Easter Island: A brief introduction

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Since so much of our experience was wrapped up with the island's history, I thought (while it is still fresh in my head) I would write a bit about what we have learned.

Easter Island is located 1700 km east of Pitcarn Island (French Polynesia) and over 1800 km west of Chile making it the most remote and isolated location on the planet. It is only about 10 miles wide and has only 3000 permanent inhabitants. Most of the locals are from Chile, but there is a small percentage of true Rapa Nui descendants. The island has been inhabited for 1000 years. The island formed by the growth of three large volcanoes. Not to bore you with geology, but since it is my favorite topic I feel I should elaborate. The island marks the juncture of three tectonic plates: the huge Pacific plate, and two smaller plates (Nazca and Cocos Plates). This 3 way intersection caused the crust to smash and heat up, causing major volcanic activity. The last eruption was 250,000 years ago, so the plates have stopped ramming into each other. When the Rapa Nui arrived the island was a thickly forrested island.

They flourished for hundreds of years, and somewhere along the line they turned to sculpting. No one really knows why, but they started churning out huge Moai statues. The most popular belief is that they represent the spirits of their ancestors. All the Moai face inland with their backs to the ocean. Perhaps that was to watch and protect their descendants. The people got very ambitious with their new task, they got so worked up into carving these statues that they put all their energy into it. They chopped down all the trees to use them as rollers to move the huge statues. They neglected farming and fishing. When the island was discoved in 1700's all the Moai were still standing. A mere 50 years later when Captian Cook arrived, most of them had been knocked down. There are many theories, but the main one is tribal warfare. The tribes had to compete for the little remaining food and in anger they knocked each others ancestors to the ground. Either that, or they knocked their own statues down in disgust for the lack of food and supplies. Kind of like they said 'hey, thanks a lot for nothing!'

A lesser known story of Easter Island is what they did for religion after the statues all got knocked down. They started to worship the birds, perhaps because they could not leave their island (since there was no wood for boats?). A 'birdman' cult started to become popular. Each tribal chief sent a representative to swim out to a tiny piece of land just off the southern tip to collect the season's first egg. When the egg was successfully retreived, the winning chief and tribe got bragging rights the entire year. They ruled until the next year's competition. The strange thing is, the winning chief was kept in total seclusion with his egg for the whole year. He didn't get to talk to anyone or even step outside his little cave. Some fun as chief, huh?

Back in Europe, word got out that there were a bunch of strong savages on this island and then the slave trader ships came along and decimated the population. Thousands were tricked into boarding the ships and they were sent of to work in guano mines in S. America. Only a hundred Rapa Nui people are left on the island today.

The island is full of mystery and impressive geology. We loved every minute! Read on for a more personal view of our trip to Rapa Nui!