted.

The loss of forest cover has led to severe soil erosion and, as a result, crop yields have declined. The only source of meat on the island was chickens, which began to be highly revered and protected from thieves. Due to catastrophic changes, the population began to decline on Rapa Nui. After 1600, Rapa Nui society gradually began to degrade, slavery appeared, and cannibalism began to flourish.

However, this theory of the disappearance of the Rapa Nui civilization is not the only one. According to research by scientist Terry Hunt, much of the deforestation on Rapa Nui occurred not due to the local inhabitants, but as a result of the eating of the seeds of local plants by Polynesian rats, which were brought to the island by the first settlers. And the sharp decline in population (according to the same theory) only dates back to the European Rapa Nui period, when most of the islanders were enslaved and sent to South American or Pacific plantations.

Europeans on the island
Europeans discovered Easter Island only in 1722. On July 16, 1721, the Dutch explorer, Admiral Jacob Roggeveen, sailed from Amsterdam on the ships Thienhoven, Arend and Afrikaanse Galley in search of Davis Land. On the evening of April 5, 1722, the crew of the main ship Afrikaanse Galley noticed land on the horizon. On the same day, Admiral Roggeveen named the island in honor of the Christian holiday of Easter.

Dutch traveler, Admiral Jacob Roggeveen

The next morning, a canoe with a bearded local man, clearly surprised by the large sea vessel, approached the Dutch ship. Only on April 10 did the Dutch land on land. Roggeveen described in detail the Rapanui people and the coordinates of Easter Island. Having seen unusual statues of enormous size, the traveler was greatly surprised that “naked savages” could build such colossi. It has also been suggested that the statues were made of clay. However, the first meeting of the Rapanui people with the Europeans was not without bloodshed: 9-10 local residents were killed by Dutch sailors. At the time of the discovery of the island by Roggeveen, about two to three thousand local residents lived on it, but archaeological research has shown that a hundred years earlier, 10-15 thousand people lived on the island.

In 1816, the Russian ship “Rurik” sailed to the island under the command of Otto Evstafievich Kotzebue, who led the round-the-world sea voyage.
However, the Russians failed to land on Rapa Nui due to the hostility of the Rapa Nui.

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, many sailors visited the island. Often the purpose of expeditions to the island was to capture Rapanui people as slaves. The manifestation of violence by foreigners towards the local inhabitants of the island led to the fact that the Rapanui people began to greet the ships with hostility. The year 1862 was a turning point in the history of Rapa Nui. At this time, the Peruvian economy was booming and was increasingly in need of labor. One of its sources was Easter Island, whose inhabitants became the object of the slave trade in the second half of the 19th century. On December 12, 1862, 8 Peruvian ships landed in Hanga Roa Bay. Several islanders, unsuspectingly, boarded the ship and were immediately captured and thrown into prison cells. In total, about 1,407 Rapa Nui were captured, who were defenseless at the sight of firearms. Among the prisoners were King Kamakoi of Rapa Nui and his son. In Callao and the Chincha Islands, the Peruvians sold captives to the owners of guano mining companies. Due to humiliating conditions, hunger and disease, out of more than 1,000 islanders, about a hundred remained alive. Only thanks to the intervention of the French Government, Bishop Tepano Jossano, as well as the Governor of Tahiti, supported by Britain, was it possible to stop the Rapanui slave trade. After negotiations with the Peruvian government, an agreement was reached according to which the surviving Rapanui were to be repatriated back to their homeland. But due to illness, mainly tuberculosis and smallpox, only 15 islanders returned home. The smallpox virus brought with them eventually led to a sharp drop in the population on Easter Island - to about 600 people. Most of the priests of the island died, who buried with them all the secrets of Rapa Nui. The following year, missionaries landing on the island found no signs of the recently existing Rapa Nui civilization.

