This question interests 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: coordinates
A small piece of land, annexed by Chile at the beginning of the twentieth century, is located 3,600 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. Area of this unique monument Rapani culture is 163.6 km2. It is the small size and very distant location from the mainland that determine the 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 counting small patches of rocky shallows as islands is hardly correct. It is all the more surprising that such a thing, lost far in the waters, sheltered in its small lands the amazing nation of Rapa Nui, which supposedly erected amazing stone sculptures.
Historical reference
Of course, it’s not enough to know where Easter Island is. Its history is no less interesting than its location.
The island arose as is standard for numerous archipelagos and atolls of the largest ocean on the planet: thanks to a volcanic eruption. Constant eruptions and violent winds have made the shores difficult to access for ships to moor: there are only two places where you can set foot on the coast from a liner without first crashing on the rocks.
The first colonists reached this lost piece of land 1,300 years ago. They noticed large palm groves, which were immediately used to build houses and boats. Later, the 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 the Rapa Nui created the famous stone sculptures is still not known. They are blocks that weigh up to 14 tons and can reach 4 meters in height. 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 Moai cult was of great importance for the population of the era of the construction of stone idols. Presumably, they were built to mark the death of a fellow tribesman: the larger the statue, the more honor the deceased received. However, the question arises: “How did the stone blocks move from one point on the island to another?”
It will most likely be impossible to find the answer to this. However, the unfinished prototypes of future statues found suggest that the idols were first hollowed out of rock, 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, reaching its shores would not be a problem. Unfortunately, it is not. You can try your luck and board one of the liners that set sail from the shores of Australia or South America, heading to conquer the vastness 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 the coveted place only from Chile and Tahiti. For residents of Russia, even Australia is very far away, but this is only a transit point on the way. In total, the flight to the shores of the famous island will take several days, and will also eat up a fair amount of finances. 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, it is a fairly popular tourist region, which has its own periods of influx and decline in the activity of visitors. Considering the fact that this piece of land is located near the equator, it is impossible to encounter snowdrifts here at any time of the year. However, the high season begins in the summer: from January to March. This is followed by a decrease in tourist flow, although 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, and unique stone sculptures. In addition, the island's population 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.
It is the most remote inhabited island in the world. The distance to the continental coast of Chile is 3,703 km, to Pitcairn Island, the nearest populated area, 1,819 km. The island was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday 1722.
The island's capital and only city is Hanga Roa. In total, 5034 people live on the island ().
Rapa Nui is largely famous for its moai, or stone statues made from compressed volcanic ash, which, according to locals, contain the supernatural power of the ancestors of the first king of Easter Island, Hotu Matu'a. In 1888, annexed by Chile. In 1995 national park"Rapa Nui" became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Island names
Easter Island has many names:
- Hititeairagi(rap. Hititeairagi), or Hiti-ai-rangi(rap. Hiti-ai-rangi);
- Tekaowhangoaru(rap. Tekaouhangoaru);
- Mata-ki-te-Ragi(rap. Mata-ki-te-Ragi - translated from Rapanui “eyes looking at the sky”);
- Te-Pito-o-te-henua(rap. Te-Pito-o-te-henua - “navel of the earth”);
- Rapa Nui(Rap. Rapa Nui - "Great Rapa"), a name mainly used by whalers;
- San Carlos Island(English) San Carlos Island), named so by Gonzalez Don Felipe in honor of the King of Spain;
- Teapi(rap. Teapi) - this is what James Cook called the island;
- Vaihu(rap. Vaihu), or Waihou (rap. Vaihou), there is a variant Vaigu , - this name was also used by James Cook, and later by Forster and La Perouse (a bay in the northeast of the island was named in his honor);
- Easter Island(English) Easter Island), so named by the Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen because he discovered it on Easter Day 1722.
Very often, Easter Island is called Rapa Nui (translated as “Big Rapa”), although it is not of Rapanui, but of Polynesian origin. The island received this name thanks to Tahitian navigators, who used it to distinguish between Easter Island and the island of Rapa Iti (translated as “Little Rapa”), which lies 650 km south of Tahiti, and has topological similarities with it. The very name "Rapa Nui" has caused a lot of controversy among linguists about the correct spelling of this word. Among English-speaking specialists, the word “Rapa Nui” (2 words) is used to name the island, the word “Rapanui” (1 word) when talking about the people or local culture.
Geography
Easter Island - unique territory in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, which is one of the most remote inhabited islands from land in the world. It is located 3703 km from the coast of the nearest mainland in the east (South America) and is 1819 km away from the nearest inhabited islands in the west (Pitcairn Island). Island coordinates: -27.116667 , -109.35 27°07′ S w. 109°21′W d. / 27.116667° S w. 109.35° W d.(G) (O). The area of the island is 163.6 km². The closest uninhabited land is the Sala y Gomez archipelago, apart from a few rocks near the island.
The trunk of the 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 and 20th centuries, this tree was exterminated (one of the reasons was that the young shoots were destroyed by sheep brought to the island).
Fauna
Before the arrival of Europeans 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. Species of the local fauna that previously inhabited Rapa Nui have become extinct. For example, a type of rat Rattus exulans, which was used as food by local residents in the past. Instead, rats of the species were brought to the island by European ships Rattus norvegicus And Rattus rattus, who became carriers of various diseases previously unknown to the Rapanui people.
Currently, the island is home to 25 species of seabirds and 6 species of land birds.
Population
It is estimated that during the cultural heyday on Easter Island in the 16th and 17th centuries, the population of Rapa Nui ranged from 10 to 15 thousand people. Due to an environmental disaster that erupted as a result of the anthropogenic factor, as well as clashes between residents, the population had dropped to 2-3 thousand people by the time the first Europeans arrived. The number of 3,000 inhabitants was also indicated by James Cook when visiting the island. By 1877, as a result of the export of local residents to Peru for hard labor, epidemics, and extensive sheep farming, the population decreased further and amounted to 111 people. By 1888, the year of the annexation of the island of Chile, 178 people lived on the island.
Administration
There are about two dozen police officers on the island, mainly responsible for security at the local airport.
The Chilean armed forces (mainly the Navy) are also present. The current currency on the island is the Chilean peso (US dollars are also in circulation on the island). Easter Island is a duty-free zone, so tax revenues to the island's budget are relatively small. It largely consists of government subsidies.
Infrastructure
Other infrastructure facilities (church, post office, bank, pharmacy, small shops, one supermarket, cafes and restaurants) mainly appeared in the 1960s. The island has a satellite phone, Internet and even a small disco for local residents. To call Easter Island, you need to dial the Chilean code +56, the Easter Island code +32 and, since August 5, 2006, the number 2. After this, you dial a local number consisting of 6 digits (with the first three being 100 or 551 - these are the only valid prefixes on the island).
Tourism
Anakena - the most famous beach of the island
Attractions
Profile of a defeated idol against the background of the crater of the Rano Roratka volcano
How they were delivered to the coast is unknown. According to legend, they “walked” themselves. Recently, 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. The Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl in his book “Aku-Aku” gives a description of one of these methods, which was tested in action by local residents. According to the book, information about this method was obtained from one of the few remaining direct descendants of the Moai builders. Thus, one of the Moai, overturned from the pedestal, was put back by using logs slipped under the statue as levers, by swinging which it was possible to achieve small movements of the statue along the vertical axis. The movements were recorded by placing stones of various sizes under the top of the statue and alternating them. The actual transportation of the statues could be carried out using wooden sleds. A local resident presents this method as the most likely, but he himself believes that the statues still reached their places on their own.
