What happened to the people that lived on Easter Island?
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What happened to the people that lived on Easter Island?
The island was victimized by blackbirding from 1862 to 1863, resulting in the abduction or killing of about 1,500, with 1,408 working as indentured servants in Peru. Only about a dozen eventually returned to Easter Island, but they brought smallpox, which decimated the remaining population of 1,500.
Who were the original inhabitants of Easter Island?
Early Settlement The first human inhabitants of Rapa Nui (the Polynesian name for Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua) are believed to have arrived in an organized party of emigrants. Archaeology dates their arrival at between 700-800 A.D., while linguists estimate it was around the year 400.
Do natives still live on Easter Island?
The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60\% of the current Easter Island population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile.
Where did the original inhabitants of Easter Island come from?
East Polynesia
Linguists estimate Easter Island’s first inhabitants arrived around AD 400, and most agree that they came from East Polynesia. The archaeological record suggests a somewhat later date of settlement, between AD 700 and 800. As early as BC 5500 people in Melanesia were voyaging in boats and trading in obsidian.
What happened to all the trees on Easter Island?
There is good evidence that the trees largely disappeared between 1200 and 1650. Assuming that wood was used to move statues, a popular proposal was formulated that the islanders, besotted with their moai, cut down all the palm trees in order to move statues.
Can you buy a house on Easter Island?
Decades ago, the property was acquired by the government, and then traded between private owners. By law, only Rapanui can own land on Easter Island. But the law is not strictly enforced.
What happened to the Rapanui people?
In this story, made popular by geographer Jared Diamond’s bestselling book Collapse, the Indigenous people of the island, the Rapanui, so destroyed their environment that, by around 1600, their society fell into a downward spiral of warfare, cannibalism, and population decline.
What happened to the Rapanui civilization?
Around 1200 A.D., their growing numbers and an obsession with building moai led to increased pressure on the environment. By the end of the 17th century, the Rapanui had deforested the island, triggering war, famine and cultural collapse.
Why don’t they replant trees on Easter Island?
When it rains on the island, also known as Rapa Nui, the water rapidly drains through the porous volcanic soil, leaving the grass dry again. That’s one reason why the island at the end of the world has stayed almost entirely bare, with no trees or shrubs.