The forests of Easter Island were wiped out by the indigenous inhabitants long ago, and during the 19th century sheep finished off most of the remaining native vegetation. Grasslands now envelop the green, windswept landscape; few endemic plants survive. Large tracts of eucalyptus were planted in the 1940s and 1950s. The crater lakes feature thick, floating bogs of peat; nga'ata (totora) reeds related to South American species surround and completely cover their surfaces.
Of the native birds, the frigate bird featured on many of the island's petroglyphs has been driven away, and the sooty terns (manutara) which once nested on Motu Nui in their thousands, are greatly reduced in numbers. The brown hawks (manu toketoke), small gray finches (manu puhi), and tinamous (vivi) have all been introduced from the continent in recent years. The numerous dogs encountered in Hanga Roa are also new arrivals. Some 4,000 horses and cattle range across the island, damaging the archaeological sites.
part of an eastward migratory trend that originated in Southeast Asia around 2000 B.C. Here developed one of the most remarkable cultures in all of Polynesia.
Long platforms or ahu bearing slender statues known as moai were built near the coasts, with long retaining walls facing the sea. Each ahu generally carried four to six moai towering four to eight meters high. These statues, or aringa ora (living faces), looked inland towards the villages, to project the mana (protective power) of the aku-aku (ancestral spirits) they represented. Some 887 moai have been counted on Easter Island, of which 288 were actually erected on the ahu.
The vast majority of moai were all cut from the same quarry at Rano Raraku, the yellowish volcanic tuff shaped by stone tools. Some writers have theorized that the statues were "walked" to their platforms by a couple of dozen men using ropes to lean the upright figures from side to side while moving forward; others claim they were pulled along on a sledge or log rollers. Some statues bore a large cylindrical topknot (pukao) carved from the reddish stone of Puna Pau. Eyes of cut coral were fitted into the faces of the standing moai. South of Puna Pau, Maunga Orito contains black obsidian, which the islanders used for weapons and tools.
In the 16th century the focus of Rapanui culture shifted from statue carving to the "birdman" cult at Orongo. Overpopulation, depletion of resources, and famine may explain the change. In 1774 Captain Cook reported internecine fighting among the islanders, with statues toppled and their platforms damaged, and by 1840 all of the moai had been thrown off their ahu, either by earthquakes or rival tribes.
Easter Island Important Dates:
0300—Polynesians arrive from the Marquesas or Mangareva
1680—possible beginning of birdman cult at Orongo
1722—Jacob Roggeveen arrives on Easter Sunday
1774—Captain James Cook stops here briefly
1786—French explorer La Pérouse calls
1862—Peruvian slavers kidnap some 1,400 Rapanui
1863—smallpox epidemic decimates the population
1866—French Catholic missionaries convert survivors
1866—last birdman festival at Orongo
1877—island population down to 110 persons
1883—Chile defeats Peru and Bolivia in War of the Pacific
1888—Chile annexes Easter Island
1955—Thor Heyerdahl conducts excavations on the island
1960—Ahu Akivi restored by Mulloy
1966—the Rapanui become Chilean citizens
1967—opening of Mataveri Airport for travel
1973—opening of island's Anthropological Museum
1978—Ahu Nau Nau is restored by Sergio Rapu
1980—Council of Elders former on the island
1984—first Rapanui governor appointed
1986—Americans extend airstrip for NASA space shuttles
1993—filming of Kevin Costner's epic Rapa Nui
1994—protesters demand the return of indigenous land
1996—Kari Kari Ballet Cultural formed
1996—UNESCO declares Easter Island a World Heritage Site
1999—the Chilean government agrees to land redistribution
2001—1,400 hectares of land granted to Rapanui families
2002—Biblioteca William Mulloy opens
2003—additional land grants to Rapanui families
The scuba diving off Easter Island is not for beginners as one must dive in the open sea and the water is cool (Nov.-April is warmest). On the plus side are the unique caves, walls, corals, and fish. Two dive shops opposite the small boat harbor at Caleta Hanga Roa run trips.
Surfers will find a couple of consistent waves adjacent to town, such as the rights at Caleta Hanga Roa and Ahu Tahai and the left at Hanga Mataveri Otai. On the south side of the island, a powerful right plows into the lava at Hanga Poukura. Some of the highest walls are a couple of kilometers east at Cabo Koe Koe near Ahu Vaihu. Summer is the best season for surfing on the north coast, winter on the south (especially March to September).
Horseback riding here is fun and inexpensive. Anakena is too far to go by horse and return in a day anyway, so look upon riding more as a change of pace than as a way of getting around. The area north of Hanga Roa is ideal to explore by horse.
In late January or February is the carnival-like Tapati Rapa Nui festival, with traditional dancing, sporting events, canoe races, a horse race, fishing tournament, handicraft and agricultural exhibitions, statue-carving contest, shell-necklace-stringing competition, body-painting contest, kai-kai (string figure) performances, mock battles, feasts, and the election of Queen Tapati Rapa Nui. A unique triathlon at Rano Raraku involves male contestants in body paint who paddle tiny reed craft across the lake, pick up bunches of bananas on poles and run around the crater and up the hill, where they grab big bundles of nga'ata reeds to carry down and around the lake before a final swim across. There's also haka pei, which involves young men sliding down a grassy mountainside on banana-trunk sleds at great speed. Colored lights are strung up along the main street. Needless to say, all flights immediately before and after the festival are fully booked far in advance.
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