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- one of the most interesting places for tourists. At the foot of this volcano there are about 300 moai, of varying heights and at different stages of completion. Not far from the bay there is an ahu Tongariki, the largest ritual site with 15 statues of various sizes installed on it.
- On the shore of the bay Anakena one of the 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 Anakena Bay there are ahu Ature-Huki and ahoo Naunau. According to ancient Rapa Nui 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 Whenua(rap. navel of the Earth) - a ceremonial site on an island made of round stones. Quite a controversial place on Rapa Nui. Anthropologist Christian Walter claims that Te Pito te whenua was installed in the 1960s to attract gullible tourists to the island.
- On the volcano Rano Kao There is an observation deck. There is a ceremonial site nearby Orongo.
- Puna Paw- a small volcano near Rano Kao. In the distant past, red stone was mined here, from which “headdresses” were made for the local moai.
Story
Settlement and early history of the island
Before the arrival of Europeans, two different peoples lived on the island - the “long-eared” people, who dominated and had a unique culture, writing, and built moai, and the “short-eared”, who occupied a subordinate position. During the uprising of the short-eared people, which supposedly took place in the 16th century, all the long-eared people were exterminated and their culture was lost. Subsequently, it turned out to be extremely difficult to restore information about the former culture of Easter Island; only fragmentary information remained.
Activities of the ancient Rapanui people
Easter Island is currently a treeless island with infertile volcanic soil. However, by the time of Polynesian settlement in the 9th and 10th centuries, the island was covered in dense forest cover, according to palynological studies of soil cores.
In the past, as now, the slopes of volcanoes were used for gardening and growing bananas.
According to Rapa Nui legends, hau plants ( Triumfeta semitriloba), marikuru ( Sapindus saponaria), makoi ( Thespesia populnea) and sandalwood were brought by King Hotu Matu'a, who sailed to the island from the mysterious homeland of Mara'e Renga (eng. Mara"e Renga). This could really happen, since the Polynesians, settling new lands, brought with them the seeds of plants that had important practical significance. The ancient Rapanui people were very well versed in agriculture, plants, and the peculiarities of their cultivation. Therefore, the island could easily feed several thousand people.
The settlers cut down the forest both for economic needs (shipbuilding, housing construction, transportation of moai, etc.) and to free up space for planting agricultural crops. As a result of intensive deforestation, which continued for centuries, the forest was completely destroyed by about 1600. The consequence of this was wind erosion of the soil, which destroyed the fertile layer, a sharp reduction in fish catch due to the lack of forest for boat building, a drop in food production, mass starvation, cannibalism and population decline several times over several decades.
One of the island's problems has always been the shortage of fresh water. There are no deep rivers on Rapa Nui, and water after rains easily seeps through the soil and flows towards the ocean. The Rapanui people built small wells, mixed fresh water with salt water, and sometimes just drank salt water.
In addition to the tribes and clan communities that formed the basis of the social organization of Rapa Nui society, there were larger associations that were political in nature. Ten tribes, or mat (rap. mata) were divided into two warring alliances. The tribes of the west and north-west of the island were usually called people Tu'u is the name of a volcanic peak near Hanga Roa. They were also called Mata Nui. The tribes of the eastern part of the island are called “people of Hotu-iti” in historical legends.
Ahu Te Pito Kura - the center of the world in the folklore of the Easter Islanders
The ancient Rapanui people were extremely warlike. As soon as hostility began between the tribes, their warriors painted their bodies black and prepared their weapons for battle at night. After the victory, a feast was held at which the victorious warriors ate the meat of the vanquished. The cannibals themselves on the island were called kai-tangata (rap. kai tangata). Cannibalism existed on the island until the Christianization of all its inhabitants.
Europeans on the island
"Rurik" at anchorage near Easter Island
The active conversion of the Rapanui people to Christianity began, although the leaders of the local tribes resisted for a long time. On August 14, 1868, Eugene Ayraud died of tuberculosis. The missionary mission lasted about 5 years and had a positive impact on the inhabitants of the island: the missionaries taught writing (although they already had their own hieroglyphic writing), literacy, fought against theft, murder, polygamy, contributed to the development of agriculture, growing crops previously unknown on the island.
In 1868, an agent of the Brander trading house Dutroux-Bornier settled on the island with the permission of the missionaries ( Dutroux-Bornier), who took up sheep breeding on Rapa Nui. The heyday of its economic activity dates back to the period after the death of the last legitimate ruler, the son of the paramount chief Maurat, twelve-year-old Gregorio, who died in 1866.
Meanwhile, Rapa Nui's population declined significantly, reaching 111 in 1877.
Cult of “bird-men” (XVI/XVII-XIX centuries)
Motu Nui Island, seen from Orongo
One of the attractions of the village of Orongo are numerous petroglyphs with images of “bird-men” and the god Make-make (there are about 480 of them).
Rongo-rongo
Fragment of a tablet with the text rongo-rongo
Easter Island - the only island in the Pacific Ocean, which developed its own writing system - rongo-rongo. The writing of texts was carried out using pictograms; the writing method was boustrophedon. Pictograms are one centimeter in size and are represented by various graphic symbols, images of people, body parts, animals, astronomical symbols, houses, boats and so on.
The Rongorongo writing has not yet been deciphered, despite the fact that many linguists have studied this problem. In 1995, linguist Stephen Fisher announced the decipherment of the Rongorongo texts, but his interpretation is disputed by other scholars.
The first to report the existence of tablets with ancient inscriptions on Easter Island was the French missionary Eugene Eyraud in 1864.
Currently, there are many scientific hypotheses regarding the origin and meaning of Rapa Nui writing. M. Hornbostel, V. Hevesy, R. Heine-Geldern it was believed that the Easter Island letter came from India via China, and then from Easter Island the letter traveled to Mexico and Panama. R. Campbell claimed that this writing came from Far East via New Zealand. Imbelloni and later T. Heyerdahl tried to prove the South American Indian origin of both the Rapa Nui writing and the entire culture. Many experts on Easter Island, including Fischer himself, believe that all 25 tablets with the Rongorongo writing were born after the natives became familiar with European writing during the Spanish landing on the island in 1770.
Easter Island and the Lost Continent
Easter Island on the world map
This “Davis Land,” which much later became identified with Easter Island, reinforced the conviction of cosmographers of that time that in this region there existed a continent that was, as it were, a counterweight to Asia and Europe. This led to brave sailors searching for the lost continent. However, it was never found: instead, hundreds of islands in the Pacific Ocean were discovered.
With the discovery of Easter Island, it became widely believed that this is the continent eluding man, on which it existed for thousands of years. highly developed civilization, which later disappeared into the depths of the ocean, and only high mountain peaks remained from the continent (in fact, these are extinct volcanoes). The existence of huge statues, moai, and unusual Rapa Nui tablets on the island only reinforced this opinion.
However, modern study of the adjacent waters has shown that this is unlikely.
