Join two intrepid young women as they delve into the centuriesold mysteries of easter island. The essential guidebook to this mysterious and enigmatic island, and the only book about easter island written by someone who actually lives here. The mystery of easter island new findings rekindle old debates about when the first people arrived and why their civilization collapsed. The secrets of easter island history smithsonian magazine. David childress from ancient aliens reveals the truth. Easter island, isolated deep in the south pacific and now a world heritage site, was home to a fascinating prehistoric cultureone that produced massive stone effigies the moai and the birdman cultand yet much of the islands past remains shrouded in mystery. The unique mix of polynesian culture and chilean influence, and the remote location of the island, have resulted in a place thats unlike anywhere else in the world. Easter island history cultural development the cultural development on the island has been fodder for widespread speculation. Best books on easter island easter island forum tripadvisor. Rare, used, new and outofprint books about easter island and the pacific. It is famous for its 887 huge statues called moai, made by the early rapa nui people.
Jan 21, 2011 a thorough read of this always complex and sometimes dissatisfying book reveals that vanderbes chose that title carefully. The story of easter islands statues is extraordinary, but the story of how people came to be there in the first place is just as incredible. Elsa beazley arrives at easter island in 1916 with her new husband and her mentally handicapped sister. The story of easter island s statues is extraordinary, but the story of how people came to be there in the first place is just as incredible. In fact, the idea of visiting the staggeringly remote easter island is one that drives many tourists to chile. The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading of jennifer vanderbes easter island.
Best books about easter island to understand its history. On easter sunday, april 5, 1722, a dutch sea captain named jacob roggeveen landed his ship on an island known as te pito o te henua, meaning the center of the world. Captain roggeveen renamed the island easter island. Easter island history tells stories of legendary kings, hardships and great deeds. The book starts with the ancient history of the island including population by polynesians to the civil unrest and eventual decline of the rapa nui society and subsequent contact with the europeans before moving to modern eras covering annexation and. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about easter island like you never have before, in no time at all. Explore fascinating mysteries and secrets of history and.
Aug, 2018 easter island, also known as rapa nui, is a 63squaremile spot of land in the pacific ocean. Wood carvings from rapa nui, accompanied an exhibition of carvings from easter island at the maxwell museum of anthropology in albuquerque, new mexico in 1997. Reading guide for easter island by jennifer vanderbes. Author steven fischer examines and pens down the essential history of easter island. Elsa ponders the islands ancient hieroglyphic archive, trying to connect the navel of the world to its roots as a proxy for her will to restore her own sense of connection with history. Sep 14, 2017 after we booked our tickets to easter island, i searched tripadvisor for the best easter island book or travel guide. List of books and articles about easter island online research. In this extraordinary fiction debutrich with love and betrayal, history and intellectual passiontwo remarkable narratives converge on easter. Restrained passion and conflicted loyalties drive this sweeping debut novel, in which two women of different eras experience the mysteries of easter island. In the book, routledge and her companions explore the secret caves, ancient roads, pyramid platforms. Jacob roggeveen had been sailing for more than eight months.
There is also a small thread of a german world war i naval squadron present in the book. Easter island is the story of two women who went to the island and did research. Easter island comprehensively covers the facts, mysteries, and theories surrounding the island s inhabitants and their famous creations. I bought a used copy of the first edition and cant recommend it enough. This careless use of resources was the primary contributor to easter islands collapse.
There is no such flummery in steven fischers new book. Premissionarytraditions surrounding rongorongo are described from previously unpublished material. Easter island covers roughly 64 square miles in the south pacific ocean, and is located some 2,300 miles from chiles west coast and 2,500 miles east of. Although a holiday of high religious significance in the christian faith, many. Discover the rapa nui people of easter island and the mysterious stone maoi that dot the island. Unfortunately, its not easy to find this book at a budget price. The mystery of easter island travel smithsonian magazine. The author tells the full history of rongorongos exciting discovery and the many attempts at a decipherment. In popular science literature, much ink has been spilled on the supposed collapse of easter island, or rapa nui, as its known in the local language jared diamonds 2005 book collapse, for. The people who live on easter island call the island rapa nui.