Antique wooden Easter Island figurines depicting (from left to right): the seal man (tangata-iku), height 32 cm; two figures in the middle of the aku-aku, rear and side views; emaciated ancestor (Moai kawa-kava), height about half a meter, you should pay attention to the image of the spine and ribs. On the far right is a bird-man with a beak (tangata-manu). Photo from the book by Francis Mazières

Since 1862, the active conversion of the Rapanui people to Christianity began. The leaders were not very keen to change their faith. This is due to the fact that they did not want to give up a polygamous family. The leaders believed that if they had one wife each, they would lose influence in the tribe. However, gradually the leaders and all the Rapanui people adopted Christianity. Since the 1830s, Chile has become increasingly interested in the island. And, having defeated Bolivia and Peru in the Pacific War of 1879-1883, this country began active colonization of the lands. On September 9, 1888, Captain Policarpo Toro Hurtado landed on the island and announced the annexation of Rapa Nui by Chile. The local church came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, and in 1896 the island became part of the Valparaiso region. Even in the 20th century, the rights of the Rapanui people were quite limited for a long time.

Changes began to be observed in the mid-60s. In 1967, the construction of the Mataveri airstrip was completed on the island. Since that time, regular flights to Santiago and Tahiti appeared, and the life of the Rapa Nui people began to change for the better: in 1967, regular water supply to homes appeared, and in 1970, electricity. Tourism began to develop, which is currently the most important source of income for the local population. Since 1966, local administration elections began to be held on the island.

Easter Island is one of the most mysterious places on the planet, still not fully understood to this day. This small piece of land in the zone most remote from civilization has posed so many mysteries to the rest of the world that no one is able to solve or at least give a more or less unambiguous answer. This applies to the settlement of the island, and to the culture of the people who lived there, and to its writing, and to the world-famous stone sculptures - the moai.

Where is Easter Island

Easter Island is also called Rapa Nui(that’s what its local, original name sounds like). The territory is almost completely isolated, which makes the history of Easter Island extremely unique and amazing. The island is located at a great distance from the continents, in the South Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is a territory of Chile, from which it is separated by about 3,703 kilometers. From Easter to the nearest populated area – 1,819 kilometers (to Pitcairn). The total area of ​​the island is 163.6 square meters. km.

Easter Island owes its name to the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen, who discovered this island on the Easter holiday in 1722. during his journey. The only city of Easter is Hanga Roa, which is the capital. The total population is, according to data for 2010, 4,888 people. In the 95th century, the national park of the same name (Rapa Nui) was ranked by UNESCO as one of the most important cultural and historical heritage sites of the world.

Settlement of Easter Island

Relying on the latest research carried out by scientists using progressive methods, it has been established that Easter was inhabited around 300/400 AD(according to other sources - approximately 900). According to experts, the extreme period in which the island was inhabited is the year 1200, when the forests disappeared at Easter (this was established by radiocarbon dating and is 400...800 years later than originally expected). As legends say, immigrants from other places arrived there with whole families on 2 large pirogues.

However, there is another hypothesis for the settlement of Easter Island. In the 80s of the 15th century, the Incas could have arrived there under the leadership of Tupac Inca Yupanqui, during whose reign this people had their own fleet. Thus, they could most likely reach the remote Pacific islands on balsa rafts.

There is also indirect evidence of this: the legends of the modern inhabitants of Easter Island speak of a leader who arrived from the eastern side, who bore the name Tupa; There are ruins of buildings made in the traditional polygonal architecture of the Incas. Also, strong evidence of this hypothesis is the fact that DNA from the population from the South American continent was detected in the blood of the current inhabitants of Easter Island (the Rapanui people).

According to another theory, Easter Island was inhabited by people from Eastern Polynesia(tentatively from Mangareva Island). In general, several hypotheses have been put forward about the settlement of Easter:

• hypothesis based on legends;
• American settlement hypothesis;
• Melanesian settlement hypothesis;
• hypothesis of Polynesian settlement.

Despite this, the question of how Easter Island was settled remains open to this day. What is known for certain is that before Europeans appeared in those places, two peoples lived on Rapa Nui: the short-eared people (they had a subordinate position in the society of that time) and the long-eared people (they predominantly dominated, built moai, had a written language and a unique unique culture). During the uprising of the short-ears, every single one of the long-ears was destroyed, and their culture was lost forever.

