Easter Island: Mysterious Rapa Nui. The name of Easter Island. Where is Easter Island located: coordinates

This question is of interest to many. This place is exotic and shrouded in a whole heap of legends and beliefs. However, getting there will be very difficult.

Where is Easter Island located: coordinates

A small piece of land, annexed by Chile at the beginning of the twentieth century, is located 3600 km from the South American continent. The nearest island group is 2075 km to the east. It is not difficult to guess that of all the inhabited places on Earth, Easter Island is one of the most remote. The area of ​​this unique monument of Rapani culture is 163.6 km2. It is a small size and a very distant location from mainland caused questions about where the Easter Islands are located. By the way, this combination is absolutely incorrect, since there is only one island in that region, and it is hardly correct to consider small patches of rocky shoals as islands. It is all the more surprising that such a lost one far in the waters sheltered on his small lands the amazing nation of Rapa Nui, which, presumably, erected amazing stone sculptures.

Historical reference

Of course, it is not enough to know where Easter Island is located. Its history is no less interesting than the location.

The island arose as standard for numerous archipelagos and atolls of the planet's largest ocean: thanks to a volcanic eruption. Constant eruptions and violent winds have made the coast difficult for ships to moor: there are only two places where you can set foot on the coast from the liner without first breaking into the rocks.

The first colonists reached this lost piece of land 1300 years ago. They spotted large palm groves, which were immediately put to use for the construction of dwellings and boats. Later, a small civilization had a hard time: the constant attacks of Peruvian pirates decreased every year. In addition, Catholic preachers destroyed the artifacts of the people from Easter Island, which caused irreparable damage to the unique culture of Rapa Nui. Currently, the remains of ancient structures are under the protection of UNESCO.

Moai stone statues

How Rapa Nui created the famous stone statues is still not known. They are blocks, the weight of which is up to 14 tons, and the height can reach 4 meters. It is curious that idols can be found everywhere: in places where Easter Island meets the ocean, or in the depths, near mountains and volcanoes. In other words, the cult of Moai was of great importance for the population of the era of the construction of stone idols. Presumably, they were built in order to mark the death of a tribesman: more statue, the more honor to the deceased. However, the question arises: "How did the stone blocks move from one point of the island to another?"

The answer to it will most likely be impossible to find. However, the unfinished prototypes of future statues found suggest that the idols were first hollowed out of stone, and then transported on logs or cables from one part of the island to another.

How to get there?

It would seem that knowing where Easter Island is located, it would not be a problem to reach its shores. Unfortunately, it is not. You can try your luck and board one of the liners that set off from the shores of Australia or South America, heading to conquer the expanses of Oceania, especially since the first inhabitants reached the island on dilapidated boats. However, the most adequate option is to fly by plane.

But not everything is so simple with a flying unit: you can fly to a coveted place only from Chile and Tahiti. For the inhabitants of Russia, even Australia is very far away, but this is only a transit point on the way. All in all, flight to the shores famous island will take several days, and will also eat a fair portion of finance. It is also worth remembering that there is only one city on the island, so visiting the UNESCO monuments is the only joy available to tourists.

When to visit?

Despite the remoteness of the place where Easter Island is located, this is a fairly popular tourist region, which has its own periods of influx and decline in the activity of visitors. Given the fact that this piece of land is located near the equator, it is impossible to meet snowdrifts here at any time of the year. However, the high season starts in summer: from January to March. This is followed by a decrease in the tourist flow, although the temperature conditions are still not very severe: about 17 degrees in the coldest months. Thus, if you want to enjoy the beauty of Easter Island without the noisy crowds, it is better to come between April and November.

Easter Island is a unique place. Here you can admire the volcano, visible even from space, unique stone statues. In addition, the population of the island can tell travelers a lot, as local legends have been passed down from generation to generation. So now we know where the Easter Islands are, and what they, or rather he, are.

Photographer Gerhard Bachmayer

Easter Island is an island in the South Pacific Ocean, a territory of Chile. The local name of the island is Rapa Nui (rap. Rapa Nui). Area - 163.6 km². Coordinates - 27°07′ S sh. 109°21′ W / 27.116667°S sh. 109.35°W d. (G) -27.116667, -109.35.

Easter Island. Rapa Nui National Park

Easter Island, along with the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, is the most remote inhabited island in the world. The distance to the continental coast of Chile is 3703 km, to Pitcairn Island, the nearest inhabited place, is 1819 km. The island was discovered by the Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday 1722.

The capital of the island and its only city is Hanga Roa. In total, 3.7 thousand live on the island (2005).

Rapa Nui is largely known for its moai, or stone statues made from compressed volcanic ash, which are believed to local residents, contains the supernatural power of the ancestors of the first king of Easter Island - Hotu-Matu'a. In 1888, annexed by Chile. In 1995, the Rapa Nui National Park became the object of world heritage UNESCO.