The life of katherine routledge and her remarkable expedition to easter island lisa drew books. Dec 10, 20 whatever happened on easter island, it wasnt good. The capital city is hanga roa it is famous for its 887 huge statues called moai, made by the early rapa nui people. Jan, 2010 a 0 year exploration of easter island history. Easter island, with an area of only 64 square miles, is the worlds most isolated scrap of habitable land. This guidebook includes the island s history, culture and all of its significant archaeological sites. The events that happened there make it an icon of environmental degradation and collapse.
Since the island consists of volcanic rock, the early inhabitants quarried the material into giant statues, some as tall as 14 feet, 6 inches and weighing about 14 tons. Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on earth, easter island, located in the midpacific ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Where is easter island stine, megan, who hq, hinderliter. Yet, easter island, which was almost uninhabited when it was discovered on easter day in 1722 by a dutch captain, is covered with hundreds of giant statutes, each weighing several tons and some standing more than 30 feet. From once existing in the numbers of only a bit more than a hundred people, there are today approximately 3000 people who share the rapa nui lineage, in a small society mainly driven by tourism. Easter island is a polynesian island in the southeastern pacific ocean. It is the easternmost outpost of the polynesian island world and is famous for its giant stone statues.
Learn more about the real meaning of easter including the history and holiday symbols. Easter island is only 15 miles long and 10 miles wide. Most people book day tours to learn more about the story behind the moai from a guide. One of a kind books the easter island foundation promoting. Score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
Easter island history the island itself many people have found easter island history very fascinating. This guidebook includes the islands history, culture and all of its significant archaeological sites. Easter island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early rapa nui people. Easter island also has a huge crater called rano kau at the edge of the island. History, traditions, texts by steven roger fischer clarendon press. A thorough read of this always complex and sometimes dissatisfying book reveals that vanderbes chose that title carefully. But we soon find that theres a lot more to easter island beyond its history. Learn more about the history and religious and social traditions of easter. The complete guide by shawn mclaughlin was highly recommended by everyone. Linguists estimate easter island s first inhabitants arrived around a. The turbulent history of easter island 9781861892829.
What happened along the way that caused the island ecosystem to collapse. It details routledges journey by yacht from england to south america, around patagonia to chile and on to easter island, giving an account of its life, history and folklore. How did rabbits, eggs and hot cross buns become associated with christs resurrection. Easter island comprehensively covers the facts, mysteries, and theories surrounding the islands inhabitants and their famous creations. Named easter island by the dutch explorer jacob roggeveen, who first spied it.
The easter island foundation promoting the conservation. They are tall sculptures made out of volcanic rock, with disproportionately large heads. Easter island, an isosceles triangle of volcanic rock in the pacific ocean, is two thousand miles from both tahiti and chile and one of the most isolated places on earth. Easter island is the place where history meets legend. It can make a big difference when you have a knowledgable rapa nui guide. Easter island, chilean dependency in the eastern pacific ocean. Fly into santiago to experience the culture of the capital city and seaside valparaiso. Slowly unearthing the islands haunting past, they are forced to confront turbulent discoveries about themselves and the people they love, changing their lives forever. They were searching the south pacific for parts of the world that had never been seen or explored. The simplest example of a question with no concrete answer is how the moai came to appear on easter island.
Im particularly interested in books that will give me the sort of info id get if i went on a guided tour. Dna testing has suggested that easter islanders may have sailed to the south american mainland and returned at least once between 1280 and 1495. The history of balfour williamson and company limited. Easter is a worldwide tradition involving many customs that people believe to be christian. In this extraordinary fiction debutrich with love and betrayal, history and intellectual passiontwo remarkable narratives converge on easter island. I read the entire book before i left, then took it with me to reference while i was there. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of jesus from the tomb on the third day after his cruxifixion. First published in 1919, this work provides information on that most mysterious of islands easter island rapa nui.
