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History
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Radio carbon dates suggest that
Rapanui was settled sometime before the 4th century AD, probably from
elsewhere in Eastern Polynesia, most probably the Marquesas. These
voyagers, led by the intrepid culture hero, Hotu Matu`a, either fled
warfare or a flooded island to land at the white sand beach of Anakena,
and from there to divide up the land amongst his sons. Commencing with low
ahu, temple complexes, these evolved over the early centuries to
large structures, several metres in length and constructed, in small
places, with carefully fitted stone facades, which some have sought to
compare with the heavier Inca walls some thousands of kilometres
distant.
In the development of the ancient culture, there
seems to have been a take off point sometime in the 7th or 8th centuries,
with increased population (the coastal zone was settled by then) and an
elaboration of the common Eastern Polynesian temple and commemorative
patterns. We do not have any evidence as yet of "back rests" or
slightly carved sacred stones of ancestors, but there are small figures,
made of local materials that people began to erect.
One theory, put forward
by archaeologist Sergio Rapu, is that the sweet potato, an important food
plant of definite South American origin arrived on the island and became
the fuel to drive the remarkable cultural development. This sweet potato
culture, with its abundant and nutritious food, was able to produce one of
the most remarkable cultures known to humans. The ahu grew in size
to the gigantic one at Tongariki, being restored by University of Chile
archaeologists Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas in 1992-3, which
contained 13 moai. These commemorative figures, so heavily stylised
were carved from volcanic tuft mainly at the main quarry of Rano Raraku,
where one can follow easily the various stages of production. Most moai,
intended to represent once known ancestors, are from 3.5m to 6m in
height, but there are larger ones up to 10m.
Further elaboration brought people to carve
additional red scoria top knots, representing ceremonial mud dressed hair.
Something around 1,000 moai, some still buried in ahu and
under eroded soil, were produced, with the last ones having radio carbon
dates of around 1350AD. At around that time, now corroborated by John
Flenley's work on ancient pollens, the moai building ceased, ahus
fell into disrepair and Islanders began destructive battles in what seems
to have been a time of famine, perhaps provoked by the "Little Ice
Age" whose impact on Europe at that time is well documented.
The sacred site shifted from moai building
to an annual "bird man ceremony" at the ceremonial village of
Orongo, high on the cliffs of Rano Kau, overlooking the sea. There at an
annual end of winter gathering, brave warriors plunged into the sea to
retrieve the first laid egg of the sooty tern from some offshore islets.
During this time, there were other events, such as the reading of the
still undeciphered rongo-rongo boards at Anakena Beach. Ever
inventive, the Rapanui tried to ameliorate war through elaborate ritual.
The moai building complex was a time of peace, but the Orongo
period from roughly the 14th century until European contact and settlement
from the 18th century onwards, was one of constant battle, with
destruction and canibalism. The last sighting of a standing moai on
a platform was by a French naval vessel in 1832.
One of the stories that the tourist will hear
perpetually about Rapanui is that the crucial battle that ended the
culture was an epic confrontation between Hanau Eepe (Long Ears)
and Hanau Momoko (Short Ears). This derives from a 19th century
mistranslation of the crucial terms, first explained by Father Sebastian
Englert over half a century ago, but ignored by those who wish to use this
sort for their own purposes. Only one of these words could be confused
with "ear", which is epe in Rapanui. In reality, the
terms refer to the "short, corpulent people" (Hanau Eepe)
and the "tall, thin people" (Hanau momoko). Perhaps its
time that the mistranslation is finally put to rest?
European arrive. Some accounts give the
Spanish credit for bumping into Rapanui and there is the residue that the
English Pirate, Davis, might have made a 17th century call, but the first
confirmed European landing is on Easter Day in 1722 by the Dutchman Jacob
Roggeveen, and his three ships, who named it accordingly. Observations
were made of Rapanui who came to the ship and there was one shore party,
with 125 armed marines, who became jittery at the islander excitement and
opened fire, killing an unknown number of welcoming hosts. A wild account
of the time there and other adventures was published by a member of the
crew, Fredrich Behrens, thus commencing the tradition of strange tales
that have come such a part of the literature on the island. Spain, rather late to get to known its
"Spanish Lake" sent an expedition to Rapanui in 1770 under the
command of Felipe Gonzalez y Haedo who in an elaborate ceremony, complete
with flags and cannon, took possession of St. Charles Island (named for
his king), generally leaving a good impression with the Rapanui. The
Spanish initiative failed and the question of a claim there never taken
up, but excellent maps were produced.
