Except for the phd thesis of georgia lee, little attention was paid to the islands rock art to understand rapa nui civilization, even if more than four. Lonely planet chile and easter island pdf free download. One of the most remote habitable places on the earth, easter island, lies about 3200 km west of. Easter island history the island itself many people have found easter island history very fascinating. Easter island, or rapa nui, in the polynesian language, is a small remote island a few thousand miles west of south america. I am doing a research project on easter island and i cant decide what website to use.
The great sebastian englert, a priest and scientist who loved the islanders like his predecessor brother eyraud, came to the conclusion that the island s culture had been defined after the arrival of three consecutive invasions. A brief historical account is provided to the following on how. To its original inhabitants the island is known as rapa nui, and its population is predominantly of polynesian descent. The moai are some of the worlds most fascinating and widelyrecognised monolithic statues. Brien has explored more than 90 countries but his true passion is researching and writing about the ancient megalithic works found in peru, bolivia, mexico, easter island, egypt, england, and beyond. Migrations and settlements, the evolution of a culture, wars between tribes, and ultimate decimation of a whole population define the course of easter island history. The history continues with the arrival and establishment of man on the island, his sociocultural development and his inter action with a relatively poor environment. One part of their paper i found particularly neat is that v.
They brought along a lot of knowhow about carving, masonry, and other gigantic building technology, and they will bring. It is the easternmost outpost of the polynesian island world and is famous for its giant stone statues. It lies in the pacific ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest. Pdf easter island, the key to south america jacques. Among the numerous questions regarding easter island many of them still unexplained, are the origin and the date of the first immigrants. Easter island history essay for essay on pandit jawaharlal nehru in hindi pdf. Easter island, located in the south pacific, has been included among the most. The authors, after careful consideration of natural. Too often is the identity of easter island confined to giant stone sculptures. Most scholars suspect that the moai were created to honor ancestors, chiefs, or other important personages, however, no written and little oral history exists on the island, so its impossible. For a tiny island of 64 square miles, with its nearest neighbors some 1,300 miles away, it has seen more than its fair share of controversy. The world monuments fund on easter island opposite. Natural and anthropogenic drivers of cultural change on easter island.
However, in spite of their abundance, there are around 600 moai distributed throughout the whole island and 397 are in the rano raraku quarry, there are. The mystery of easter island travel smithsonian magazine. A reliable chronology is central to understanding the cultural, ecological, and demographic processes involved. More stories from a womans world travelers tales pdf free download. F or a long while it wasnt clear whether the island s native population originated in polynesia or south america. The island is 90% covered by grassland, 5% by wooded land or crops and the remaining 5 % by sparse vegetation however, botanical and archaeological studies indicate that the vegetation wasnt always like this. Students will use reading, writing, and math skills while.
While the initial name of the island was considered to be te pito o te henua, which means the navel of the world, it was renamed in 1722 when the dutch explorer. Easter island ancient civilizations for kids and teachers. Fishing in easter island, a recent history 1950 2010 article pdf available in latin american journal of aquatic research 424. The moai or easter island heads or easter island statues, represent the most important pieces of rapa nui art and they have become its trademark. Easter island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early rapa nui people. What happened along the way that caused the island ecosystem to collapse. They are a powerful magician with a cigarette scarred surface island easter history essay. By the time dutch explorersthe first europeans to reach the remote island arrived on easter day in 1722, the land was nearly barren. J easter island history 6 02 book ofers 16 03 guest article. Born to a wealthy and prestigious english quaker family in 1866, katherine rebelled against victorian values, becoming one of.
Head of a moat on temporary exhibition at the seagram building in new york city. One of the most interesting features of this island is its 887 giant monolithic statues named moai. Located on the remote chilean territory of easter island, they tell a mysterious story of the island s early people and their obsession with rock carvings. The abundance of archaeological evidence and historical debate has recently loaned itself to economists interested in using easters history as a case study for. In 1995, unesco named easter island a world heritage site. Learn more about easter island and its potential connection to extraterrestrials in this scene from season, earths black holes. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world. Using rapa nui as an example of ecocide, as diamond has called it, makes for a compelling narrative, but the reality of the islands tragic history is no less.