Easter Island is located 500 km from a range of seamounts known as the East Pacific Rise, on the Nazca plate. The island sits on top of a huge mountain formed from volcanic lava. The last volcanic eruption on the island occurred 3 million years ago. Although some scientists suggest that it occurred 4.5-5 million years ago.
According to local legends, in the distant past the island was large sizes. It is quite possible that this was the case during the Pleistocene Ice Age, when the level of the World Ocean was 100 meters lower. According to geological studies, Easter Island was never part of a sunken continent.
Notes
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Rapa Nui National Park. . Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- Easter Island Foundation. Frequently Asked Questions. What's the difference between "Rapa Nui" and "Rapanui"? . (inaccessible link - story) Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- About Easter Island. Location. . (inaccessible link - story) Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- Easter Island Statue Project. About Easter Island. (inaccessible link - story) Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 3rd edition. Article "Easter Island".
- When compiling this table, data from the site http://islandheritage.org/vg/vg06.html was used
- Easter Island Statue Project. About Easter Island. Flora. . (inaccessible link - story) Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- Easter Island Statue Project. About Easter Island. Fauna. . (inaccessible link - story) Retrieved April 13, 2007.
- Ethnologue.com.
It has the shape of a right triangle, at the corners of which there are inactive volcanoes, which are one of the main natural attractions. The total area of Easter Island is 163.6 km².
Why does Easter Island have this name?
Even without looking at the map, you can guess that the island has a name that is atypical for South America. In fact, throughout its history it had several names: the natives gave it two names at once: “Navel of the Earth” and “Eyes Looking into the Sky”, the Indians - “Rapa Nui”, and James Cook - Waihu. The first to explore Easter Island was the Dutchman Jacobson Roggeveen. He landed on the island in 1722. This happened on Easter Sunday, which gave the name to the “find”. Since then official name became “Easter Island”, and locals still consider it Rapa Nui, so you can often hear this name from Chileans.
Who lives on Easter Island?
The small island is home to only 6 thousand people. Scientists claim that there were once about 15,000 inhabitants here. When Roggeveen discovered the island, more than 10,000 thousand lived on it. The population decline was influenced by hostility between settlements, which led to wars, as well as cannibalism. But the biggest tragedy, which claimed thousands of lives, occurred when Europeans visited Easter Island. Their barbarity once and for all destroyed the civilization that had existed here for centuries. They took most of the population into slavery in Peru, many of whom died of disease. In the end, only 3,000 people remained. But life under European control became unbearable, and the population of Easter Island decreased to 178 people. This is how many natives were on the island when it joined Chile in 1888.
The indigenous inhabitants of Easter Island are considered to be the Rapanui people, or as they are now called the Easter people. Today, only 48% of them remain on the island, some of whom are mestizos with Chileans from the mainland. The remaining 52% are Spaniards.
Climate and weather
The climate on the island is tropical, with an average annual temperature of 21.8 °C. August is the coldest month of the year, and the warmest is January. Tourists should be pleased with the fact that heat is rare here, but there are often winds. It is also interesting that lakes in volcanic craters serve as a source of fresh water. One may wonder why the Chileans of Rapa Nui do not use rainwater? The answer lies in the soil, which has a very soft and loose structure, so water does not linger on the surface, but immediately seeps into the ground. Because of this, you will rarely see puddles on the island, which cannot but please lovers of hiking.
Flora and fauna
The flora and fauna of the island is very sparse; there are only 30 species of plants and almost as many animals on Rapa Nui. The island was once covered with dense forests, but droughts, rodents and the greed of people have left only small green areas of the rich fauna. Today, Easter Island is “rich” with 48 plant species. Swedish scientist Carl Scottsberg found 46 plant species on the island in 1956, but only two were added to them in half a century. Interestingly, there is no island in the world with more sparse flora than Rapa Nui.
As for animals, things are no better with them. Due to Easter Island's isolation from the continent, there is very little fauna here. Of the vertebrate animals, there are only two species of lizards and the European rat; it is believed that they came to the island completely by accident. The people themselves brought the Polynesian rat to the island, but the “indigenous” European rat supplanted it. Realizing that with such a limited fauna it was extremely difficult for people to survive on the island, in 1866 cattle were brought to Rapa Nui - sheep, pigs and horses, which helped in the development of agriculture.
The only insects on Easter Island are worms, snails and a couple of species of spiders. Europeans brought crickets, scorpions and cockroaches, which find life quite difficult here, so their population periodically decreases to a critical minimum.
Attractions
Easter Island has amazing and mysterious attractions in its arsenal. Tourists can begin to admire them already through the airplane window, since the main attraction, the stone sculptures, is visible before landing. Moreover, from the sky it is much easier to assess the scale of work of the natives who made the statues. The indigenous population who lived here 6-9 centuries ago believed that they had supernatural powers, so they were placed throughout the island. Scientists who have studied are confident that people have developed their skills in creating them over several centuries, since the technology is impeccable.
As the plane descends, you can see the unusual landscape of Easter Island, which is covered with many volcanic craters, similar to the surface of the Moon. Such a spectacle cannot leave you indifferent.
An attraction that can be seen even from space is the Rano Kau crater. It is located in the lower left corner of the triangular island. Once on the ground, it is worth visiting the crater, as it is an interesting sight. The crater is filled with water, on the surface of which marine plants float, open areas of water reflect the blue sky. One gets the impression that this is a model of the Earth.
Around Rapa Nui there are several coastal islands that look very picturesque. The most famous among them are Motu Nui and Motu Iti.
Interestingly, the island has preserved many buildings from the time of the Rapanui people, which are unique in their kind. The Easter dwellings were made of soft stone, but they have been well preserved to this day. The work on their restoration was successful and today tourists can see the original dwellings of the natives. It is also interesting to look at the temple Ahu Vinapu with stone sculptures.
One of the most mysterious places- This Ahu Akahang a, stone column with four statues. According to legend, this is the tomb of the very first king of the island, Hoto Matua. Therefore, residents of the island often come here, especially the descendants of the Rapanui people. Tourists will probably also understand the significance of the historical figure, since the designated picnic area Anakena Beach is the place where he took his first steps on the island of Hoto Matua.
 |
 |
Tourism on Easter Island
Rich in attractions, Easter Island offers its tourists several types of recreation for every taste. The most popular is sea travel on cruise ships and yachts. The Pacific Ocean is the perfect place to be alone with the water element and admire its power. Also, such walks provide an opportunity to explore the island from the outside while swimming around it. Another way to appreciate the beauty of Rapa Nui is a five-hour plane ride, which allows you to see many of the island's attractions from a low altitude.
Diving enthusiasts will have great fun diving from cliffs or yachts into the ocean depths. Experienced divers will help you have as much fun as possible.
Secrets of Easter Island
Rapa Nui is woven from secrets, and modern scientists believe that the civilization that existed here was several heads higher than its contemporaries. The first thing that attracted the attention of researchers on Easter Island was the caves. They played the role of quarries, and nearby there were workshops where stone sculptures were created using a unique technology. Even though they are made of soft stone, their shape has been preserved for centuries, and this is a real mystery. After all, scientists have still not been able to restore the technology of creation.
Another interesting and mysterious fact about Easter Island is that ancient maps of Rapa Nui show other territories. They are also accompanied by legends that the earth is slowly sinking under water. These maps indicate that Pacific Ocean there were many other islands and even the mainland, where other highly developed peoples and civilizations lived. Having studied the documents found, scientists were able to assume that the Easter Order still exists and keeps secrets that were known only to the Rapanui.
