There is an island in the South Pacific that was formed by volcanic eruptions, the most recent was 3000 years ago, and although these volcanoes are now dormant, we can still see impressive data about what was once hidden on this island.
We are talking about Easter Island, or as the locals say Rapa Nui, this is an island very distant from any other extension of land. In it there are still traces of the volcanic eruptions that occurred in the past and that even today generate curiosity.
This island was previously covered by a wide forest, however, after many volcanic eruptions, which were buried, part of them were descending in the surface area, until it was reduced to a smaller space.
This island had not been recorded on any map, until the eighteenth century when the colonizers arrived there, and it is because it is about two thousand nautical miles away from Chile, which is the closest point to it. Tahiti follows at 2,500 nautical miles.
For a long time it was thought that the first tribe that settled in this place and that takes the same name as the island, came from the Incas; but after doing DNA tests, it was shown that these settlers come from Polynesia.
A thousand years before Christopher Columbus arrived in America, the Polynesians had signed what they called the Polynesian triangle, which consisted of an area of 2 million square miles.
This occurred between 400 and 800 BC.
They did this through navigation with special canoes; with which they could reach from Easter Island (as Rapa Nui is frequently called) to Tahiti in just 35 days. They were oriented with birds and when there were none then he began to study the currents. In this way if they saw that the currents returned, that meant that the land was close.
However, there is something that represents this island a lot, and they are the statues in the shape of heads that exist around it; they represent the ancestors of the clans that the Polynesians had in the area.
These sculptures, called moai; They were carved in volcanic stone, this was done in an already extinct volcano, and many times there was a kind of competition between the clans to make each one of them. The construction of these lasted about a year or more.
One of the issues that draws our attention is the fact of how they did to move it from that place to the final resting place of the moais; since they weigh a few tons and it is almost impossible for men to do it using only brute force
The truth is that this was achieved by placing a series of stones along a path down the hill, until reaching a point that was a pedestal in which a series of ropes, levers and pulleys of rudimentary use were placed and it was possible to place the moai of cake.
This somewhat demolishes the theory that tree trunks were used to move the moais, and it was moved horizontally. This theory suggested that this was what had led to the premature deforestation of the island leading to an ecocide.
Once the moai was standing upright, it was moved by one of the three existing paths to the settlement with a series of men who used a complex method, in which stones were placed under the sculpture, a single trunk to direct it, ropes on both sides to find and prevent it from falling; and a lot of human strength
However, the method was not so infallible, since there are around 95 moai that can be visualized at the foot of the hills and show that they fell from the road and were left with their faces buried in the ground.
Because this represented a gigantic effort with the sole fact of having to raise the moai and much more to return it to the road; it was deduced that these sculptures were abandoned on the site and the inhabitants proceeded to build a new one.
The problem with the trees on this island was that there was a very delicate ecosystem. But coupled with all this there was the human factor, in which they must have carried out controlled deforestation to create fields due to the growing population.
However, this problem of the lack of trees, brought with it an internal war between the inhabitants of the island, which developed because the materials needed to make canoes, houses or even to light fires were already beginning to be scarce. like harpoons for fishing.
Even due to the lack of trees, the phenomenon of erosion of the first layer of the earth occurred and then food began to be scarce. This war was carried out by seizing the resources that were left on the island. Even the moai were toppled by rival sides from each settlement.
Even in some theories it is mentioned that it is quite probable that some tribes have become cannibals; this represented the dark age of civilization. This is still represented by the inhabitants of the island.
However, this town managed to achieve a resolution to this conflict through a competition very similar to the Olympics, in which a representative of each tribe had to descend a cliff, reach a small island by swimming through a channel. and take an egg from the only species of bird that continued to migrate to Easter Island even after deforestation.
Once the egg was obtained, he had to return on his journey and present it to the chief of the tribe. In this way, the winner would become the supreme leader of all the inhabitants of the island.
However, this dark period would be nothing compared to what happened years later in this place, since, when the years of famine and war were already being overcome, the first European explorers arrived. This happened on Easter Sunday, and for this reason it is now named in this way.
With the arrival of these, they brought diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis to the population. Later, in the 19th century, a group of Peruvian traffickers invaded the island, killing and kidnapping 1,500 natives; which constituted half of the total population of the island.
A decade later, only 111 rapa nui would remain on the island; This made it even more difficult for the population to flourish and prevent its extinction at the hands of man. They achieved this through a very sophisticated plantation system that allowed them to once again have resources on the island.
They did this by taking advantage of the minerals that were in the rocks, since the first layer of earth had eroded. These rocks when wet, created a new layer that generated a new mantle. Suitable for growing food
This is one of the keys to how this ancient culture managed to overcome adversity and make its legacy remain to this day. However, it is a great lesson for all the inhabitants of the planet.
We must avoid as much as possible consuming too much of the existing resources, since this could have very unfortunate consequences for everyone, because, by our nature in the field of survival, we could develop even more wars than those that currently exist.
Although there are better cultivation techniques and tools to carry them out, we must be cautious, because valuable resources such as drinking water could become scarce if we are not careful; In this way, seeking conflicts that could make us go back a lot in the evolution that we have reached today.
Likewise, if we visit historical sites with natural resources, such as Easter Island or even the Galapagos Islands, we must be respectful of the ecosystem, and take the necessary measures so that it is not harmed by human action.