It lies in the pacific ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest continent south america. Its inhabitants, the rapa nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and cannibalism, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. Pdf fishing in easter island, a recent history 1950 2010. Easter island is the place where history meets legend. Pdf on the geology of easter island sergei rjabchikov. The islanders who lived on rapa nui easter island were amazing builders, creating huge statues that still exist there today. A guide to easter island, chile national geographic. New research challenges reason for easter island collapse. This is what dutch sea captain jacob roggeveen found when he arrived there in 1722 on easter sunday. Virtual tour of the hidden history of ancient easter island. F ew places on earth are as wellknown for their socalled mysteries as easter island, also known as rapa nui. An answer for an enduring question barzin pakandam abstract easter island is the most isolated inhabited spot on earth, devoid of heavy timber and most resources.
Best womens spiritual travel writing travelers tales pdf. Easter island flora doesnt have a great variety, unlike the other polynesian islands. Easter island covers roughly 64 square miles in the south pacific ocean, and is located some 2,300 miles from chiles west coast and 2,500 miles east of. The mysterious stone statues carved and erected by the rapa nui people have enthralled people since their discovery. Easter island, chilean dependency in the eastern pacific ocean. The mystery of easter island imagine arriving on a small island in the pacific ocean about halfway between the island of tahiti and the west coast of south america to find giant rock statues of humanlike figures greeting you along the coastline. A travellers history of japan travellers history book pdf. Easter island had about 5,800 people living there in 2012. The events that happened there make it an icon of environmental degradation and collapse.
Captain roggeveen renamed the island easter island. The nearest island, which has people living on it, is pitcairn island and its 2,075km away. Easter island history unit with reading, writing, and mathlearn all about easter island with this 5day miniunit. Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on earth, easter island, located in the midpacific ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Chilean antarctica, easter island, juan fernandez archipelago book. He has appeared 15 times on the ancient aliens television series as well as numerous. The story of easter island reads like a preindustrial version of the lorax. Easter island, also known as rapa nui, is a tiny island in the pacific ocean, thousands of kilometers away from its nearest neighbors. We visited easter island in sept 2017 and have compiled this list of best easter island books for the curious traveler. A major enigma in the recent history of easter island rapa nui fig. This is a great website but i cant find the authors last name. Pdf chronology and easter island prehistory researchgate. Rapa nui easter island monument ahu locations explained by.
Easter island rapa nui has become widely known as a case of eco cide, where the. Among all such vanished civilizations that of the former polynesian society on easter island remain unsurpassed in mystery and isolation. More than 60% of these people descend from the native rapa nui people. A brief history of easter islands incredible moai statues. Easter island is often given as a metaphor, a dire warning for all of human life on our planet. Katherine routledge is a central figure in the history of easter island, one of the worlds most remote and mysterious locales. Easter island one of the most isolated islands in the world.
A look at the origins of the holiest day on the christian calender. Easter island demise what really happened on easter island. Polynesians landed there, farmed, thrived, built their famous statues, and then things went very bad, very fast. Much research has been carried out on these famous statues and many of the damaged and fallen statues have since been restored around the island. Pdf history of easter island on the rocks researchgate. The history of easter island has been a topic of intense debate and this paper is another entry into the story.
From once existing in the numbers of only a bit more than a hundred people, there are today approximately 3000 people who share the rapa nui lineage, in a small society mainly driven by tourism. Radiocarbon dates for the earliest stratigraphic layers at anakena, easter island, and analysis of previous radiocarbon dates imply that the island was colonized late, about 1200 a. Easter island today, easter island also known as rapa nui is a primarily pastoral grassland island in the southeastern pacific ocean, some 3,600 kilometres west of chile. On easter sunday, april 5, 1722, a dutch sea captain named jacob roggeveen landed his ship on an island known as te pito o te henua, meaning the center of the world. Fascinating history is present in an almost surreal way. Walter knoche left an oeuvre of 308 osterinsel easter island an. Easter island, with an area of only 64 square miles, is the worlds most isolated scrap of habitable land. Pdf easter island the forgotten book by the easter island.
On the road, in fact, a long maritime road with some islands inbetween, easter island is the last stop before south america. Easter island could this happen to the whole planet. The island s isolation, mysterious history, and fascinating stone moai statues generate a natural, appealing curiosity. Easter island rapa nui provides a model of humaninduced environmental degradation. Easter island travel your ultimate tourism resource.
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