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Four years later, on his second voyage, James
Cook came up from his imposed, fruitless search for the Great South Land
around Antarctica and glumly pronounced Rapanui worthless, through his
sickly eyes; the great explorer did some maps of his usual high standard,
but did not go ashore with his landing party, which consisted of the
Tahitian Mahina, who promptly disappeared with the Rapanui, with whom he
probably could converse. The Cook visit provides valuable ethnological
information as does the subsequent one by La Pérouse two years later. A
map from the La Pérouse visit shows the layout of the Hangaroa area to be
remarkably like the road system found today.
About one hundred ships called at the island
between the Spanish visit and 1862, with several stops by whalers in the
1820s and 1830s. In 1806, Captain Benjamin Page took a young Rapanui with
him to London, where he was baptised "Henry Easter" at
Rotherhithe in 1812. Mostly relations were good, with Rapanui trading
their art work and food for European products, usually nails, cloth and
the like, although haircuts enjoyed a vogue for a while!
Peruvian slavers. Labour shortages in Peru
and a British ban on the importation of Chinese labour conspired with an
Irish "migration consultant" to produce the disastrous blackbird
raids on Rapanui, and elsewhere, as told by H. E. Maude, in his book Slavers
in paradise, Stanford University Press, 1981. The island's population
stood at about 3,500 persons in 1862, when the raids commenced in December
of that year. There were subsequent attacks and over 1,000 were carried
off to work on plantations and, even, as servants in private homes. French
diplomatic pressure, and Peruvian realisation of what they had permitted
their citizens and others to do, put an end to the raids in early 1863,
but not before damage had been done. Tuberculosis and, from April, 1863,
small pox began to take its terrible toll on the Rapanui and other
islanders and hundreds died. There is no evidence that there were any
survivors and only about a dozen returned to their home, bringing disease
with them.
Missionaries. Through these events and
owing to a report from a warship that had stopped at Rapanui just before
the raids, a Lay Brother, Eugene Eyraud, who, though of French birth, had
been a mechanic in Bolivia, persuaded the Sacred Hearts Mission in
Valparaiso to let him lead a mission to Rapanui, which he did after
stopping in Papeete, to return with a couple of Rapanui who had been
stranded there during the raids. Eyraud, alone, endured nine months before
being rescued. He returned with three more in a team that included the
easy going Father Gaspar Zumbohm (German) and the emotional Father
Hypolite Roussel (French). Eyraud died in 1868, of tuberculosis, but the
others, joined by another Lay Brother, Theodule Escolan, continued their
work, which included the burning of idols. A Frenchman, Jean Baptiste Onésime
Dutrou-Bornier, who subsequently styled himself as "King" of
Rapanui, turned up in partnership with Catholic Bishop Tepano Jaussen and
businessman, John Brander. There is a falling out between Bornier and
Roussel, with the latter leaving in 1871, taking a contingent to
Mangareva. Bornier supervises more shipments of labour to the plantations
owned by the Catholic Church and Brander. Most of these emigrants died. In
1876, Bornier is murdered by the islanders, who could take no more of his
brutality and when Alphonse Pinart appears over the horizon in 1877, he is
told by a Chilean foreman that there are 110 persons on the island with
him.
Chilean interest. Chilean ships had called
at Rapanui from as early as the 1830s, but serious contacts began in 1870.
Flushed with pride at winning their "War of the Pacific" with
Peru and Bolivia, Chilean patriots urge the acquisition of a colonial
possession to validate their claims to nationhood. On 9 September 1888,
Capitan Policarpo Toro Hurtado signs a deed of Cesion and another of
Annexation with the chiefs of the island. The treaty is in both Spanish
and a kind of Rapanui. In the latter, Chile offers to be a "friend of
the land", whilst in the former the island becomes part of the
Chilean state. Brander was to be compensated for his property, but full
payment never took place. Policarpo Toro's brother, Pedro Pablo, ran a
sheep ranch operation until 1892, when their ship (and fortunes) sank.
Eventually, the Toro brothers sold their interests to one Enrique Merlet,
who took a strong lead which eventually led to the killing of the last
king of the island by poison, and the murder deportation of any
opposition. It was at this time that the islanders were forceably herded
into Hangaroa, when they remained as prisoners on their own island until
1966.
