The history of Easter Island and its inhabitants has been shrouded in mystery since its discovery. How did they come to live on the island? Why did they build hundreds of stone statues? The statues have become an iconic part of the island's history and the primary focus of scientists and historians alike. They are still trying to answer the question of why and, more intriguingly, how they erected the stone statues (called Moai). There are many popular theories about how they moved the Moai into position, but I personally subscribe to the theory that they probably used a newly discovered method called "walking". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Before we get to the theories and mysteries, let's talk about the island and the history of its inhabitants. The island is located about 2,300 miles off the western coast of Chile, or about 2,500 miles east of Tahiti. The island measures 14 x 7 miles wide and was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions. It covers approximately sixty-four square miles of land and is said to be able to be covered on foot in a single day. Although the predominantly hilly and wooded terrain could make the undertaking rather difficult. The climate is temperate, sunny and dry (Staff, History.com N.page). The island was first discovered by a Dutchman named Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 (Krulwich, Robert N.page). He called the island Paaseiland or, in English, Easter Island, for the day he arrived (Staff, History.com N.page). But enough about the island, what about its inhabitants? According to island legend, about 1,500 years ago, between 400 and 800 AD, a Polynesian chief, named Hotu Matua, or the Great Parent, sailed thousands of miles to Easter Island. He came with his wife and extended family, perhaps from the Marquesas Islands. Or even from Eastern Polynesia, but no one really knows (although early European explorers noted that their cultures were similar to those of the surrounding islands, even though they were thousands of kilometers apart). They landed at Anakena, the name given to one of the few sandy beaches on the island's rocky coast. They called the island “Te pito o te henua” or "the end of the earth", (Rapa Nui is the more modern Polynesian name for the island, as well as the local name) (Clark, Liesl A N.page). The settlers were farmers, and there is evidence of deforestation, probably to make room for agricultural land to support their population (Krulwich, Robert N.page). While there is debate about this, it is the most likely reason, as there were few other food sources other than farming and they could not have had any serious food shortages and still managed to build the huge statues. In fact, when Roggeveen arrived on the island, he noticed that they were not at all interested in food; instead they were interested in their hats. It should also be noted that the skeletons from the island show less malnutrition than the average person living in Europe at the time (page N). Excavations of the island reveal that there were three distinct cultural phases. There was the first period; 700 AD to 850 AD, the middle period; From 1050 AD to 1680 AD and from the end of 1680 AD to the present. Evidence shows that in the period between the Early Period and the Middle Period the Moai for which the island is known were repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. During the Middle Period, the bases of statues, called ahus, were used as burial chambers. During the Late Period, there is evidence of civil wars and large amounts of general destruction. Many Moai were toppled and many spearheads, called Mataa, were found dating back to the same time period. Island tradition states that one of the groupsof the island, the short-eared ones, rebelled against the long-eared ones and burned many alive in an ancient moat on the northeastern coast of the island. Some estimates say the population reached over 9,000 in 1550 but, in 1770, when the Spanish viceroy of Peru sent an expedition to Easter Island, they found only about 3,000 people living on the island. Four years later, when the British navigator James Cook and his crew landed on the island, they found the population decimated by another civil war. Only about 600 men and fewer than 30 women remained. Subsequently, when the French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, Count of La Pérouse, visited the island in 1786, the population had recovered slightly, bringing it back to around 2,000 inhabitants. Then, with a major slave raid from Peru in 1862, followed by a smallpox epidemic, it reduced the population to just 111 people in 1877 (Staff, History.com N.page). Not long after the smallpox epidemic, Christian missionaries arrived and began converting. the population to Christianity. A task they completed by the end of the 19th century. Soon after the conversion of the island's population to Christianity, the island was annexed by Chile and most of the territory was leased for sheep grazing. In 1965 the Chilean government appointed a civilian governor. Soon after, the island's residents became full Chilean citizens (Staff, History.com N.page). Now the island is a popular tourist destination, the main attraction of which is the hundreds of Moai scattered around the island. Since the island has no natural harbor, tourist and supply ships dock at Hanga Roa. It is the largest village on the island and has a population of approximately 3,300 people. And Spanish is the primary language spoken (Staff, History.com N.page). But enough about the basic story and what we know for sure. What about the “main tourist attraction,” the very thing the island is famous for among its first inhabitants? Let's talk about the statues themselves and the mysteries surrounding them. Moai are gigantic stone statues created by the inhabitants of Easter Island. They are male human heads, on torsos, sculpted from hardened volcanic ash. There are 887 of them scattered around the island. 288 are in their "final" positions, 397 are still in the quarry where they were carved, and 92 are "in transit" to their final positions. The finished statues were placed on large stone plinths, approximately 4 feet high. These are called 'ahus', which means “ceremonial place”. Most are positioned in their "ceremonial" sites along the coast, with a concentration of Moai on the south-eastern coast of the island. They stand with their backs to the sea. These Moai have a more standardized design and are believed to have been created in the central period of the island, between 1400 and 1600 AD. On average Moai are 13 feet tall and weigh 14 tons. The largest Moai ever found, called “El Gigante,” is 71.93 feet tall and weighs approximately 165 tons, while the smallest is only 3.76 feet tall and weighs approximately 82 tons (Clark, Liesl B Page No.) . No one really knows why they built these statues. But there are many theories as to why, and some speculation as to how they managed to not only build them and move them into place, but also how they had enough food to survive on such a small island, much less build so many enormous statues. Archaeologists have been perplexed by the statues since 1722, when the first Europeans landed on the island. Unfortunately the language of the islanders, called Rongorongo, has not been deciphered, and their oral history is scant (Jarus, Owen N.page). The most popular theory among archaeologists as to why they built the Moai is that they represent the spirits of their ancestors; leaders or other important male figuresof the history of the island. Jo Anne Van Tilburg is one of the archaeologists who believe in this theory. She believes that these are not individual "portraits", but more standardized representations of powerful individuals (Clark, Liesl B N.page). There is also the possibility that they used the statues to fertilize the soil. It is generally accepted that they were farmers and obviously had more than enough food not only to survive but also to build the Moai. But it is also known that the island's soil is not so fertile, and there is already evidence of the locals' use of "lithic gardens", which are created Themes of diaspora, belonging and religion in " Persepolis"