The island has the shape of a right triangle, the hypotenuse of which is the southeast coast. The sides of this "triangle" have lengths of 16, 18 and 24 km. At the corners of the island rise extinct volcanoes: Rano Kao (rap. Rano Kao) (324 m) near the settlement of Mataveri; Pua Katiki (rap. Puakatike) (377 m) and Terevaka (rap. Terevaka) (539 m - highest point islands).

The highest crater of the Terevaka volcano is called Rano Aroi (rap. Rano Aroi) (about 200 m). Actually "Rano-Aroi" is the name of the lake that fills the extinct crater.

Another Terevaka crater - Rano Raraku (rap. Rano Raraku) (160 m) is also a lake with a large reserve fresh water surrounded by reed beds. The diameter of this crater is about 650 m.

The diameter of the Rano Kao crater is about 1500 m, the depth is 800 m. The volcano has a symmetrical shape and is surrounded hilly terrain. The southern slope breaks off at.

Vegetation is more abundant on the inner slopes of volcanoes. This is due to more fertile soil, lack of strong wind and the "greenhouse effect".

Easter Island volcanic origin. The soil was formed as a result of erosion of the slopes of volcanoes. The most fertile soil is located in the north of the island, where locals grow yam, or sweet potatoes, and yams. The most common rocks on the island are basalt, obsidian, rhyolite, and trachyte. Sheer cliffs in La Perouse Bay (locally called Hanga Hoonu) are made up of red lava

The climate of Easter Island is warm, subtropical. The average annual temperature is 21.8 °C, the most cold month- August (19.2 ° C), the warmest - January (24.6 ° C). The island lies near the southern border of the zone of southeasterly winds blowing in summer. In winter, the northwest prevails, but there are also southwest and southeast winds. Despite the proximity to the tropics, the climate on the island is relatively temperate. Heat is rare. This is due to the proximity of the cold Humboldt Current and the absence of any land between the island and Antarctica. Winds from the Antarctic in July-August often reduce the daytime air temperature to 20° Celsius.

The main source of fresh water on the island is lakes formed in the craters of local volcanoes. There are no rivers on Rapa Nui, and rainwater easily seeps through the soil, resulting in groundwater flowing towards the ocean. Since there is not much water on the island, local residents in the past built wells and small reservoirs everywhere.

Moai - stone statues on the coast of Easter Island in the form of a human head up to 20 meters high. Contrary to popular belief, they "look" not towards the ocean, but into the depths of the island. Some moai have "caps" made of red stone. Moai were made in quarries in the center of the island. How they were delivered to the coast is unknown. According to legend, they "walked" themselves. IN Lately volunteer enthusiasts have found several ways to transport stone blocks. But what exactly the ancient inhabitants used (or some of their own) has not yet been determined. Many unfinished idols are in the quarries. A detailed study of the island gives the impression of a sudden cessation of work on the statues.

Rano Raraku is one of the most interesting places for tourists. At the foot of this volcano there are about 300 moai, of various heights and at different stages of readiness. Not far from the bay is ahu Tongariki, the largest ritual site with 15 statues of various sizes installed on it.

On the shore of Anakena Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches islands with crystal white coral sand. Swimming is allowed in the bay. Picnics are organized for tourists in palm groves. Also, not far from the Anakena Bay, there are ahu Ature-Khuki and ahu Naunau. According to ancient Rapanui legend, it was in this bay that Hotu-Matu'a, the first king of Rapa Nui, landed with the first settlers of the island.

Te-Pito-te-henua (rap. Navel of the Earth) - a ceremonial platform on the island of round stones. Quite a controversial place on Rapa Nui. Anthropologist Christian Walter claims that Te Pito-te-henua was established in the 1960s to attract gullible tourists to the island.

There is an observation deck on Rano Khao volcano. Nearby is the Orongo ceremonial site.

Puna Pau is a small volcano near Rano Khao. In the distant past, a red stone was mined here, from which “headdresses” were made for local moai.

The flora of the island is very poor: experts count no more than 30 species of plants growing on Rapa Nui. Most of them were brought from other islands of Oceania, America, Europe. Many plants that were previously widespread on Rapa Nui have been exterminated. Between the 9th and 17th centuries, there was an active felling of trees, which led to the disappearance of forests on the island (probably before that, palm trees of the Paschalococos disperta species grew on it). Another reason was the eating of tree seeds by rats. Due to unsustainable human activities and other factors, the resulting accelerated soil erosion caused enormous damage to agriculture, resulting in a significant reduction in the population of Rapa Nui.

One of the extinct plants is Sophora toromiro, whose local name is toromiro (rap. toromiro). This plant on the island in the past played an important role in the culture of the Rapanui people: it was used to make "talking tablets" with local pictograms.

The trunk of a toromiro, with a diameter of a human thigh and thinner, was often used in the construction of houses; spears were also made from it. In the 19th-20th centuries, this tree was exterminated (one of the reasons was that the young growth was destroyed by sheep brought to the island).

