The Easter Island Story Photo from:

In brief: Polynesian colonists first arrived on Easter Island in 900 AD and found it an uninhabited paradise full of natural resources – birds, fish, vast forests, and excellent soil for farming. Photo from: personal file.

In brief: A flourishing civilization of tens of thousands of people formed. These people created the huge statues (called moai) that the island is famous for. Photo from:

In brief: By 1700 AD the island was a barren wasteland. All of the Moai were toppled. War, starvation, and cannibalism were rampant. Photo from:

In brief: By the time Europeans arrived in the 1700s, many of the remaining inhabitants of Easter Island lived in heavily defended caves filled with the bones of people they had eaten to survive. Photo from:

Focus Questions Why did the Easter Island population grow quickly after humans arrived? What happened to the Island’s natural resources over time? What was the ultimate fate of the humans on the island? What brought this fate about? How is Easter Island analogous (similar) to the Earth as a whole?

Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui) Most remote habitable place on Earth 2300 miles from Chile and 1300 miles from the nearest pacific island Photo from:

Pre-Human Habitat (prior to 900 AD) Mild climate, very fertile volcanic soil Largest seabird nesting colonies in world, 25 different species of birds Lush forests covered the island Coastlines had abundant shellfish Lots of tuna and porpoise offshore, as well as fairly abundant inshore fish populations

Human Arrival Polynesians first colonized the island around 900 AD. The Polynesians were primarily farmers, growing taro (poi), sugarcane, bananas, and raising domestic chickens and rats for meat. They also gathered shellfish and fished from canoes made from large trees. Porpoise and tuna caught offshore were a major food source in early years.

The Golden Years The abundant food and excellent conditions allowed the human population to grow incredibly quickly. Within a few hundred years there were around 30,000 people on the island (descended from several hundred original settlers). Culture reached a very high level, with intricate tribal governments, resource distribution systems, and complex religious rituals.

Human Impacts (first 300 years) Shellfish became steadily less abundant due to overharvesting. Rats introduced by the colonists ate seeds of native trees. Forests became smaller and smaller due to harvesting of trees for firewood, canoes, and to create farmland. Bird colonies began declining as islanders harvested eggs and ate birds.

Human Impacts (by year 400) Of original 25 nesting bird species on Easter – (originally densest nesting colonies in world), 24 species extinct. All native plant species are absent from islanders’ diet (functionally extinct). Every single tree on island chopped down. Deforestation lead to massive erosion = large areas of farmland abandoned.

Human Impacts (by year 400 cont’d) No more fishing for tuna and porpoise (no trees = no canoes!) No canoes = no escape from island! What were the Easter Islanders saying as they chopped down the last tree?

Results By 1600 (500 years after arrival), mass starvation began. Human population dropped by 97% over the next 200 years due to mass starvation, cannibalism, and endless warfare. The arrival of Europeans in 1700’s brought food relief but also disease epidemics. By 1872, only 111 native islanders still lived.

Modern Easter Island A barren wasteland with no trees outside of a few small plots that have been replanted. Native bird and tree populations have never recovered and nearly all native species are now extinct.

So, Why Do We Care? Photo from:

The Earth as an Island Modern humans appeared 200,000 years ago. As of 10,000 years ago, less than 100 million humans lived on entire earth. Development of agriculture and industry has caused a huge boom – now almost 7 billion people on earth! There will likely be over 10 billion in our lifetime.

The Earth as an Island 90% of earth’s native forests have been destroyed in the last 10,000 years. The earth’s fish populations have been reduced by 50-90% in the last 50 years due to over fishing. Every 20 minutes another species becomes extinct. In the next 200 years half of the world’s mammal and bird species will likely be extinct. Fossil fuels – on which all food transportation production depends – will likely run out within 200 years at current consumption levels.

We travel together, passengers of a little spaceship, dependent upon its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all preserved from annihilation by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave to the ancient enemies of man, half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of till this day. No craft, no crew, can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolution depends the survival of us all. - Adlai Stevenson

References Cited Diamond, Jared Collapse. London: Penguin Books. Pictures as cited on slides.

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