Where is Easter Island?
Easter Island is not difficult to find on the world map; it is located in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, 3515 km from the coast. Rapa Nui and the nearest inhabited island, Pitcairn, are separated by 2,075 km. Therefore, the easiest way to get to it is to use the services of airlines. Easter Island has one that accepts flights from Santiago and Valparaiso.
Easter Island(Spanish) Isla de Pascua, in Rapanui language Rapa Nui) - 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, because it was discovered on Easter Day in 1722. This island is also known as Rapa Nui, (big rapa), this is how the island was called by Polynesian (Tahitian) sailors and whalers, in contrast 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, it is the easternmost point of the “Polynesian Triangle”. The closest continent, South America, is located more than 3,700 km to the east from Easter Island. 
Shape Easter Island resembles a right triangle. The island is of volcanic origin. Inactive volcanoes rise in the corners of the island: Rano 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 There was an urgent need for a tracking base for space launches and a reliable runway for rescuing astronauts during emergency landings.
Easter Island Climate
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 its proximity to the tropics, temperatures are relatively moderate. Heat is rare. This is due to the proximity of 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 check-in 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 in two huge pirogues with large families. The settlements were founded by the legendary leader and father of all Rapanui people Hotu Matu'a.
Who the first Rapanui people were and where they came from also remains a controversial issue. Linguistically, the Rapanui language is confidently attributed to the Polynesian group; most researchers consider the Rapanui people to have 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 area of distribution of the Polynesian languages, there was writing before the arrival of Europeans. There were at least three writing systems, the most famous of which is rongo-rongo- hieroglyphic carvings on wooden tablets. None of the writings has been deciphered to date; the last bearer of Rongorongo was forcibly taken to Peru for slave labor in 1863 
Famous traveler and explorer Thor Heyerdahl defended the opposite, South American, Peruvian origin of the Rapanui people and provided 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 people from the Melanesians, finding cultural parallels in Solomon Islands And New Guinea.
Recorded on easter island legend about the war between 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.
Civilization of the highest cultural flourishing easter islands reached in the 16th-17th centuries, when the population was supposedly about 10 thousand people.
As a result of an anthropogenic environmental disaster (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, by the time the first Europeans appeared on the island, the population had decreased to 2 thousand people. Subsequently, almost all the Rapanui people were taken to Peru for slave labor. In 1888, when Easter Island annexed Chile There were only 178 local residents on the island. Currently on easter island 3.7 thousand people live, about 60% of whom are indigenous Rapa Nui.
The ancient Rapanui people were not only extremely warlike, they engaged in cannibalism - they ate human flesh. Fingers and toes were considered a delicacy.
Almost the only documented Rapa Nui ritual was the competition to find the first egg, depicted in the popular adventure feature film Kevin Costner "Rapa Nui": young warriors of different clans on a certain day set out to swim on reed bundles to a nearby rocky island Motu Nui, where they were looking for the first sooty tern egg of the season. The egg must be delivered intact back to Easter Island and give it to the leader. The ritual was an element of cult Tangata-manu(bird man). Rapanui people are sometimes called "bird worshipers". One of the most common themes in petroglyphs ( rock paintings) after the male and female genital organs there 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. 
Sights of Easter Island
Moai, ahu, pukao
The main attraction of the island is the 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 familiarization tour, proposed a new term, which was quickly picked up by domestic tourists - " doldons".
Overwhelming majority " doldons"cut out of volcano rock 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 of the island. There are a total of 997 moai recorded on the island ( see map of. Easter above).
It is known that moai were considered containers of special magical power - mana ancestors of the Rapanui people.
Externally, moai are strikingly different from each other; there are several types of statues. Various hypotheses explain the diversity of styles either by a gradual change in “fashion” for visual means, or by the actual depiction of different island races with their external differences (of course, assuming that there were ethnically different peoples).
Methods for transporting giant statues are discussed by numerous groups of enthusiasts around the world, mathematical calculations and experiments are carried out, but local legend says that “the moai walked on their own.”
Almost all “doldons” reached modern times in a fallen form. It is believed that the mass overthrow of the moai occurred during inter-clan wars on the island. Currently, many statues have been installed back in their rightful places.
Moai were installed on a pedestal ( ahu), and sometimes supplemented with a cap ( pukao) from red tuff. It is considered proven that at least some "doldons" had eyes made of white coral. Some of the idols have now had their eyes reconstructed.
On the slopes Rano-Raraku There are currently many unfinished statues in various stages of production. One gets the complete impression of a sudden cessation of moai production.
Rano-Raraku
Rano-Raraku - ancient volcano, on the slopes of which there are about 300 moai, of varying heights and at different stages of completion. Not far from the bay is located ahu Tongariki, the largest ritual site with 15 statues of various sizes installed on it.
Anakena
Anakena- a bay with a coral sand beach. According to legend, this is where the leader and forefather of the Rapanui people landed Hotu Matu'a. Ahus are located nearby Ature-Huki And Naunau.
Puna Paw
Puna Paw- a small volcano where red tuff was mined to make pukao hats that crown the heads of the moai.
Rano Kao
Rano Kao- volcano with the best observation deck islands. Ahu is nearby Orongo.
Uniqueness easter islands manifests itself in ambiguous opinions about him. That is, on the one hand, people know everything about a given place, but on the other, nothing at the same time. His mysterious statues, formed from stone, are still silent witnesses of an ancient and unknown culture. But who and how could create these monumental rock sculptures?
A little geography. Easter Island is located in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Tahiti (Fig. 1). The local natives dubbed him Rapa Nui or Rapa Nui. Easter Island is the most remote island on globe. The distance to the nearest piece of land in the west is two thousand ninety-two kilometers, and in the east - two thousand nine hundred and seventy-one kilometers. It is formed in the shape of a triangle, with extinct volcanoes on each edge.
The area of the island is about one hundred and sixty square kilometers. Easter Island recognized highest point above ocean level. It is located on a huge hill, which was called the East Pacific Rise. In view of this, Thor Heyerdahl wrote that the closest land that local residents see is the Moon.
The capital of the island, as well as its only city, is the city of Hanga Roa. The island has its own flag (Fig. 3) and its own coat of arms (Fig. 4).
Interestingly, Easter Island has/had several names: Waihu, Mata-ki-te-Ragi, San Carlos Island, Rapanui, Teapi, Tekaowhangoaru, Te Pito-o-te-henua, Hititeairagi, Easter Island.
Some legends claim that Easter Island was once part of one large country (many consider it to be a surviving part of Atlantis). This looks quite plausible, since today at Easter a lot of evidence was discovered confirming these legends: there are roads on the island leading directly to the ocean, a large number of underground tunnels, originating in local caves and paving the way in an unknown direction, as well as other equally significant information and amazing finds.