In time, a Chilean company, called appropriately
Compania Explotadora de la Isla de Pascua, took over the interests which
mainly were owned by the English-Scottish company, Williamson, Balfour,
who prosper still on the Chilean mainland. Discounting a charge of
dynamite placed in the centre of the superb Vinapu finely fitted ahu
by Paymaster William Thompson in 1886, the first archaeology was carried
out by Mrs. Scoresby Routledge, who remained on the island for 18 months
in 1914-1915, during which time the German Pacific Squadron turned up to
take on supplies! In 1934-5, a Franco-Belgian expedition spent about half
a year taking down the most complete ethnological record to date. The
Belgian, Henri Lavacherry, published his studies in French, but the
Frenchman Alfred Métraux, published in both English and French, both
popular and scientific accounts of his research. Father Sebastian Englert,
a Capuchin missionary, arrived in 1935, mission Metraux, and remained the
resident researcher and priest until his death, in Florida, in 1969, on
his way back to Rapanui after an exhibition of Rapanui work. In 1955-6,
Thor Heyerdahl led the Norwegian Expedition to Easter Island, resulting in
several publications, including his still popular novelistic account, Aku
Aku, available in many editions and languages. The Canadian Medical
Expedition to Easter Island in 1964-5 was the last large scale research
team to descend on the place.
Recent history. After an unexpected
"revolt", really a cargo cult in 1914, the Chilean government
began to send regular governors to represent Chilean interests on the
island, to affirm sovereignty. After the first, all were naval officers,
either active or retired. Increasingly, rule became more restrictive. In
1953, the contract for Williamson, Balfour was terminated and the Chilean
Navy took over the entire running of the island. Throughout this century,
Chilean authorities forbade islanders to leave the Hangaroa area, a fence
being put around the settlement and written permission required to visit
the rest of the island. After the escape of some Chilean political
prisoners in the 1930s, Islanders movement off the island was severely
controlled. This sparked about fifty islanders over the years to take to
sea in small fishing boats, Boston whalers, about half of them dying in
the attempt. After the Heyerdahl, there was some relaxation and in 1956
the first continent of school children was allowed to go to Chile to
study, along with some guardians. Amongst this first group was Alfonso
Rapu Haoa, who returned to his home in 1964 as a school teacher. As one of
the first educated Rapanui, he resented the autocratic Naval rule and, due
to his election as Mayor, the authorities called troops to the island.
Eventually, the troops withdrew and the island became a fully incorporated
part of Chile, the restrictions were removed and free elections held from
1966, even a special "Easter Island Law (16442)" was enacted,
giving a series of benefits to spur development. This coincided with the
coming of a US Air Force base to the island which caused considerable
social change in a very few years, including birth of a few dozen
half-American children, none of whom have been acknowledged either by
their fathers or the American authorities. The election of Salvador
Allende Gossens in 1970 prompted the Americans to depart hastily; the
bloody Chilean coup of 1973 ended freedom on Rapanui and elsewhere in that
unhappy country.
Rapanui under the military dictatorship
flourished and Army strongman, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte visited the place
three times, along with several of his ministers. Extensive public works
were carried out, subsidised government housing and public buildings
erected. The first Rapanui to be governor was appointed in 1984. The year
before, an Elders Committee had been formed around Alberto Hotu Chavez who
organised a letter, with the consent of virtually all the Islanders, to
petition the United Nations Committee on Decolonisation for assistance in
securing a referendum on independence on Easter Island. Mr. Hotu continued
his agitation and community action throughout the 1980s as one of the few
voices of protest during the long period of military rule in Chile. In
1992, Mr. Hotu was elected Mayor of the Municipality.
The most recent event on the island is the
filming of a Hollywood style production using Rapanui themes, organised by
actor Kevin Costner, with some local actors and an Australian technical
crew. The making of the film is expected to occupy the first half of 1993,
with a release date yet to be determined.
Air Links. In 1950, the idea of a
trans-Pacific link, using Rapanui as a stopping off place, began to be
floated and a rough 600m airstrip was built at Mataveri, in the SW of the
island. Chilean Air Force pilot Roberto Parrague Singer took the first
Catalina amphibian aircraft to Rapanui in 1951, but encountered
difficulties in taking off with the necessary fuel for the return journey.
Shortly afterwards, an Australian airman, (now Sir) Gordon Taylor called
at Rapanui on a west-to-east survey flight. It was a decade before further
significant developments took place, with the Tahiti-Rapanui-Santiago link
established, mainly by Parrague, in the 1960s. People on the island know
that "Manutara", as some call Parrague, occasionally pilots the
LanChile aircraft that come to the island. For more information on the Sights
of Easter Island, go to:
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Go for further general
information on Easter Island to:
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For travel
information on Easter Island, go to:
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We have included Easter Island in some of our specials to the South Pacific, eg. our
Kontiki
Voyage. Another option is to create your own package to Easter
Island by utilizing the seperate travel components, like
hotels,
flights and
excursions
on the islands. |
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