Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Rapa Nui ('Easter Island'), is physically isolated by the sheer distance between it and any other human community. It is "the most remote habitable scrap of land in the world"₅. It was settled by Polynesians between 300-1200CE, depending on what you mean by 'settled' - some arrivals had no permanence. Its isolated society developed a complex culture known for carving, transporting and planting hundreds of moai statues as part of their religion of ancestor worship. But in doing so, they caused major environmental damage, including complete deforestation by around 1700, resulting in the inability to trade, build canoes to fish, to make homes, decent fires or make many tools; it also caused soil erosion and led to loss of crops and food production_6,7,8. The colony of 10,000 people mostly starved₉, down to 2,000-3,000 people₈.

European contact began in 1722 with the arrival of Dutch explorer Jakob Roggeveen, but in 1862, Peruvian slavers abducted 1500 people and brought smallpox, which also killed many₁₀. By 1872, there were only 111 people left on Easter₁₀. In 1888 the island was annexed by Chile, marking its transition into the modern era.

1. Religion
2. Deforestation
3. 19th Century Peruvian Enslavement
4. Tourists
5. Links

1. Religion

#ancestor_worship #deforestation #religion

Easter Island's natives engaged in a form of ancestor worship that is common in its general beliefs, but unique in its manifestation on this island. Ancestors were represented by great now-famous stone heads, which were placed around the island. The construction of these heads, and the quarries, and then the moving of these heads, resulted in over-exploitation of local resources. Despite the obvious damage that was being done, their religious beliefs, once established, simply could not be changed in order to prevent local climate change.₁₁

“Oral traditions preserved by the islanders, and archaeological surveys, suggest that Easter's land was divided into about a dozen (either 11 or 12) territories, each belonging to one clan or lineage [head with] its own chief and its own major ceremonial platforms supporting statues.”

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond (2005)₁₂

“Archaeologists now believe that the collapse of Rapa Nui came about primarily through the overexploitation of forests, as a result of the demands arising from the construction and transportation of the monumental stone sculptures the island is now famous for.”

"Environmental Changes: Global Challenges"
Brandon, Clark and Widdowson (2009)₈

2. Deforestation

#deforestation #easter_island

After humans settled, the giant palm trees, and other tree species that are now extinct there, were burned for firewood, to cremate bodies (at high enough temperatures to turn bone to ash); they were cleared for gardens because all ordinary land was being used for crops and big trees like Alphitonia and Elaeocarpus were used to make canoes for fishing and harpooning. Once rats were accidentally introduced, fresh tree growths were stunted by gnawing. Radiocarbon dating tells us that by 1500, there were no fresh palm nuts being produced₆. "Samples from ovens and garbage pits show wood charcoal being replaced by herb and grass fuels after 1640, even at elite houses that might have claimed the last precious trees after none was left for the peasants"₆. By 1722, Roggeveen arrived and saw no trees over 3m tall, causing increased susceptibility to storms.

“[Without tree cover] drought and introduced Polynesian rats may have also played a part [in its collapse], but so too did the end of contact with other islands inhabited by Polynesian people. The loss of timber spelled the end of the construction of large, ocean-going boats.”

"Environmental Changes: Global Challenges"
Brandon, Clark and Widdowson (2009)₈

No Food: Without trees, they lost resources and materials and most of their wild food sources. Deforestation led to soil erosion₇ by rain and wind and loss of soil nutrients, as evidenced by swamp sediment cores that let us examine river flow backwards in time₆. It destroyed the ability of large areas to produce crops. They could no longer make seaworthy harpooning canoes nor sturdy fishing boats, and the numbers of fishhooks and fishbones in dishes declined, mostly replaced by fish that could be caught in shallow water. They ate porpoises, but they almost completely disappeared from dishes by 1500 due to over-exploitation. Land birds and seabirds became unavailable.₆. The result was fighting over resources, starvation, and cannibalism_6,8.

Several thousand died_8,9. From 1400-1600 to the 1700s, the number of houses declined by 70%₆. Human bones, cracked open for marrow, became a feature on dishes and in garbage heaps₆. When Captain Cook visited in 1774, he described them as "small, lean, timid, and miserable"₆.

3. 19th Century Peruvian Enslavement

#colonialism #history #peru #slavery

Their sad state of affairs, caused by their own lack of understand of the environment and the requirement for long-term sustainability, was then made much worse by colonial powers. European contact began in 1722 with the arrival of Dutch explorer Jakob Roggeveen, who accidentally brought diseases for which the islanders had no defence.

“When five of Easter's little two-man leaky canoes paddled out to trade with a French ship anchored off Easter in 1838, its captain reported, "All the natives repeated often and excitedly the word miru and became impatient because they saw that we did not understand it: this word is the name of the timber used by Polynesians to make their canoes. This is what they wanted most, and they used every means to make us understand this...".”

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond (2005)₁₃

Word of the defenceless state of the island spread, and in 1862-63, slavers from Peru arrived and abducted half of the entire remaining population, carrying off 1500 people to Peru's guano mines (and elsewhere). Most died, but international pressure led to Peru returning a dozen survivors to the island; however, they brought smallpox with them, which killed many of those who had remained on the island. By 1872, there were only 111 people left on Easter.₁₀

4. Tourists

#chile

The history of Easter Island, and its remoteness, combine to make the island a popular modern tourist destination. But the island is ill-equipped for it, and this consistutes the latest threat to the sustainability of the island. As of 2009, some 70,000 threats per year, to be precise₁₄. In other words, 14 times as many people are visiting the island, as live there₁₄.

That's a lot of people, for an island that can't naturally support anywhere near that, and has no sewerage system. Rubbish, erosion, pollution and thousands of miles of long-haul fuel consumption per batch of tourists, are adding up to an ugly mess. The worse thing is that most don't care about the island; they want a quick experience, some trinkets, photos, and sun and beach which they could easily get in Chile or in much closer (and more manageable) island paradises.₁₄