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The Easter Island is, in my opinion, the strangest and most captivating place in the world. Hundreds of statues made of stone are the witnesses of a lost civilization. The Eastern Island is definitely the most interesting place to reflect on time and human kind, on one of the most isolated island on Earth.
Rapa Nui
Rapa Nui (Eastern Island in Maori language) is located in the South Pacific Ocean, 2 300 miles away from the Chilean coast. It was named very simply because the first Europeans to arrive there arrived at Easter, in 1722. It was the house of an ancient civilization which left gigantic stone sculptures called MOAI (moʊ.aɪ). There are more than 600 Moai on the island, and some of them are more than 30 feet tall. No one really know where these first inhabitants were coming from, how they lived, how often they were in contact with our civilization, or the reason why they rose these gigantic statues. No one also knows how they brought these heavy stones to their actual sites and organized them. This island is a real open-air museum.
The capital city of the island is Hanga-Roa. Near there is the Maunga Terevaka (Mount Terevaka), which is the highest volcano of the island (1676 feet). It is also the 12th most isolated mont in the world in terms of topography. It is surrounded by other mounts such as the Maunga Pui, the Maunga O Tu’u and the Vaka Kipo.
To dive into this culture and to try to understand it is something very important for me. This civilization was ahead of its time; however, they managed to deplete completely the island resources to build more and more taller statues. This appetite led to auto destruction. At the end, there was just one species of tree left and 1000 inhabitants. Without trees, no canoes cold be built and without canoes, fishing was impossible. The soil became also less and less fertile and the population began to starve. With nearly all resources being consumed, the people engaged in deadly wars, and even destroyed their beloved statues. This is a good reflection of what could happen to all of us if we keep on living like there was no tomorrow. This civilization did finally stabilize itself and created the myth of the Bird-Man to maintain itself. This could be a message of hope for us!!
