Easter Island By: Blair DeCrispino

Easter Island One of the most isolated islands in the world. The only known, civilization that ever lived on the island has had a population decrease and has made huge head structures called moais. The mystery of this island has brought a lot of attention upon it. How did the Rapa Nui people build the moais? And why did they…?

Interesting Location Facts!! In the Pacific Ocean, 2200 miles west of *Chile. It is a little treeless island made of volcanic rock. It is 63 square miles with 3 extinct volcanoes on the island. Easter Island is one humungous volcano that is over ten thousand feet from the Pacific Ocean’s rock bottom floor. *Chile actually owns Easter Island.

Easter Island’s History Names The First known names of Easter Island were Te Pito o Te Henua (The Center of the World) and Mata-Ki-Te-Rani (Eyes Looking at Heaven). Tahitian sailors gave Easter Island the name Rapa Nui in the 1860’s. Rapa Nui means Great Rapa because it looked like an island in Polynesia named Rapa Iti (Little Rapa). Easter Island did not get it’s current name until April 5, 1722 (Easter Sunday) when a Dutch captain, Jacob Roggeveen was the first European to come and visit the island.

Moais!!  Before the Rapa Nui people had a population decrease they constructed the moais. Moais are giant structures made from volcanic rock. No one knows why they carved these monuments.

Easter Island Mysteries Why did the Civilization build the Moais? Some people believe that they built the Moais for religious practices. In ancient Polynesian religions, carved stone and wood properly prepared and used could bring mana, is what they believed.

Easter Island’s Civilizations The original civilization of Easter Island are Polynesian. They most likely came from the Marquesas which are the Society islands, and they probably came to the island around 318 AD. The most people that ever lived there was 10,000 and then it went to a sharp decrease when there became a civil war and starts of cannibalism. After that western civilization caused diseases and slavery which brought the population down to 110 people.

Easter Island Today The people of Rapa Nui are the nicest people you could ever meet, they’re not cannibals anymore and they are really friendly. They meet visitors at the airport and help them out with rides and getting to a hotel. Easter Island is a big outdoor museum with the residents running the program. All this tourism that is making the economy is because the mystery of their ancestors constructing the random huge headed statues a.k.a moais.

Tapati in Easter Island During the end of January and the start of February the residents embrace Tapati, a holiday honoring the heritage of the Polynesian culture on the island. Tours are organized to the festival so visitors can experience the heritage of the Polynesian islanders as well.

Chile owning Easter Island Easter Island isn’t considered a colony to Chile, but part of the mainland. Since it got Annexed in September 1888. The Rapa Nui people are citizens of Chile, but they don’t have to sign up for the military or pay taxes. The governor of the island is a naval officer from Chile, and a mayor and council of elders have a right to voice their opinions on local matters, but nothing bigger like promoting revenues. The Rapa Nui people have been randomly campaigning to become independent from Chile, and they still have an independence movement going on.

Easter Island’s plants and animals There are only a few types of animals and plants due to the humidity. The island doesn’t have any mammals. They only have two species of lizards and just a few types of bugs. They don’t have that many fish in their water. The trees were all cut down earlier when they built the moais and crops are being grown in the back yard of the huts.

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