Interesting data on underwater exploration of the ocean floor near Easter Island is provided by the Australian Howard Tirloren, who arrived here with Cousteau. He said that when they arrived here in 1978, they studied the bottom around the island in sufficient detail. Anyone who has gone down in a submersible will confirm that the mountains under water, even at shallow depths, have a rather unusual appearance: some of them even had holes made that resembled window connectors. And one day Jacques-Yves Cousteau found an unfamiliar deep-sea depression nearby, where he dived for another three days. When he returned, he wanted to explore this depression even more thoroughly. Cousteau was unable to examine anything in full, but according to him, silhouettes of walls can be seen at the bottom, forming something like a section big city. However, due to the people serving in the political police DINA, which Pinochet himself supervised, nothing came of it. According to Tirloren, they were forced to sign non-disclosure documents and were also asked to stop research, so all work was stopped. But what unusual could be in this depression? Why Chilean state security is so afraid of scientists remains a mystery. After the Pinochet regime, this issue was raised again, but to no avail. Thus, this fact does not exclude the assumption that a significant part of Easter Island sank during some kind of disaster.
In 1973–1977, several American oceanographers studied the oceanic depressions near Easter Island, namely near the Sala y Gomez ridge. As a result, they discovered sixty-five underwater peaks and agreed with the hypothesis of the existence of an unknown archipelago, which was in this area tens of thousands of years ago, and then sank into the water. But all subsequent studies were frozen without a compelling reason at the request of the Chilean government. “Island of Mysteries” still does not make it possible to unravel its mystery.
The geophysical information obtained confirms that the coast of the South- East Asia slowly sinks into the ocean. Maybe this subsidence once happened faster and at one moment, like Atlantis, it plunged into the depths of the ocean, including the Pacific with its huge population and distinctive culture, traces of which are still found on Easter Island? And the various inscription tablets and art monuments are nothing more than preserved evidence of an ancient vanished civilization? After all, according to the testimony of the first resident of Easter Island, Eiro, in all buildings there were wooden planks or sticks containing some kind of hieroglyphs and symbols. Basically, these are images of unknown animals, which the natives continue to draw with stones to this day. Each image has its own designation; but in view of the fact that they make such items on very rare occasions, this suggests that these hieroglyphs represent only the remains of ancient writing. That is, the natives are only trying to follow long-standing customs, without trying to find any meaning in it.
MacMillan Brown, in his research, even tried to find out the approximate date of the death of Pacifida. In his opinion, this phenomenon could have occurred between 1687, when the English sailor Davis observed a large ledge in the area of Easter Island, and 1722, when Admiral Roggeveen found nothing in this place except for a small island. The cataclysm was evidenced not only by the unexpected stoppage of work in the quarries at Rano Raraku. Many areas of Easter Island have spacious paved roads that end in the ocean. Does this mean that these paths end deep underwater? Maybe on seabed Is it possible to discover new evidence of a lost culture?
There is one thing that completely destroys this hypothesis, and this is a question of chronology. At what point did land in the Pacific Ocean begin to sink? Three hundred years ago, or three thousand, or perhaps even three hundred thousand? Or is this figure in the millions? Geological and geophysical data indicate that the deepening of the land and the collapse of the Pacific happened precisely in the ancient period. Fauna and flora of islands such as Galapagos, New Zealand, Fiji, were formed from the mainland, but many centuries ago they were part of one huge continent. This led to the discovery of fossils here that have long since disappeared and are no longer found anywhere on the globe. In the same way, at one point the Australian continent broke away from Asia. Submergence of land at the location of Easter Island has not occurred since that ancient period.
Chubb's geological and oceanographic surveys near Easter confirmed the fact that it had not sunk a millimeter, and the coastline was as stable at the time the monuments were erected as it is today. This argument was repeated by the Swedish expedition, which established the geological stability of the island, which has lasted for at least a million years.
Studying the issue of the origin of the island itself, the author got the impression that many scientists do not set a goal to understand or reveal the truth, but pursue the goal of defending their own point of view, of proving what is beneficial to them. Or, moving in an absolutely impartial search, they encounter postulates that this moment imposed on society as official, but at the slightest inspection they burst at the seams. This forces you to turn your research from the straight path to the thorny straights of the official jungle. It is not difficult to pay attention to the fact that most researchers evaluate available artifacts only from the point of view of the dominance of matter over spirituality, and nothing else.
In the process of studying the topic, a number of questions arose. Why do scientists, when faced with inexplicable archaeological artifacts and at the same time with the same incomprehensible behavior of authorities who openly prohibit research, do not sound the alarm in every possible way and do not try to convey obvious things to the public? Why don’t they build hypotheses that would include all findings and facts, and not just those that are convenient or understandable? How can one sometimes come up with theories without them seeming crude to the public? Are they really not interested in learning about the past of their planet, or do they simply have no free time due to everyday problems? Who really needed to build multi-ton statues on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, place them around the perimeter of the island facing the ocean, and paint them with ornaments and patterns? What was it about their writing that when the first Europeans who visited the island saw it, they began to hastily eradicate it from the local population, so much so that after forty years practically none of the Rapanui people could not only write, but also read their household signs? One could argue that this was an accident and that the 18th century was a very long time ago, okay, but why aren’t excavations and research being carried out at the state level now? Why is it that if you now approach the statue beyond the fence, the person will face prison? And why did UNESCO prohibit excavations and research into the underground part of the statues? Another curious fact is that almost all modern researchers of the original culture of Easter Island claim that it is impossible to find out its true meaning or decipher the writing, and all that is read are ordinary everyday texts.
A people exterminated over half a century.
Fifty years later, in 1722, the Englishman James Cook and the Frenchman La Perouse visited Easter Island. Since then the situation has changed a lot. Many plains were abandoned. The once plump-cheeked inhabitants languished in poverty, and the statues filled with grandeur were almost all knocked down and lying on the ground. The ancient cult was erased from memory. There are only a few representatives left of the famous “long-eared” race; most likely, their death is associated with their rivals, the “short-eared”, who not only destroyed the tribe, but also their inherent culture. As a result of the events that took place on Easter Island, an entire era ended, which lasted more than one century, and possibly even a millennium. What period it was remains an unsolved mystery for many. Roggeveen and his assistants were unable to find out practically anything about her. Captain Cook, La Perouse and the Spaniards who discovered this island in the second half of the 18th century were not curious about ancient artifacts, they were only looking for new territories that could be developed and used as colonies. By the time European researchers finally became interested in cultural heritage other peoples, on Easter Island there are only silent witnesses of its majestic past - these are huge and breathtaking statues. Now they have been thrown off their foundations; on the edge of the crater there was only an abandoned temple and several strange wooden tablets with unknown hieroglyphs. The number of local residents decreased not only because of the incessant internecine wars. In 1862, slave traders from Peru broke into this area, they captured and took away about nine hundred people, including the last king. The prisoners were sent to extract fertilizers in the Atacama Desert. Later, another three hundred inhabitants of the island were captured and sent to Tahiti for hard labor on the plantations. When a show war began at Easter, organized by Dutroux-Bornier at the request of a French company, the remaining residents and missionaries fled. Subsequently, they moved to the Gambier Archipelago, located in a more westerly direction. Thus, in fifteen years the population of the island decreased from two and a half thousand to one hundred and eleven people! Therefore, those few people who decided to stay no longer remembered anything about the age-old customs of their forefathers.