Another plant on the island is the mulberry tree, whose local name is mahute (rap. mahute). In the past, this plant also played a significant role in the life of the islanders: white clothes, called mahute, were made from silkworm cocoons, which were worn by women (similar to the Polynesian tapa). After the appearance of the first Europeans on the island - whalers and missionaries - the importance of mahute in the life of the Rapanui people decreased.

The roots of the ti plant (rap. ti), or Dracaena terminalis, were used to make sugar. Also, this plant was used to make a powder of dark blue and green, which was then applied to the body as tattoos.

Makoi (rap. makoi) (Thespesia populnea) was used for carving.

One of the surviving plants of the island, which grows on the slopes of the Rano Kao and Rano Raraku craters, is Scirpus californicus, used in the construction of houses.

In recent decades, a small growth of eucalyptus has begun to appear on the island. In the XVIII-XIX centuries, grapes, banana, melon, sugar cane were brought to the island.

Before the Europeans arrived on the island, the fauna of Easter Island was mainly represented by marine animals: seals, turtles, crabs. Until the 19th century, chickens were bred on the island. The species of local fauna that previously inhabited Rapa Nui have become extinct. For example, the species of rat Rattus exulans, which in the past was used by the locals for food. Instead, rats of the species Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus were brought to the island by European ships, which became carriers of various diseases previously unknown to the Rapanui.

Now 25 species of sea birds nest on the island and 6 species of land birds live.

Easter Island(Spanish Isla de Pascua) - an island of volcanic origin, belonging, lying in the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and the island of Tahiti (fr. Tahiti). Together with a small uninhabited about. Sala y Gomez (Spanish Isla Sala y Gómez) forms the commune and province of Isla de Pascua (Spanish Provincia de Isla de Pascua) within the region (Spanish Region de Valparaíso). Local name, given to the island Polynesian whalers: Rapa Nui(Rapa Nui).

The only city of Hanga Roa (Spanish: Hanga Roa) is the capital of the island.

About 6 thousand people live on the island, about 40% of them are Polynesians or Rapanui, indigenous people, the rest are mostly Chileans. Rapanui people speak the Rapanui language, believers profess Catholicism. On the territory of the island with an area of ​​​​about 165 km² there are 70 extinct volcanoes. They have not erupted even once in 1300 years from the date of its colonization. The island has the shape of a right-angled triangle with sides of 24.18 and 16 km., At the corners of which rise the cones of extinct volcanoes: Rano Kao (rap. Rano Kao; 324 m), Pua Katiki (rap. Puakatike; 377 m) and Terevaka ( rap Terevaka; 539 m - the highest point of the island). Between them lies a hilly plain formed by volcanic tuffs and basalts. Many underwater caves and a bizarre, steep coastline are formed by lava tubes and influxes.

There are no rivers on Rapa Nui, the main sources of fresh water here are lakes that arose in the craters of volcanoes.

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The climate is subtropical, with an average monthly temperature of +18°С to +23°С. Mostly herbs grow here, as well as a few eucalyptus and banana plants.

Along with the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, Rapa Nui is considered the most remote inhabited island in the world: the distance to the continental Chilean coast is almost 3514 km, and to the nearest inhabited place, the Pitcairn Islands (Eng. Pitcairn Islands belonging to the UK) - 2075 km.

Basically, Rapa Nui became famous for its - stone giants in which, according to beliefs local population, the mystical power of the ancestors of Hotu Mato'a (Hotu Mato-a), the first king of the island, is enclosed.

Easter Island is undoubtedly the most Mysterious Island on the globe. With its curiosities and inexplicable mysteries, it attracts the attention of historians, geologists and culturologists like a magnet.

Story

In 1722, a squadron of 3 ships under the command of the Dutch traveler, Admiral Jacob Roggeveen (Dutch. Jacob Roggeveen; 1659-1729), on his way from South America in search of the wealth of the Unknown Southern Land (lat.Terra Australis Incognita), On Sunday, April 7, the day of Christian Easter, she discovered a small island in the South Pacific Ocean. At the council, gathered by the admiral, the captains of the ships signed a resolution proclaiming the opening of a new island. Surprised travelers discovered that on Easter Island (as sailors immediately dubbed it) three different races coexist peacefully: redskins, blacks and whites. Local residents greeted the travelers differently: some waved their hands in a friendly manner, and some threw stones at uninvited guests.

The Polynesians, the inhabitants of Oceania, call the island "Rapa Nui" (rap. Rapa Nui - Big Rapa), however, the islanders themselves call their homeland "Te Pito-o-te-Khenua" (rap. Te-Pito-o -te-henua, which means " the center of the world»).

Formed by a series of large volcanic eruptions, the secluded island has served as a habitat for seabird colonies for millions of years. And its steep, steep banks marked the navigation path for the ships of the Polynesian navigators.

