Modern Easter Island People . Rapa Nui Easter Island And It S People

For decades mystery has swirled around what happened to the founding population of the remote easter island.

Easter island history timeline. 1877 census shows only 110 people descended from the original colonists left hamilton comendador tyler smith 1860s abduction and enslavement of people by peruvian traders tromp moreno mayar 1860s jesuit missionaries arrive stevenson 1722 dutch captain jakob roggeveen lands on easter island bringing diseases with him. It is famous for its giant stone statues. Much of polynesia including the original settlers of hawaii tahiti rapa iti and easter island was settled by marquesans believed to have departed from the marquesas as a result more frequently of overpopulation and drought related food shortages than because of the nearly constant warfare that eventually became a prominent feature of the islands culture.

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. The rapa nui are the aboriginal polynesian inhabitants of easter island in the pacific ocean. At the 2017 census there were 7750 island inhabitantsalmost all living in.

Many locals living on easter island have livelihoods that involve the waterwhich makes sense. They speak both the traditional rapa nui language and the primary language of chile spanish. The island stands in isolation 1200 miles 1900 kilometres east of pitcairn island and 2200 miles west of chile.

Early visitors estimated a population of just 1500 3000 which seemed at odds with the nearly nine hundred giant statues dotted around the island. A long held theory suggests they destroyed their own society through infighting and a. It is the easternmost outpost of the polynesian island world.

Easter island easter island people. Today the people living on easter island are largely descendants of the ancient rapa nui about 60 and run the bulk of the tourism and conservation efforts on the island. The original rapa nui vocabulary has been lost except for some mixed polynesian and non polynesian words recorded before the tahitian dialect was introduced to the decimated population by missionaries in 1864.

How did this small community construct transport and erect these large rock figures. Easter island spanish isla de pascua also called rapa nui chilean dependency in the eastern pacific ocean.