Interesting information about the inhabitants of the island (Fig. 6). According to E.P. Blavatsky, the multi-colored skin of the local aborigines indicates that different peoples mixed on Easter Island, which include the Lemurians (the third hereditary race) and the Atlanteans (the fourth hereditary race). This information is contained in the Secret Doctrine of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, where Easter Island is mentioned as the habitat of some of the earliest generations of the third race. An unexpected volcanic eruption and uplift of the ocean floor drowned it along with all its monuments and culture. At the same time, the island remained untouched, as proof of the existence of Lemuria. There is another interpretation - the territory of Easter was occupied by several Atlanteans, who, fleeing the cataclysm that occurred in their area, settled in the remaining part of Lemuria, but not for long, since it was subsequently destroyed by a volcanic eruption and collapsing lava. Thus, it becomes clear that the ancestors of the black Lemurians, as well as the red-skinned and light-skinned Atlanteans, mixed in this territory.
A blow that destroyed the culture of an ancient people.
A large number of scholars have put a lot of effort into reconstructing, piece by piece, the culture of the Easter population. But the resulting picture turned out to be incomplete. Researchers were lucky enough to find out that on this small piece of land, measuring only one hundred and eighteen square kilometers, there are two cultural centers:
Rano Raraku Quarry;
Orongo sanctuary on the border of the volcanic mountain Rano Kao.
At the same time, Rano Raraku also has a volcanic crater, on the southern side of which there are ancient quarries. Huge sacred statues were subsequently carved from porous rocks in them. This mountain still bears the consequences of the terrible civil war. A large number of statues remained unfinished, in various stages of completion. For some, only the first outlines are observed, for others, to be ready, it is enough to work with a chisel several times in order to freely separate them from the rock and move them. The rest are standing or lying around and are already prepared for shipment. One of the most massive finished monuments is Rano Raraku, the top of which is twenty-two meters from the ground. At the base of the volcano there is a huge platform formed from basalt blocks; another similar platform is located below, directly on the coast. Its length is fifty meters. The lower platform once housed as many as fifteen stone idols. However, now all of them, with the exception of one, are lying on the ground. The “short-eared” race, which completely defeated the carriers of the mysterious “long-eared” culture, toppled their huge monuments, breaking the stones from the foundation.
The mass of the largest idols reaches fifty tons. Stone hammers, axes and chisels were used to carve them out, due to the fact that the local residents did not know how to make tools from metal. The most incomprehensible thing is the way in which these statues were transported from the volcano to sites located at its base, as well as at a considerable distance from it. After all, Easter Island did not have a large number of people to perform forced labor. Therefore, one has to think that the stone idols were transported with the help of small groups of local residents, using rigid cables made of reed or plant threads, wooden rollers and levers. Then they were installed vertically with a careful approach to the base of the stone embankment. But this matter did not end there. Now, on an island with virtually no vegetation cover, such monuments catch your eye everywhere. They stand, lie, unfinished or just started. Bloody civil war at the end of the 18th century. caused the downfall of these iconic sculptures. It should be noted that these statues were used not only as funerary monuments, they had a peculiar spiritual purpose, evidence of which was found on the rocky Orongo plateau, stretching at the base of Rano Kao in the southwest side of Easter Island. In that place, not far from the crater of the volcano, there are mysterious buildings without openings for windows, built from bulky stone blocks. And on the rocks near them there are many incomprehensible images minted.
Bird-man.
As ancient legends say, once a year the priests turned to God with a request to choose a new bird-man. The man chosen for this role had to organize a group of several guys and go with them to the stone dwellings and caves of Rano Kao. Once there, they waited (sometimes for months) until the island's seagulls laid their eggs on a rock several hundred feet off the coast. Then the group, floating on the water, headed towards a rock called Motunui. The first person to arrive had to immediately begin searching for the egg, then wash it and bring it safely to the island. Having done this, he, filled with pride, gave the egg to the leader of the tribe, who, from that moment on, acquired the status of a bird-man. Squeezing it in his palm, the head of the tribe danced all over South coast islands until I got to Rano Raraku. In this place the leader had to live for twelve whole months next to the stone inhabitants on Rapa Nui. He lived there completely alone, spending time in prayer and meditation. For the rest of the Rapanui people, this place was forbidden, because the chambers of a respected gentleman settled there. The main deity of this strange religion was Make-Make. Moreover, he bears no resemblance either to the creator God known to us, or to the Creator of the entire Universe. He, his comrade - the ruler of the seagulls and three deities - trustees of eggs and future descendants, demanded human sacrifices. It is possible that once upon a time cannibalism could well have existed on the island.
If you carefully study the legend about the bird-man and compare it with primordial knowledge, a completely clear logical picture emerges. Let us assume that, unlike our civilization, the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island did not have a materialistic perception, but lived with a predominance of spiritual values. Maybe because of this, some Europeans needed to destroy their culture so quickly?
Then it turns out that the election of the next bird-man (the bird is a symbol of the front essence) is nothing more than the choice of the most spiritually developed personality to perform important tasks (controlling climate, weather, seismic activity, perhaps even solving planetary problems). For this purpose, he recruited a group of young men to form a circle of power. In this case, it is logical to assume what they were doing while they were together in the cave - they were studying, intensely engaged in spiritual practices, spiritual self-development, self-discovery. When the group was ready, something like an exam or test was assigned to test their possession of certain properties related to understanding the structure of the world (symbol - the world egg). After which this bird-man began to work with the largest ahu, Rano Raraku. This is confirmed by the symbols painted on many statues; perhaps it is worth taking a closer look at them to study the signs with which the bird-man worked.
The connection between the worship of bird-man and massive stone idols is proven by the images inscribed on the backs of most of the statues. These drawings depict skeletons, ghosts, deities, but most often a bird-man. In 1722, the cult of worship of demigods and huge statues was fully promoted, but after the “short-eared” tribe landed on Rapa Nui, everything changed dramatically. Legends tell of several large boats, on which there were about three hundred men and, most likely, the same number of women. Scientists believe that they fled the Rapaiti Islands after the outbreak of a terrible civil war or a sizzling drought.
From the AllatRa book:
Anastasia: A few more words about Easter Island. The local population retains beliefs that the ceremonial platforms (“ahu”) on which some stone statues are located are a link between the visible and invisible (otherworldly) worlds, and that the stone statues (“moai”) themselves contain the supernatural power of the ancestors. The latter, according to popular belief, is supposedly capable of regulating natural phenomena and, accordingly, leading to a favorable outcome - the prosperity of the people...
Rigden: Yes, there is nothing supernatural there. It’s just that once upon a time there lived people who knew how and why certain signs needed to be activated. If their descendants had not lost the knowledge that was given to them, then those now living on that island would have better understood themselves and the elementary connection with other worlds. Usually, for the chronicle, as a way of passing on knowledge and legends to descendants, knowledgeable people applied signs to stone sculptures, and often decorated themselves with corresponding tattoos, which had a special symbolic meaning. For ignorant people, these were drawings that meant absolutely nothing, but inspired respect and fear of someone who, in their opinion, “probably knew something special.” Later, of course, ordinary imitation began.
Anastasia: Yes, but stone heads and platforms that are located on Easter Island, there are no signs.
Rigden: Who said that these heads have no continuation? Yes, let them dig deeper in those places, then maybe they will find what is hidden from their eyes. But that's not the question. Even if people find something interesting from the signs and symbols, what will they do with it? With the dominance of material thinking and the absence of Knowledge, at best they will create a sensation in the media in order to attract people to the island more tourists and make money. That's all. Knowledge is valuable for a spiritual seeker only when it can be used and improved, and provided spiritual help to other people. (page 443)
Letter and symbols.