The essential guidebook to this mysterious and enigmatic island, and the only book about easter island written by someone who lives there. Easter island, also known as rapa nui, is a 63squaremile spot of land in the pacific ocean. As befits the head of the institute of polynesian languages and literatures in auckland, new zealand, he has produced a scholarly and readable account of the island s turbulent history. In 1995, science writer jared diamond popularized the collapse theory in a discover magazine. Easter island books 101 books goodreads share book. This book, part of the new york times bestselling series, is enhanced by eighty illustrations. People of easter island werent driven to warfare and. Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on earth, easter island, located in the midpacific ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated its inhabitants, the rapa nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and cannibalism, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasi.
After a wine tour and an excursion into the chilean mountains, youll finally hop a flight to easter island, where youll hang out with the famous stone moai statues that are found nowhere else on earth. Explore fascinating mysteries and secrets of history and folklore from countries and cultures around the world. It was perfect because not only does it tell you history and legend, but also things you need to know day to day, plus fun stuff like the passport stamp. Scientists finally discovered the truth about easter island. Aug, 2018 in popular science literature, much ink has been spilled on the supposed collapse of easter island, or rapa nui, as its known in the local language jared diamonds 2005 book collapse, for. The mysteries of easter island world book encyclopedia. About half of the inhabitants are of polynesian stock. The book describes the 19551956 norwegian archaeological expeditions investigations of polynesian history and culture at easter island. Easter island books includes resources to plan selfguided tours and recommended must reading to understand the history of easter island. Easter is a christian holiday that celebrates the belief in the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead. The rapanui were so intent on their projects that they underestimated the extent of their resources. My selfguided tour plan leads me to another question. It lies in the pacific ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest continent south. To its original inhabitants the island is known as rapa nui, and its population is predominantly of polynesian descent.
New evidence contradicts theory that easter island society. Named easter island by the dutch explorer jacob roggeveen, who first spied it on easter day 1722, this tiny spit of volcanic rock in the vast south seas is, even. Learn more about incredible human achievements in the history of easter island. Migrations and settlements, the evolution of a culture, wars between tribes, and ultimate decimation of a whole population define the course of easter island history. Oct 29, 2017 what happened to people on easter island. The archeological record suggests a somewhat later date of. A story about two journeys of transformation, forgiveness, and, ultimately, redemption, easter island is a powerful debut and a wonderfully intriguing book to discuss. Rongorongo, easter islands enigmatic script and oceanias only known pretwentiethcentury writing system, is here comprehensively documented for the first time. List of books and articles about easter island online. Easter follows lent, a period of 40 days observed by acts of penance and fasting. The indigenous people of easter island, the rapa nui, experienced a societal collapse after the 17th century because they stripped the island clean of its natural resources. Good book, good story that deserves to be read for years and years. The moai statutes date back nearly a thousand years and are the work of the early inhabitants of easter island. Roggeveen hoped to find a huge, legendary continent that many believed existed.
Easter island is often given as a metaphor, a dire warning for all of human life on our planet. Despite its extremely remote location, the island has been inhabited for around 1500 years and has a rich and intriguing history. Trees were cleared to make pathways for moai transport, which required a number of logs for rolling. Polynesians landed there, farmed, thrived, built their famous statues, and then things went very bad, very fast. Steven roger fischer offers the first englishlanguage history of easter island in island at the end of the world. Easter island, also known as rapa nui, is a tiny island in the pacific ocean, thousands of kilometers away from its nearest neighbors. The average height of a moai is about ft 4m and can weigh around. Easter island guide book easter island visitor information.
A brief history of easter islands incredible moai statues. Easter island simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. How to visit easter island without breaking the bank. Rapa nui which is the name given to easter island by its first inhabitants is the territory of chile and. Of volcanic origin, easter island is mostly covered with grasslands and is swept by strong trade winds. Linguists estimate easter islands first inhabitants arrived around a. Easter, principal festival of the christian church, celebrating the resurrection of jesus christ on the third day after his crucifixion. Jul 12, 2019 easter island a secret hindu civilization. With the mysteries of easter island, kids can explore questions and mysteries surrounding the huge stone statues of easter island and the culture that produced them. The closest island is 1400 miles away, and that island is uninhabited.
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