Legends say that about 1200 years ago on the sandy beach of Anakena (rap. Anakena) King Hotu Mato-a descended and set about colonizing the island. Then, for many centuries, a mysterious society existed on this island lost in the ocean. For unknown reasons, the islanders were engaged in carving giant statues known as "moai". These idols are today considered one of the most inexplicable ancient artifacts on Earth. The islanders built villages from houses of an unusual, elliptical shape. Presumably, the newly arrived settlers adapted their boats for temporary housing by turning them upside down. Then houses began to be built in a similar way, most of the hundreds of such buildings were destroyed by missionaries.

By the time the island was discovered, its population was 3-4 thousand people. The first settlers found lush vegetation on the island. Giant palm trees (up to 25 m high) grew here in abundance, which were cut down for the construction of dwellings and boats. People brought various plants here, which perfectly took root in the soil enriched with volcanic ash. By 1500, the population of the island already amounted to 7 - 9 thousand people.

As the population grew, separate clans formed, concentrated in different parts of Easter Island, connected by the common construction of statues and the cult that arose around them.

In 1862, Peruvian slave traders took out most inhabitants of the island, destroyed their original culture. In 1888, Rapa Nui was annexed to Chile. Today, the islanders are engaged in fishing, farming - growing sugar cane, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, and also work on cattle farms and make souvenirs for tourists.

Sights and mysteries of Rapa Nui

Despite its small size, Easter Island has many attractions, both natural and man-made. In 1995 National Rapa Nui park(Spanish: el Parque Nacional de Rapa Nui National) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Register.

The entire territory of the island is an archaeological reserve, a single amazing open-air museum.

Easter Island has 2 sandy beach: located in the northern part of the island, Anakena beach (Spanish: Playa Anakena), one of the few beaches where swimming is officially allowed, perfect place for surfers. The second beautiful deserted beach, located along the southern coast of the island, is a real gem called Ovahe (Spanish: Playa Ovahe). Ovahe is surrounded by picturesque cliffs, it is much larger than Anaken.

The main attraction of the island and an unresolved mystery that has haunted the minds of scientists for centuries, of course, are the Moai sculptures. Huge ancient statues rise almost everywhere along the southern part of the island.

It is not known why the islanders began to massively create gigantic statues. Their incomprehensible obsession subsequently led to a catastrophic depletion of forest resources. The forest needed to transport the giant moai was mercilessly cut down. The first monolithic human-height sculptures were made from basalt. Then the islanders began to make huge statues(more than 10 m high, weighing up to 20 tons) from soft volcanic tuff (compressed volcanic ash), an ideal material for sculpture. Located a little inland of the island, the Rano Raraku crater (Spanish: Rano Raraku; a small extinct volcano up to 150 m high) is the place where the famous giants are carved. Hundreds of islanders worked on their creation from morning to evening. Today, here you can see all the stages of painstaking work, unfinished figures are scattered right there. Probably, the production of statues by skillful sculptors took place with the observance of numerous ceremonies and rituals. If a defect occurred during the manufacture of the statue, which was considered a sign of the devil, the carvers abandoned their work and took on another.

When the statue was carved and the bridge connecting it to the rock of the crater was cut off, the figure rolled down the slope. At the base of the crater, the statues were placed in a vertical position, and their final refinement was carried out here. How then were the massive moai transported to various places on the island? Statues weighed up to 82 tons at a height of up to 10 m. Sometimes they were moved and installed at distances of over 20 km!

As the Easter legends say, moai … went to their places on their own. Some researchers believed that they were dragged. Later they came to the conclusion that the figures moved in an upright position. What it really looked like remains another unsolved mystery of the civilization of Easter Island.

In 1868, the British tried to take one of the statues home. However, they abandoned this idea, limiting themselves to a small bust (2.5 m high). It was installed in London's British Museum. Hundreds of natives and the entire crew of the ship took part in the process of transporting and loading the "baby".

At the location of the statue, they were installed on ahu (rap. Ahu) - polished stone platforms of various sizes, slightly inclined towards the sea. Then the final stage of the creation of cult figures took place - the installation of eyes made of volcanic glass or corals. The heads of many stone idols were decorated with "hats" (rap. Pukao) from rock reddish color.

Moai pedestals have a height of more than 3 m, a length of up to 150 m, and the weight of their stone slabs is up to 10 tons. About 200 unfinished figures were found near the crater of the volcano, among which there are giants over 20 meters in length.

Over time, the number of moai reached 1000, which made it possible to build an almost continuous line of monuments along the coast of Rapa Nui. The reason why residents tiny island spent time and energy on the creation of numerous giants, and today remains a mystery.

It is believed that the statues of Easter Island were images of noble representatives of the clans. The typical design of the statue - without legs, with an angular grim face, a protruding chin, tight lips and a low forehead - remains one of Easter Island's greatest mysteries. All statues (except seven moai, located in the middle of the island) stand on the coast and "look" at the sky towards the island. Some experts consider them to be the guardians of the dead, who protected the deceased from natural elements with their powerful backs. Mysterious giants, silently lined up on the coast, turning their backs to the Pacific Ocean - like a powerful army guarding the peace of their possessions.

