The incredible, yet tragic, history of Easter Island

Easter Island, which is also known by the name Rapa Nui, is one of the world's most distant inhabited islands. 

It is located over 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) from the Chilean coast in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

For most of human history, long-distance isolation kept the island uninhabited. 

Humans had to first develop safe ways of travelling across open ocean before travellers could even find the small land mass. 

The first people to settle on Easter Island are believed to have arrived from other Polynesian islands such as the Marquesas or the Gambier Islands. 

However, the exact date of their arrival is debated among researchers, with estimates ranging from as early as 300-400 CE to as late as 1200 CE. 

The most recent studies, which included radiocarbon dating, suggest that the island was most likely settled around 1200 CE. 

They brought with them plants and animals like bananas and taro as well as chickens and Polynesian rats. 

Once there, they built a successful society based on farming and fishing. 

They also created a mysterious Rongorongo written script, which is an undeciphered system of glyphs that may be one of the few cases of writing invented independently in human history.

It is thought that Easter Island-settling Polynesians were part of a larger group of Pacific-crossing sea-faring people. 

One idea suggests that the Polynesians may have used a system of star navigation to guide their canoes across the ocean. 

By using the positions of the stars, they could decide their location and path even on cloudy or overcast nights. 

Another idea suggests that the Polynesians may have used natural signs, such as the movement of ocean currents and the behaviour of seabirds, to guide their navigation.

Whatever methods they used, Easter Island-reaching Polynesians would have faced a long and dangerous journey across the open sea. 

They likely travelled in large double-hulled canoes, which were able to carry many people along with supplies for the trip. 

Once they arrived on the island, the Polynesians would have faced important challenges in getting used to their new environment. 

Despite its green plants and plenty of wildlife, Easter Island is a distant and isolated place with limited resources and a hard terrain.

The moai are perhaps the most iconic feature of Easter Island. Giant statues like these, which can be as tall as 33 feet (10 metres) and weigh over 80 tons (about 72.6 tonnes), were carved from volcanic rock by the island's people. 

The reasons for the creation of the moai are not completely clear and it is believed that they were images of ancestors or important figures in the community. 

Some researchers believe that the moai were carefully placed to match with celestial events, and these events showed advanced sky knowledge among the Rapa Nui people. 

About 900 moai statues have been recorded on Easter Island, each carved with unique features and different sizes, and the majority were made between the 13th and 15th centuries. 

They were usually carved with long heads and strong brows, and some moai were decorated with pukao, which were carved topknots made from red scoria, a type of volcanic rock.

The making of the moai was a very specialised and hard process that involved the whole community. 

The first step in making a moai was to choose a suitable piece of volcanic tuff from the quarry. 

Once the block had been chosen, the sculptors would begin to carve away the extra stone by starting from the top. 

They would use stone chisels and hammers to shape the stone into the needed form, and they carefully removed small pieces of rock until the statue was complete. 

In fact, there is an unfinished moai that is often called 'El Gigante', still in the Rano Raraku quarry. 

It measures around 21 meters (69 feet) and is estimated to weigh up to 270 tons (about 245 tonnes).

The statues were placed on large platforms called ahu, which were often located near the coast and which faced inland. 

The tallest moai ever set up, known as Paro, stands at about 10 meters (33 feet) tall and weighs about 82 tons (about 74.4 tonnes). 

The Ahu Tongariki platform is the biggest ahu on the island and features 15 moai statues. 

How did a people without wheels and pack animals move the moai? Even today, the answer to this question is not completely clear. 

The best guess is that the island's people used a combination of human work, ropes, and wooden sledges to move the statues across the island. 

Recent experiments suggest that the moai might have been moved by standing them up and using ropes in a rocking motion, effectively 'walking' them to their places.

Easter Island was discovered by Europeans on the 5th of April, 1722, when the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen arrived on the island during a journey to find Terra Australis, which was an imagined southern continent. 

Roggeveen and his crew were the first Europeans to meet the residents of Easter Island, and he named the island 'Easter Island' because it was Easter Sunday on the 5th of April, 1722.

Despite this early contact with Europeans, Easter Island remained fairly isolated and unknown to the rest of the world for many years. 

It was not until the late 19th century that the island began to receive more regular visitors including archaeologists, anthropologists, and tourists.

Europeans following Roggeveen to Easter Island included Spanish, British, and French explorers and traders. 

Such visitors brought new diseases that the islanders were not immune to. 

Also, in the 1860s, Peruvian slave raids severely harmed the Rapa Nui population and abducted around 1,500 people. 

Many cultural leaders were abducted, leading to a huge loss of knowledge and tradition. 

The Europeans also used the island's resources including wood and food which earlier residents had already used up.

Before the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century, estimates suggest the island had between 2,000 and 3,000 people although some believe it could have been as many as 15,000. 

However, by the late 19th century the population had declined to just a few hundred. 

In addition to the effects of European arrival, the islanders themselves were also responsible for some of the population decline. 

As the island's population grew the need for resources grew and the islanders began to overuse the island's natural resources. 

While the island was once covered with palm forests it had few animals mostly birds and no native land mammals. 

Over time, the loss of forests led to major environmental changes that caused soil erosion and a decline in crop production, which then led to famine and social conflict.

In 1888, Easter Island became part of Chile which brought major political and cultural changes to the Rapa Nui as they became Chilean citizens. 

When the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl led expeditions in the mid-20th century, he was the first to suggest that South America and Polynesia had early contact based on similar cultural objects.

This theory attracted a lot of attention, but it is still unproven, and some historians doubt its accuracy. 

In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site. UNESCO designation has helped protect its moai and other cultural landmarks. 

Today, the population of Easter Island is around 8,000 people with most of the island's residents living in the main town of Hanga Roa. 

Though the island has experienced some economic growth in recent years, it remains one of the most isolated and economically struggling places in the world. 

The island's delicate environment and unique cultural heritage are still threatened by several challenges including overfishing, climate change, and tourism pressures.

Today, tourism is the main part of Easter Island's economy, and it brings thousands of visitors keen to see its mysterious moai. 

The island's residents have also made efforts to protect the environment, which include reforestation projects and the creation of protected areas. 

There are also efforts to bring back the Rapa Nui language and traditions with educational programs and cultural events to keep the island's indigenous identity. 

Despite these efforts, the history of Easter Island is a warning about the consequences of environmental damage and social conflict.