It must be said that the culture of the islanders did not die with them. Along with the worship of bird-man and massive idols, the "long-eared" tribe also had writing skills. Therefore, it is natural that the “short-eared” managed to take advantage of them. In the first half of the 19th century, the last of the literate Ariki remained to rule the island; he was called Ngaara, he was white-skinned and short in stature. The ruler accumulated a whole repository of symbolic tablets with hieroglyphs, and also taught at school the features of the sacred letter Rongorongo. Only a select few were allowed to study with him; for the rest of the inhabitants of the island it was a strict ban. They had no right to even touch these signs. And those who were finally allowed to learn the Rongorongo alphabet, which included several hundred characters, faced another test. First of all, they had to learn how to twist rope knots and silhouettes that matched these hieroglyphs. Similar tests are also known in many other parts of the planet.
From the AllatRa book:
“Anastasia: The importance of some signs, in my opinion, is proven by another fact of a kind of “hunt” for them. Take, for example, the story of the ancient writing of Easter Island. In that area, knowledge of signs and symbols, as well as their use in writing, disappeared quite recently, in the middle of the 19th century, when “Western Civilization” burst onto the island in the form of people who sailed on Dutch and Spanish ships. A Catholic missionary who visited there told the world about the unusual writing of the island. The inhabitants of Easter Island kept their records with special signs on wooden tablets, which were in almost every house. But, having revealed the signs of Easter Island to Europeans, this missionary and his followers at the same time did everything to destroy this writing and burn it as a pagan heresy. And what remains now of this very recently existing culture? Several hundred huge sculptures-heads the height of a multi-storey building and weighing from twenty tons, scattered throughout Easter Island, and a couple of dozen tablets - monuments of writing, which were miraculously preserved, as well as a staff and a breast ornament with writing. Moreover, the latter are scattered throughout various museums around the world. It seems that the world priests, having learned about these signs and symbols, did everything to destroy them, even despite the fact that these were already in fact pathetic remnants of once-past knowledge.”
Rigden: Well, the Archons do not sleep, they act. Well, anyone, but they understand what signs are, and even more so, what an activated sign is in work. (page 439)
Among the primitive settlers of Oceania, where established habits and traditions had not lost their true meaning, knot magic became especially widespread. You can read about this in the one hundred and thirteenth sura of the Koran. Its modern interpreters explain this fact as witchcraft. In ancient explanations, on the contrary, it is believed that the mention of knots in the Koran means sorceresses who knit magical figures, then blow on them and cast spells, which helps attract evil. Moreover, in Arabia such things were considered quite common in the pre-Islamic period. But today it is no longer possible to find either a Christian or an Arab who understands anything about “lace witchcraft.” But in those regions where traditional beliefs have not supplanted the worship of deities, as well as ancient and mystical customs, people still knit magical knots, which are often folded into quite complex configurations. This is common among such peoples as:
- Eskimos;
- Indians of North, Central and South America;
- all African peoples;
- island tribes of Oceania;
- original inhabitants of Australia and East Asia, including Japan.
In most cases, various rope figures are made for fun. But at the same time, you can often hear how the natives, stretching out a tied silhouette from a cord on their fingers, pronounce ancient words with a magical meaning. This kind of witchcraft is especially developed in isolated territories of the Melanesian archipelago, Micronesia, Polynesia, as well as among the American Indians.
At the moment, scientists are familiar with about three and a half thousand similar figures. The material for their manufacture is ordinary rope, the ends of which are tied, or a woven synthetic cord. In ancient times, tribes used animal veins, intestinal fibers, connected or twisted plant threads, and sometimes even long locks of human hair to obtain magical patterns.
Sometimes it happens that a ritual is based on the worship of spirits and mystical creatures. For example, the Eskimos are convinced of the existence of a soul in connected figures and are overly afraid of it, since, in their opinion, it can pose a danger to their lives. If someone plays with the ropes for too long or does this at an unauthorized time, then a characteristic rustling sound is heard in front of the dwelling, and at this moment the light of the lamp inside the tent begins to slowly fade away. And only those in the know understand that this is how the spirit of the connected figures approaches. At one time, he removed the entrails from his dried body and now he himself is engaged in knitting from dehydrated intestines. This process is accompanied by a sound similar to the rustling of paper.
An interesting fact is that the Navajo Indians, who settled in the northwestern United States of America, are convinced that knot tying arose in ancient times with the help of a tribe of spider people, and they subsequently taught this craft to other people. A large number of peoples knit figures from laces in order to present them as gifts to their deities. But the inhabitants of the Gilbert Islands in Micronesia are sure that such silhouettes appeared at the time of the creation of the world.
A gift that gives passage to another world.
As one belief says: “When, at the origin of life, the heavens were cut off from the earth, the demigod rose up and, while the sky gradually “risen,” he tied eleven knots one after another.” They are still familiar on the Gilbert Islands today, and Chita Maude even managed to capture ten of them.
Guiding signs.
It becomes clear why scientists to this day are unable to interpret ancient records that are more symbolic in nature than alphabetical, especially considering that they have only been partially preserved. These symbols, which have succumbed to oblivion, explain the real details and mysteries of a much older culture. Only twenty surviving messages have now been studied. They are in museums in Germany, Belgium, Chile, the USA, Russia, England, and Austria.
If we do not take into account Housen's interpretation, in which there is a decoding of approximately five hundred characters, the meaning of the hieroglyphs rongo-rongo has not yet been revealed. At the same time, they provoke interesting conclusions. Similar writing was common among the natives of northwestern India in the 4th millennium BC. Subsequently, their culture also disappeared. Some historians believe that certain components of this culture, including writing, came to Polynesia sometime in the 2nd millennium BC. Then the “long-eared” tribe spread them to the island of Rapa Nui, where they rested for many centuries, and possibly millennia. This continued until the death of knowledgeable people and priests led to the emergence of an unsolved mystery for current researchers.
Any figure woven from ropes was assigned a certain melody that had to be memorized, as well as a certain sign-drawing. These hieroglyphs were not letters or phrases, but at the same time they reflected some concepts and important thoughts. They were obtained using a volcanic glass chisel or sharpened with a shark tooth. Each line was done from the bottom up. In this case, the bottom one was drawn from left to right, and the next one was drawn vice versa. In addition, the characters were drawn upside down in each even-numbered line. Scientists gave this unique writing the name boustrophedon. However, in world literature this method is extremely rare. The mysterious writing remained unknown for a long time. Therefore, Europeans were not immediately able to find out about it. The first information about it surfaced only in 1817, when Tepano Housen began studying it in detail. He was quite amazed when he realized that only a small number of literate islanders could read the texts written on the tablets, but at the same time they retold their essence in their own words, using the signs solely as a hint. The information that emerged from the clues was learned by heart, but everyone learned it in their own way.