Despite some primitive moai, the statues are fascinating. The giants look especially impressive in the evening, in the rays of the setting sun, when only huge, chilling silhouettes loom against the sky ...

So, Rapa Nui civilization reached its peak, then something terrible happened.

An ominous story was revealed about the merciless use of natural resources and the ruin of the island. Europeans who first set foot on Easter Island were amazed at how people could survive in such a deserted place. It ceased to be a mystery when recent research showed that in ancient times the island was covered with dense forest, there was an abundant tropical paradise here.

Apparently, the resources of the island seemed inexhaustible, trees were cut down for the construction of dwellings and canoes, and giant palm trees were used to transport moai.

The destruction of the forest has led to soil erosion and depletion. Meager harvests, lack of food led to armed conflicts between the island clans, moai - symbols of power and success were overthrown. The fight intensified over time, according to legend, the winners ate their enemies to gain strength. In the southwestern part of Rapa Nui there is a cave "Ana Kai Tangata", the name of which is ambiguous: it can mean "a cave where people eat", or it can mean "a cave where people ate". The culture of Rapa Nui, which had been formed over the past 300 years, collapsed.

Due to the lack of a forest, the islanders found themselves cut off from the outside world even more than before. Even fishing was difficult for them. Easter Island turned into a devastated desolate piece of land with depleted soils, with about 750 inhabitants surviving. Under these conditions, the cult of the bird-man was born here. Over time, it acquired the status of the dominant religion on the island, which was practiced until 1866-1867.

Due to the lack of material for the construction of canoes and the possibility of sailing away from the island, the Rapanui people watched with envy the birds soaring in the sky.

On the edge of the Rano-Kao crater, the ritual village of Orongo (rap. Orongo) was founded, where the god of fertility Makemake (rap. MakeMake) was worshiped and peculiar competitions were held between men of different clans.

In the spring, each clan selected the most physically fit warriors who needed to descend from the steep slopes to the shark-infested sea, swim to one of the islets and bring back an unharmed egg of a sea bird, a dark mallard (lat. Onychoprion fuscatus). The warrior who managed to deliver the egg first was proclaimed the Bird-Man (the earthly incarnation of the deity Makemake). He was awarded an award and special privileges, and his tribe received the right to rule the island for a year, until the next competition.

Also unique to Orongo are the hundreds of centuries-old petroglyphs carved into the hard basalt rock by the Birdmen. There is an opinion that the petroglyphs depict the winners of the annual competitions. About 480 such petroglyphs have been found around Orongo.

The culture of the Rapanui began to revive, perhaps the inhabitants of the island would again be able to flourish, but in December 1862 ships of Peruvian slave traders moored to the island and took away all the able-bodied inhabitants of the island. At that time, the economy was booming and needed labor. Due to poor nutrition, unbearable working conditions and disease, no more than a hundred islanders survived. And only thanks to the intervention of France, the surviving residents of Rapa Nui were returned to the island. At the time of the annexation of the island to Chile in 1888, about 200 indigenous people lived here.

Missionaries who arrived on the island discovered a declining society here, and it did not take long for its inhabitants to convert to Christianity. Changes were immediately made to the clothing of the indigenous population, or rather, its complete absence. The inhabitants of the island were deprived of their original lands, they lived in a small part of the island, while the arrived farmers used the rest of the land for agriculture.

Tattoos were banned, houses and ritual shrines were destroyed, works of art of the Rapanui were destroyed. All wooden sculptures of the island, religious artifacts, and, most importantly, "" (rap. Rongo Rongo) were destroyed - wooden planks of the "talking tree", dotted with unique writing. Easter Island is the only island in Polynesia, whose inhabitants developed their own writing system. Ancient legends, legends, religious chants were carved with a shark's tooth on planks of dark toromiro wood, only a few of which have survived to this day. Kohau tablets with images of a winged bird-man, frogs, turtles, lizards, stars, crosses and spirals inscribed on them are another mystery of the outlandish island that scientists have not been able to decipher for more than 130 years. Now only 25 left rongo-rongo scattered throughout the museums of the world.

In 1988, Rapa Nui gave scientists another surprise. During excavations in a small swamp in the depths of the island, Australian scientists found the remains of a medieval knight in full gear, sitting on a war horse. In peat, which has preservative properties, the knight and horse are well preserved. Judging by his armor, the knight was a member of the German Catholic Livonian Order (1237-1562). In a belt purse, gold Hungarian ducats minted in 1326 were found; these coins were in circulation in Poland and Lithuania. Scientists could not explain how the rider ended up thousands of kilometers away in a remote pacific island. Before the discovery of America (1492), more than 150 years remained from 1326! Thoughts about the existence of the phenomenon of teleportation involuntarily arise. No more, more or less convincing arguments explaining the appearance of a medieval crusader knight on Easter Island have been found to this day.

