Easter Island La Isla Pascua Location Size Land Form Early History (500 AD-1050) First Settlers No written records Polynesians Named island Rapa Nui Numbers grew Survival Brought animals Plants Homes System of cooperation Middle History ( ) Cooperation Turns to Competition 900-1,000 Moai carved and transported cooperation Clans build larger and larger ones Many early statues destroyed Ahu became burial place of deified Description of Moai Not just heads Why they were built How they were carved Carving How they were transported Ahu After 1680 Chaos and Destruction Deforestation Hunger Caves Birdman Competition Prized BirdSooty Tern Europeans arrive 1722 Jacob Roggeveen arrives-names island Easter Island Primitive conditions Population--~3,000 Perpetual warfare Next years other Europeans arrive 1770 Spanish claimed the islandso remote, under populated, lacking resources that no formal occupation took place Major slave raid from Peru Epidemicspopulation decimated to Catholic missionaries come to convert islanderspopulation slowly increased 1888 Chile annexed land Easter Island Today Facts of Recent Years 1965 Governor appointed 1995 designated World Heritage Site Spanish spoken Tourism major economic source 2012 Census 5,800 residents 80% Rapa Nui Moais Deteriorating Land Lessons Learned Consequences of irreversibly damaging environment Deforestation abandon houseslive in caves canoes no longer built, fishing nets no longer available Soil erosion, crop yields decline Impossible to support large population Cultural and Social Impact No longer able to erect statuesbelief systems and social organization questioned No protein available resulted in desperate means to survive Inability to recognize and face the problem Forgotten history Comparisons Easter Island Small speck Clans were unified Used up natural resources Strongest ruled No means of escape Didnt face problem Collapse--not with a bang but with a whimper World Today Small speck in universe Globalization, trade, and communication unify Rising population confronts shrinking resources Businessmen, politicians interests rule No means of escape Headed for collapse?