Here is an interesting point from Wikipedia that clearly shows how the archons, through their people, in this case the priests, uprooted the Rongorongo culture. Thomson was told about an old man named Ure Wa'e Iko. He assured that he understood most of the signs, as he took reading lessons. He was the main one of the last king from the dynasty of monarchs - Nga'ara, who had the ability to read at least one memorized text and reproduce many songs, but did not know how to write in rongo-rongo. Having learned this, Thomson began to shower the old man with various gifts and coins in the hope that he would tell what was written on the tablets. But Ure Wa'e Iko did not agree, since the Christian priests did not allow him to do this, threatening him with death. After that he ran away. However, Thomson later took photographs of the mysterious tablets and, with great effort, persuaded the old man to reproduce the text written on them. While Ure was talking, Alexander Salmon wrote down all the information under dictation, and a little time later translated it into English.
Mysterious notebook.
One day, Thor Heyerdahl decided to visit a shack on Easter Island. The owner of the hut claimed that he had a certain notebook written by his grandfather, who was aware of the secret of the kohau rongo-rongo. It displays the main hieroglyphs of ancient writing, as well as a decoding of their meaning, indicated in Latin letters. But when the scientist tried to study the notebook, Esteban immediately hid it. Shortly after this event, witnesses claim that they saw him in a small boat sailing towards the island of Tahiti. Most likely, the notebook was also with him. Since then, no one has heard anything about Esteban. Therefore, what happened to the notebook is also not clear.
Once the missionaries noticed the amazing similarity of the writing that existed on Easter Island with hieroglyphs Ancient Egypt. It turned out that one hundred and seventy-five signs of kohau rongorongo are absolutely identical with the outlines of Hindustan. And their similarity with ancient Chinese writing was established by the Austrian archaeologist Robert Teldern in 1951. American and German scientists are convinced that the writing that once existed in Polynesia was miraculously not lost and remained on Easter Island.
The unusual tradition of the natives to achieve drooping earlobes testifies to the reverence for the capabilities of acute hearing, which at one time was the main advantage of the Lemurians. They were the ones who could pick up sounds that modern man absolutely incomprehensible.
Such an amazing rumor was also mentioned in the book "Fragments forgotten history". It was argued that such physical data arose due to the improvement of the spirit. They had access to sounds that we are not able to hear, and this was their happiness. It was in honor of such a gift that previous generations of Lemurians awarded themselves with drooping earlobes. Thus they wanted to be like their distant ancestors.
Creation of sculptures to the glory of the gods.
Behrens loved to talk about the rich vegetation of Easter Island, as well as the huge harvests of vegetables and fruits that were harvested every year. When he described the local inhabitants, he wrote the following: “Always cheerful, well-built, excellent runners, friendly, but extremely timid. Almost each of them, having brought gifts, hastily threw them on the ground and immediately ran away as best they could.” As for skin color, it has different shades - among them there are both black and completely white inhabitants, in addition, there are even red-skins, which gives the impression that they are sunburned. Their ears are long and often reach their shoulders. Some have small white bars inserted into their earlobes as decoration.
According to some statements, the amazing abilities of the Rapanui people are the will of the gods. They made them such that they could be responsible for that part of the world to which they were fully deployed. Residents of the island confirmed that their ancestors had long ago been engaged in the construction of the now famous monuments, as they had enormous power. However, this is not currently permitted. Having heard this version, James Cook did not want to believe it and even formulated the key mysteries of the island - how the idols could have arisen and why they do not appear now.
However, the islanders do not support this proposal and talk about bird-people, that is, deities who descended to earth, established themselves and flew back. This version is supported by images of people with wings found on the island.
Thus, Rapa Nui culture has long been exciting the minds of researchers with its unusualness and mystery. Her envoys created unique stone monuments, which testifies to high level development of this civilization. All the statues appeared between 1250 and 1500. Their known number to date is eight hundred and eighty-seven idols. At the same time, almost nothing is known about the inhabitants of Easter Island themselves. After all, at the time of its discovery by Europeans in the 18th century, a backward race was discovered that could not make such monuments. When the island was captured by slave traders in the 19th century, the last vestiges of civilization were buried.
In an article published in the journal Antiquity, archaeologists provided a detailed overview of the arrowheads found in large quantities in almost all parts of the island. According to the analysis, they are absolutely unsuitable for military operations. This conclusion is due to the fact that the main purpose of a good weapon is to kill the enemy, and spears from the island can only wound a person, but not mortally. Therefore, most likely, these tips served local residents as tools for processing land, food and applying various tattoos to the body. There is also no evidence of large-scale and bloody wars on the island. So it can be argued that the death of the ancient culture was most likely due to a lack of resources and a transformation of the economic structure. Theoretically, the revival of civilization was very possible, but this was prevented by the arriving Europeans.
Research results.
Having read the materials of various researchers, scientists simply looking for people, I got the impression that there is interest in the island, but a catastrophic lack of true information leads the student either into the jungle of harmonious standard theories, or to the conclusion that we will never know the truth.
So what we found out:
1. There are several types of moai (statues) on the island, some recently placed on pedestals, others scattered around the island, others partially buried in the ground, some very deeply.
2. Also, these statues differ in size and appearance, apparently they were made at different times.
3. At the moment, official science says that the Moai were created approximately 1200-1400 AD. And those that are in the ground up to their shoulders are simply covered with soil over time. How long does it take nature to raise the soil level by 2-3 meters or more? Somehow it doesn't add up.
4. There are several traditions on the island that vaguely resemble the actions of people who had spiritual knowledge about man and the world (whitening of skin, cult of the bird-man).
5. Despite the many mysteries and open opportunities to explore the island, local authorities do not conduct official scientific research. Moreover, such research is taboo, excavations are prohibited, and the same applies to underwater research near the island. Researchers will receive a warning from the police or intelligence services and prison. There are many examples of this. Even what Thor Heyerdahl excavated is buried. It turns out that someone is afraid that people will find out the truth that is stored in the island’s artifacts and handwriting, familiar in many similar places around the world. The work of the archons deserves detailed study so that, by understanding the methods of their influence, which have not changed for centuries, it would be possible to identify them in the everyday life of society and bring them to public review.
6. Very interest Ask According to the written language that existed on the island and was so quickly destroyed with the arrival of Europeans, in less than a century, almost no one remembered how to read and write their traditional signs and symbols. And those who still remembered the letter fled from the researchers like fire. Apparently learned from bitter experience.
7. From the above, it becomes obvious that on the island before the arrival of Europeans there was ancient culture, which kept true knowledge and not only kept it, but also actively used it. For example, the “plasticine” technology of stone processing (when the stone for processing became plastic like plasticine), cutting down and transporting multi-ton stone statues, three-layer ahu (platforms), the bottom layer is lined with polygonal masonry, like many other megalithic structures on different continents. The very fact of creating statues and installing them along the perimeter of the island suggests that there was a need for this (at least for the local population), and as we have already found out, these were knowledgeable spiritual people, this need could be associated with the creation of certain conditions for the whole world, or some part of it. Because "the moai have the power northern winds and are responsible for the side of the world in which they look.” It could be like climatic conditions, and spiritual, perhaps Rigden Djappo will deem it necessary and reveal to us the true purpose of the statues and their sacred meaning.
Thus, even now, many of the mysteries of Easter Island remain unsolved and it is possible that the answers to the questions that interest scientists have already been lost forever. However, while research is ongoing, people do not lose hope of solving the rebus created many centuries ago.
Prepared by: Alex Ermak (Kyiv, Ukraine)