A little sad digression

The phenomenal Easter Island, which is a small piece of land (only 165 m²), at the time of the construction of the mysterious giants, was 3-4 times larger than before. Some part of it, like Atlantis, disappeared under water. Into the quiet sunny weather areas of flooded land are visible through the water column. There is even such an incredible version: the mysterious Easter Island is a tiny surviving part of the progenitor of mankind, the mythical mainland of Lemuria, which sank about 4 million years ago.

And the pearl island, located in Oceania far from civilization, suggests certain thoughts and conclusions. The history of Easter Island is a miniature copy of the history of our time. She is able to teach an object lesson to us, the inhabitants of planet Earth. All of us, in essence, are the inhabitants of the island, floating in the endless ocean.

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Easter Island is the most remote inhabited piece of land in the world. Its area is only 165.6 square kilometers. Belongs to the island of Chile. But to the nearest mainland city of this country, Valparaiso, 3703 kilometers. And there are no other islands nearby, in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. The nearest inhabited land is located at 1819 kilometers. This is Pitcairn Island. It is known for the fact that the rebellious crew of the Bounty ship wished to stay on it. Lost in the vastness of Easter keeps many secrets. First, it is not clear where the first people came from. They could not explain anything to the Europeans about this. But the most mysterious riddles Easter Islands are its stone idols. They are installed along the entire coastline. The natives called them moai, but they could not clearly explain who they were. In this article, we have tried to summarize the results of all recent scientific discoveries in order to unravel the mysteries that have enveloped the most remote land area from civilization.

History of Easter Island

On April 5, 1722, the sailors of a squadron of three ships under the command Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeven saw land on the horizon that had not yet been marked on the map. When they approached the east coast of the island, they saw that it was inhabited. Natives sailed to them, and their ethnic composition hit the Dutch. Among them were Caucasians, Negroids and representatives of the Polynesian race. The Dutch were immediately struck by the primitive technical equipment of the islanders. Their boats were riveted from bits of wood and so let the water through that half of the people in the canoe bailed it out, while the rest rowed. The landscape of the island was more than bleak. Not a single tree towered on it - only rare bushes. Roggeven wrote in his diary: "The desolated appearance of the island and the exhaustion of the natives suggest the barrenness of the land and extreme poverty." But most of all, the captain was shocked by the stone idols. How, with such a primitive civilization and scarce resources, did the natives have the strength to carve out of stone and deliver so many heavy statues to the shore? The captain had no answer to that question. Since the island was discovered on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, it received the name Easter. But the natives themselves called it Rapa Nui.

Where did the first inhabitants of Easter Island come from?

This is the first riddle. Now more than five thousand people live on the island with a length of 24 kilometers. But when the first Europeans landed on the shore, there were much fewer natives. And in 1774, the navigator Cook counted only seven hundred islanders on the island, emaciated from hunger. But at the same time, among the natives there were representatives of all three human races. Many theories have been put forward about the origin of the population of Rapa Nui: Egyptian, Mesoamerican and even completely mythical, that the islanders are survivors of the collapse of Atlantis. But modern DNA analysis shows that the first Rapanui landed around the year 400 and most likely came from East Polynesia. This is evidenced by their language, which is close to the dialects of the inhabitants of the Marquesas and Hawaiian Islands.

The rise and fall of civilization

The first thing that caught the eye of the discoverers were the stone idols of Easter Island. But the earliest sculpture dates back to 1250, and the latest (unfinished, left in the quarry) - to 1500. It is unclear how the civilization of the natives developed from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. Perhaps, at a certain stage, the islanders moved from a tribal society to clan military unions. Legends (very contradictory and fragmentary) tell of the leader Hotu Matu'a, who was the first to set foot on Rapa Nui and brought all the inhabitants with him. He had six sons who divided the island after his death. Thus, the clans began to have their ancestor, whose statue they tried to make larger, more massive and more representative than that of the neighboring tribe. But what caused the Rapa Nui people to stop carving and erecting their monuments in the early sixteenth century? This has only been discovered by modern research. And this story can be instructive for all mankind.

Ecological catastrophe on a small scale

Let's leave aside the idols of Easter Island for now. They were carved by the distant ancestors of those wild natives who were caught by the expeditions of Roggeven and Cook. But what influenced the decline of the once rich civilization? After all, the ancient Rapa Nuans even had a written language. By the way, the texts of the found tablets have not yet been deciphered. Scientists have only recently given an answer to what happened to this civilization. Her death was not quick due to a volcanic eruption, as Cook assumed. She agonized for centuries. Modern studies of the soil layers have shown that the island was once covered with lush vegetation. The forests abounded with game. The ancient Rapa Nui were engaged in agriculture, growing yams, taro, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and bananas. They went out to sea in good boats made from the hollowed out trunk of a palm tree and hunted dolphins. The fact that the ancient islanders ate well is indicated by DNA analysis of food found on pottery shards. And this idyll was destroyed by the people themselves. Forests were gradually cut down. The islanders were left without their fleet, and consequently, without the meat of ocean fish and dolphins. They have already eaten all the animals and birds. The only food of the Rapa Nui people was crabs and shellfish, which they collected in shallow water.

