Easter Island is located in the South Pacific, between Chile and Tahiti. They say it was formed by many massive volcanic eruptions and now, volcanic cones can be found, scattered about the island. It is believed to have been discovered around 400ad by Polynesians. The island is sometimes referred to as Rapa Nui.

Easter Island is commonly known for the statues called Moai’s. Moai statues are from the stone of the Rano Raraku volcano. The statues have been scattered around the coastline of the island. While they are believed to only be headstones, they are in fact, not, Moai’s have little, tiny bodies. The average Moai is around 14 feet and weighs around 14 tons.

It is believed to have taken around 50 to 150 people to move the Moai’s, depending on the size. We don’t really know what they were made for, but some are believed to have been made for religious practice. When sailing around the island, the Moai heads are the first thing that are noticeable, as they are on the coastline.

Upon first arriving at the island, the islanders were greeted with lush tropical paradise. They cut the trees for the lumber for the houses, and wood for fires, and even the lever and roller utensils used for moving the Moai statues. The Moai building had turned into an obsession, the trees were still coming down to help move them. The topsoil washed away and the crops failed. The islanders began to fight for what little resources that were left.

In an act of violence, rocks were placed behind the necks of Moai’s to “decapitate” them. The eyes were often smashed out of the Moai statues. Legend says, the victorious would eat their opposed, in order to gain strength. Bones have been found as evidence. This cave, at the southwest corner, was called Ana Kai Tangata which means “cave where men are eaten”.

Ana Kai Tangata has pictographs painted inside on the walls. Painted in a yellow-ish color were birds. They say, that they painted birds because, they wished to be birds, able to fly away, as they had no wood left for boats. The Rapa Nui community, had collasped, after 300 years of development.

As the last survivors tried to piece together their culture, any hopes for an escape had died. The island became a wasteland and they could only build small rafts made of reeds. It was then that the Birdman Cult arose.

Rano Kau became the site for their grueling leadership competition. To become the leader for the next year, you had to scale the vertical slopes, swim in shark infested waters, and bring back the egg of nesting, unbroken. The individual who successfully completes this, is the leader for the next year.

Slave traders came to Easter Island in The slave traders took all the healthy individuals. In a time span of a year, injury, death, and disease took over the remaining islanders. At their most vulnerable point, missionaries arrived. They converted the islanders to Christianity farely easily. They changed the islanders dressing style, then they banned tattoos and body paint. They continued to destruct artwork, buildings, sacred objects, and rongo tablets.

Rongo tablets were the key to understanding Easter Island’s history. The missionaries forced the islanders to move to a small section of the island, while the rest was used for ranching. Eventually, all pure blood of Rapa Nui had run out. Leaving us with the mystery of Easter Island.

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