Easter Island statues

The statues from Easter Island are called "moai" in the local dialect. These are stone idols in the form of a human head, up to 20 m high. They were made in quarries located in the central part of the island and it is not known how they were delivered to the site. As the legends testify, they “walked” on their own. Contrary to popular belief, the statues on Easter Island do not face the ocean - they “look” deep into the land itself. Some of the moai are covered with red stone headdresses.

At the foot of the Rano Raku volcano, the largest number of moai is concentrated - about 300. These are statues of different heights and different stages of processing. Not far from the bay on the island there is a large ritual “site” where 15 more statues are installed. There are also a large number of unfinished statues in the quarries, which suggests a sudden cessation of work on them.

One of the last direct descendants of the builders of these statues spoke about a hypothetical method of delivering moai, which was reflected in his book “Aku-Aku” by T. Heyerdahl from Norway, a traveler. Thus, during transportation, logs and stones were presumably used (the latter recorded each movement of the moai by lining). Delivery could also be carried out using wooden sleighs (sleds): this method is presented by a descendant of the moai builders as the most likely.

The Mystery of Easter Island

The biggest mystery of Easter Island lies in the appearance of people on this remote Pacific piece of land: how and where could they get there? There are many theories on this subject, but none of them is considered final, so the question of the settlement of the island remains unresolved to this day.

The second secret of Easter Island is connected with the culture of the ancient Rapanui people.: what their writing means (after all, the population in ancient times had their own writing system) and how to unravel what is written, since it has not been deciphered to this day.

The third mystery of Easter Island, the most exciting, concerns the statues. Why were they built? For what purpose? How were they transported to the site? How was it installed without any perfect devices and mechanisms? How the inhabitants carved these mysterious giants in solid pieces from the hardened ash of the volcano. Why do these mute figures, stylized as human shapes, stand facing the interior of the island and silently watch the inhabitants? Why are they made in this particular form - with a short body and elongated large heads?

But the modern world is able to answer all these questions with only a few theories - no more.

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People have always and at all times been drawn to the mysterious and mysterious. Apparently, in the very human essence lies an irresistible desire to reveal all the secrets of the world. This desire was the reason that the mysteries of Easter Island have not left the minds of scientists and researchers for more than a hundred years.

In addition to the gigantic moai, statues in the form of human heads made of volcanic rock, it is impossible to guess when, by whom and how Easter Island was inhabited. Over the years of research into this issue, the date of settlement has changed several times. The latest conclusions regarding the time when settlers appeared on the island, based on radiocarbon dating, were made by scientists at the University of California. Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt established that islanders settled on Rapa Nui, as the island is called locally, in 1200. This date is relative, because it is much easier to establish how the islands appear than to find out the exact date of their settlement.

To find out where people came to the island, research was carried out by archaeologists, ethnologists, linguists and geneticists from all over the world, thanks to which three main versions were put forward. According to the first of them, the settlement of Rapa Nui is attributed to American Indians. A proponent of this theory was the traveler Thor Heyerdahl, who believed that from the time the islands were formed, American Indians sailed to them on rafts and could well have reached the shores of Easter Island, and the buildings found on the island, characteristic of the Indians, confirm this. Based on local folklore, we can come to the conclusion that the Indians actually reached Rapa Nui, but at that time it was already inhabited.

The second version suggests that the island was settled by Melanesians from the Solomon Islands, as the group of islands in the Pacific Ocean east of New Guinea is called, or from any other Melanesian archipelago. This version also does not stand up to criticism due to little support by facts and the significant distance of the Melanesian archipelagos from Rapa Nui. The theory of the Polynesian settlement of Easter Island seems to be the most plausible and supported by facts. It is not known what prompted the inhabitants of Tahiti or the Marquesas Islands to go and live on islands so far away, but the similarity of cultures speaks volumes. This is also confirmed by the presence in the Rapa Nui writing of petroglyphs identical to the Polynesian ones.

Each version of the settlement of Easter Island has its supporters, and there is still debate on this topic in the scientific world. And if scientists have come to an agreement regarding the method of delivery of the moai, then it is unknown whether the issue of settlement will be settled.