Easter Island: moai statues

The natives could not really say anything about how they were made and, most importantly, how stone idols weighing several tons were brought to the shore. They called them "moai" and believed that they contained "mana" - the spirit of the ancestors of a certain clan. The more idols, the stronger the concentration of supernatural power. And this leads to the prosperity of the clan. So when the French removed one of Easter Island's moai statues in 1875 to take it to a Paris museum, the Rapa Nui had to be held back with guns. But, as studies have shown, about 55% of all idols were not transported to special platforms - "ahu", but remained standing (many in the primary processing stage) in a quarry on the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano.

Art style

In total, there are more than 900 sculptures on the island. They are classified by scholars chronologically and by style. The early period is characterized stone heads without a torso, with a face turned upwards, as well as pillars, where the torso is made in a very stylized way. But there are exceptions. So, a very realistic figure of a kneeling moai was found. But she remained standing in the ancient quarry. In the Middle Age, the idols of Easter Island became giants. Most likely, the clans competed with each other, trying to show that their mana is more powerful. Artistic decoration in the Middle period is more sophisticated. The bodies of the idols are covered with carvings depicting clothes and wings, and huge cylindrical hats of red tuff are often hoisted on the head of the moai.

Transportation

No less a mystery than the idols of Easter Island remained the secret of their transfer to the "ahu" platforms. The natives claimed that the moai themselves came there. The truth turned out to be more prosaic. In the lowest (more ancient) soil layers, scientists have found the remains of an endemic tree that is related to the wine palm. It grew up to 26 meters, and its smooth trunks without branches reached a diameter of 1.8 m. The tree served as an excellent material for rolling sculptures from the quarries to the shore, where they were installed on platforms. To erect idols, ropes were used, which were woven from the bast of the hauha tree. The environmental catastrophe also explains the fact why more than half of the sculptures are “stuck” in quarries.

Short-eared and long-eared

Modern residents of Rapa Nui no longer have religious reverence for moai, but consider them their cultural heritage. In the mid-50s of the last century, the researcher uncovered the secret of who created the idols of Easter Island. He noticed that Rapa Nui is inhabited by two types of tribes. In one, the earlobes were lengthened from childhood by wearing heavy jewelry. The leader of this clan, Pedro Atana, told Thor Heirdal that in their family, the ancestors passed on to their descendants the art of creating the status of moai and transporting them by drag to the installation site. This craft was kept secret from the "short-eared" and was passed down orally. At the request of Heyerdahl, Athan, with numerous assistants from his clan, carved a 12-ton statue into a quarry and delivered it upright to the platform.

Easter Island(Spanish) Isla de Pascua, in Rapa Nui Rapa Nui) is the most remote inhabited island in the world, the distance to the nearest inhabited place is Pitcairn Islands- 1819 km and to the continental coast Chile- 3703 km.

Name of Easter Island

Easter Island named so by its discoverer - a Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen, since it was discovered on Easter Day in 1722. This island is also known as Rapa Nui, (big Rapa), as the island was called by Polynesian (Tahitian) sailors and whalers, as opposed to simply Brine- islands 650 km south of Tahiti.

Location of Easter Island

Easter Island is located in pacific ocean (27 ° 07 "S 109 ° 21" W), geographically it belongs to Polynesia, this is the easternmost point of the "Polynesian Triangle". The nearest continent, South America, is located more than 3,700 km to the east from Easter Island.

form Easter Island resembles a right triangle. Island of volcanic origin. Extinct volcanoes rise in the corners of the island: early kao(324 m), Pua Katiki(377 m) and Terevaka(539 m, the highest point of the island). The length from west to east is 24 km, from north to south - 12 km. The area of ​​the island is 163.6 km2.

Administratively Easter Island part of the Chilean region Valparaiso, headed by a governor accredited to the Chilean government and appointed by the president Chile.

Capital easter islands, the only permanent settlement, Hanga Roa located in the southwest of the island. There is an airport near the city Mataveri.

Airport Mataveri built in 1962 by specialists from the American NASA: V pacific ocean urgently needed a space launch tracking base and a reliable runway to rescue astronauts during emergency landings.

Climate of Easter Island

Climate easter islands subtropical. The average annual temperature is 21.8 °C, the coldest month is August (19.2 °C), the warmest is January (24.6 °C). Despite being close to the tropics, temperatures are comparatively mild. Heat is rare. This is due to the proximity of the cold Humboldt Current.

History of Easter Island

Easter Island known primarily for its numerous stone statues - moai, created ancient civilization islands.

About even the approximate date of settlement easter islands there are still heated debates in the scientific community. It is assumed that the first settlers appeared here from the 300-400s to the 1200s. n. e. According to local legends, the settlers arrived on the island on two huge pirogues with large families. The settlements were founded by the legendary leader and father of all Rapanui Hotu Matu'a.

