What happened to the inhabitants of 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.

Did Easter Islanders have early contact with South America?

A row of moai stand sentinel on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. Many researchers believed Rapa Nui, which is closer to South America than the Marquesas Islands, would be the earliest point of contact between Polynesians and Native Americans.

What happened to the people of Rapanui?

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.

Is Rapanui inhabited?

Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter Island (or Isla de Pascua), is one of the most remote inhabited places on the planet. It’s hard to find on a map — the island is little more than a stray dot in the vast southeastern Pacific Ocean.

Who are the Rapanui?

The Rapanui are a Polynesian people, the majority of whom live on Easter Island. A few hundred live on mainland Chile and in Tahiti. As of 2013, only 2,553 people self-identified as Rapanui, comprising about 0.3 per cent of Chile’s total indigenous population. The majority of this community lives in urban areas.

Are the Rapanui still alive?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.

Where did the Rapanui come from?

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 Rapa Nui come from?

Where is Rapa Nui located?

Easter Island, Spanish Isla de Pascua, also called Rapa Nui, Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the easternmost outpost of the Polynesian island world. It is famous for its giant stone statues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4U5Y7MSAJc