Easter Island is remote. Really remote. You might think that Cleethorpes is a long way away but that is just peanuts compared to Easter Island. From Robinson Crusoe Island, it took us four days sailing to get here. Six days in total from the Chilean mainland. You could fly, from Santiago, 3,500 km, in 5 hours. The island has a population of 5,000 and a surprisingly big runway. It is roughly triangular, 25 km long and half as wide. The closest inhabited neighbour is Pitcairn Island (pop 50), 1,931 km to the west.
Rapa Nui, as the island is also known, is famous for its monolithic human statues called Moai. Polynesians, from islands further west, arrived here in 1,200 AD and created an industrious and successful settlement. They carved enormous Moai, cleared the land, grew crops and kept chickens. When the first Europeans arrived, in 1722, the population was around 2,500 but the ecology was under serious stress. Most of the trees had gone. Soil erosion was becoming a problem. Many endemic species of flora had been made extinct. The Polynesian Rat was firmly established and causing widespread damage. Cannibalism was a widespread practice.
As is usually the story, the arrival of Europeans did not help the locals very much. Diseases, slave raiding expeditions and emigration to other islands such as Tahiti severely depleted the population. Whaling expeditions introduced tuberculosis. Slaving was made illegal and a handful of islanders were repatriated. Unfortunately, they brought smallpox with them. By 1877 the entire population was just over 100. By this time, many of the statues has been toppled although it is not entirely clear why. Clan warfare may have been part of the reason, as might a tsunami.
In 1888 the islands were annexed by Chile and things started to improve. A little. In 1903 the island was bought by the English sheep-farming company Williamson Balfor. The locals were no longer able to farm for food and were forced to work on the ranches in order to buy food. In 1953 the company’s contract was cancelled and administration of the island handed over to the Chilean Navy. In 1966 the island was properly re-opened, and the Rapanui were given Chilean citizenship. At the same time, the airport was built and the Americans came. Between 1965 and 1970, the United States Air Force (USAF) settled on Easter Island, radically changing the way of life of the Rapanui. They became acquainted with the customs of the consumer societies of the developed world and then began to embrace tourism.
We dropped anchor in the bay off Hanga Roa, the main town. Technically it was a few days after Easter but I liked to think that we were visiting Easter Island at Easter. Zodiacs ferried us ashore and then we were herded, sheep like, into small busses. First stop was a replica village where I nearly fell asleep. The high light was a stone chicken house. Next stop was the quarry where the Moai were carved. This was a bit more interesting and chance to stretch my legs. Approximately 1,000 Moai were made and they were all carved from the volcanic Tuff in this quarry. Tuff is essentially compressed ash. It is quite soft, for a rock. Easy to carve but not exceptionally durable. Most of the Moai look a bit past their best these days. Walking around the quarry it is possible to spot Moai in most stages of construction. So far, I have not found a good explanation as to why the Rapanui stopped carving the statues. What I like to imagine is that, after several hundreds of years of banging out statues, they finally realised it was not working. Nothing happened. There was no divine protection. The mana did not flow. They simply did not function. It was just an awful lot of arduous work. The stone masons discussed this for a while then downed their tools and went off to find a religion that worked a bit better.
We went to see some Moai that had been restored and erected on the coast. Most Moai look inland. They are supposed to be keeping an eye on things. They do look quite nice. I prefer the ones without eyes – gives them a sense of being a bit haughty. There is considerable discussion about how they were moved. Some of the statues weight in at over 50 tons. One idea is that they were rocked while upright while being pulled at the same time. This makes them walk forward. It is an interesting idea but would leave great scope for accidentally pulling one over. We got dropped off in town where we found a nice café for empanadas, chips and some wine.
Next day, we were off in the minibuses again. This time we went to a place where the birdman competition was held. First job was to say hello to our guides grandmother. She was selling souvenirs off a little table just outside the ticket office.
The guide explained about the birdmen. Turns out my stone mason hypothesis was not too far off the mark. As the island became overpopulated and resources diminished, warriors known as Matatoa gained more power and the Ancestor Cult ended, making way for the Bird Man Cult. The concept of mana (power) invested in hereditary leaders was recast into the person of the birdman, apparently beginning circa 1540, and coinciding with the final vestiges of the moai period. This cult maintained that, although the ancestors still provided for their descendants, the medium through which the living could contact the dead was no longer statues but human beings chosen through a competition. The competition began, where we were standing, on top of a substantial cliff. Candidates needed to climb down the cliff, swim to island, collect a particular type of bird’s egg, swim back and reclimb the cliff. First one back got to be the new chief with all the pleasures, honours and responsibilities that were included.
Looking inland from the birdman cliff is a deep circular caldera. The volcanoes here are long since extinct. The caldera is now just a big lake. Nonetheless, it is still an interesting and impressive feature. We wandered around a couple of viewpoints and then went off to look at some more Moai on the coast. From there it was back into town. This time we found pizza and beer. A stroll back to the harbour, a short zodiac trip and we were done with Easter Island. Next stop Pitcairn. But not for a few days because Easter Island is really remote.