Who the first Rapanui were and where they came from is also a moot point. Linguistically, the Rapanui language is confidently attributed to the Polynesian group, most researchers consider the Rapanui to come from Eastern Polynesia, ethnically close to the people Maori(New Zealand). It is also interesting that on Easter Island, the only one in the distribution area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Polynesian languages, there was a written language before the arrival of Europeans. There were at least three writing systems, the best known of which is rongo-rongo- hieroglyphic carving on wooden boards. None of the scripts has been deciphered to date, the last carrier of rongo-rongo was forcibly taken to Peru to slave labor in 1863.

Famous traveler and explorer Thor Heyerdahl defended the opposite, South American, Peruvian origin of the Rapanui and gave a lot of evidence of the origin of the inhabitants easter islands from South American Indians.

There is also a third, less popular theory about the origin of the Rapanui from the Melanesians, finding cultural parallels on Solomon Islands And New Guinea.

Recorded on Easter Island the legend of the war of two island tribes - long-eared (hanau-eepe) And short-eared (hanau-momoko) is considered by some researchers to be confirmation of the simultaneous presence of different races on the island, most often Peruvians and Polynesians.

The highest cultural flourishing civilization easter islands reached in the XVI-XVII centuries, when the population was supposedly about 10 thousand people.

As a result of an anthropogenic ecological catastrophe (all the forests on the island were cut down, the population was deprived of food sources and material for making boats) and a series of wars, the population had decreased to 2 thousand people by the time the first Europeans appeared on the island. Subsequently, almost all Rapanui were taken to Peru for slave labor. In 1888, when Easter Island annexed Chile only 178 local residents lived on the island. Currently on Easter Island 3.7 thousand people live, about 60% of which are indigenous Rapanui.

The ancient Rapanui were not only extremely warlike, they were engaged in cannibalism - they ate human meat. Fingers and toes were considered a delicacy.

Almost the only documented Rapa Nui rite was the competition to find the first egg, reflected in the popular adventure feature film. Kevin Costner "Rapa Nui": young warriors of different clans on a certain day went swimming on reed bundles to a nearby rocky islet Motu Nui, where they searched for the first egg of the season of the sooty tern. The whole egg must be delivered back to Easter Island and hand over to the leader. The rite was an element of the cult Tangata-manu(bird-man). The Rapanui are sometimes referred to as "bird worshipers". One of the most frequent themes in petroglyphs (rock carvings), after the male and female genital organs, were birds and, especially, the frigate bird, both in the direct image and in the image of a man with the head of a frigate.

Attractions Easter Island

Moai, ahu, pukao

The main attraction of the island - stone idols - moai(literally from Rapanui - images). As soon as they are not called: statues, and giants, and idols, and colossi. Representatives of our company during the study tour proposed a new term, vividly picked up by domestic tourists - " doldons".

Overwhelming majority " doldons"carved out of the rock of the volcano Rano Raraku. The largest (unfinished) statue measured about 20 m and weighed 270 tons. Moai "doldons" were delivered in a completely incomprehensible way to the coast, where they were installed with their backs to the ocean, facing inland. A total of 997 moai are recorded on the island ( see map about. Easter above).

It is known that moai were considered receptacles of a special magical power - mana ancestors of the Rapanui.

Outwardly, moai are strikingly different from each other, there are several types of statues. Various hypotheses explain the variety of styles either by a gradual change of "fashion" for pictorial means, or by the actual depiction of different island races with their external differences (of course, assuming that ethnically different peoples existed on the island).

Ways to transport giant statues are being discussed by numerous groups of enthusiasts around the world, mathematical calculations and experiments are being carried out, but local legend says that "the moai walked by themselves."

Almost all "doldons" have reached the new time in a fallen form. It is believed that the massive overthrow of the moai took place during inter-clan wars on the island. Currently, many statues are set back to their rightful places.

Moai were installed on a pedestal ( ahu), and sometimes supplemented with a cap ( pukao) from red tufa. It is considered proven that at least some "doldons" had eyes made of white coral. Some of the idols have now reconstructed eyes.

On the slopes Rano Raraku currently there are many unfinished statues at various stages of production. There is a complete impression of the sudden cessation of moai production.

Rano Raraku

Rano Raraku - ancient volcano, on the slopes of which there are about 300 moai, of various heights and at different stages of readiness. Not far from the bay is ahu tongariki, the largest ritual site with 15 statues of various sizes installed on it.

Anakena

Anakena- a bay with a beach of coral sand. According to legend, it was here that the leader and forefather of the Rapanui people landed. Hotu Matu'a. Nearby are ahu Ature-Hooks And Naunau.

puna pau

puna pau- a small volcano where red tuff was mined for the manufacture of pukao hats crowning moai heads.

early kao

early kao- a volcano with the best observation deck of the island. Nearby is ahu Orongo.