How did the Rapanui go extinct?

How did the Rapanui go extinct?

In this story, made popular by geographer Jared Diamond’s bestselling book Collapse, the Indigenous people of the island, the Rapanui, so destroyed their environment that, by around 1600, their society fell into a downward spiral of warfare, cannibalism, and population decline.

Why did the people of Easter Island go extinct?

Around 1400 the Easter Island palm became extinct due to overharvesting. Its capability to reproduce has become severely limited by the proliferation of rats, introduced by the islanders when they first arrived, which ate its seeds.

What happened to the people of Rapanui?

In 1871 the missionaries, having fallen out with Dutrou-Bornier, evacuated all but 171 Rapa Nui to the Gambier islands. Those who remained were mostly older men. Six years later, only 111 people lived on Easter Island, and only 36 of them had any offspring. From that point on, the island’s population slowly recovered.

What was the major cause for the collapse of population on Rapanui?

When Stenseth and Lima used their model and theories to analyse the data from Rapa Nui, the conclusion soon became quite clear. “The demographic declines of the Rapa Nui are linked to the long-term effects of climate change on the island’s capacity for the production of food”, explains Mauricio Lima.

Are there any Easter Islanders left?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast. As of 2011, Rapa Nui’s main source of income derived from tourism, which focuses on the giant sculptures called moai.

What became the largest supply of meat on Easter Island?

In place of these meat supplies, the Easter Islanders intensified their production of chickens, which had been only an occasional food item. They also turned to the largest remaining meat source available: humans, whose bones became common in late Easter Island garbage heaps.

Are the Rapa Nui still alive?

First of all, the Rapa Nui haven’t been wiped off the face of the Earth: the Rapa Nui people still make up over half the Polynesian population today. Their ancestors likely arrived on Easter Island, now part of Chile, roughly a millennium ago.

Are there any Rapa Nui left?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.

What did the decline of porpoise a dolphin bones in garbage piles indicate?

5. What did the decline of porpoise (e.g. dolphin) bones in garbage piles indicate? This indicated that over time, the islanders were less and less capable of going out to see to hunt for porpoise. This was another indication that they were missing the necessary palm trees needed to make seaworthy canoes.

Do the Rapa Nui people still exist?

Did Polynesians eat rats?

The islanders’ use of rats was not surprising to the researchers. In some cases, the rats were probably transported intentionally to be used as food, something supported by ethnographic accounts stating that, in some areas of Polynesia, rats were being consumed at the time of European contact.

What was the largest animal available to the Islanders?

Most other islanders also had domestic pigs and dogs. On Easter, porpoises would have been the largest animal available–other than humans. The porpoise species identified at Easter, the common dolphin, weighs up to 165 pounds.

Why did the Rapa Nui islanders go extinct?

A number of bird and mammal species also went extinct, the result of a prolonged period of over-exploitation that would have serious consequences on the community. When the first European explorer, Jacob Roggeveen, arrived in 1722, the Rapa Nui population had dwindled from an estimated 10,000 people to just a few thousand.

Who are the descendants of the Rapa Nui people?

The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) make up about 60% of the current Rapa Nui population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile.

When did Rapa Nui become a World Heritage Site?

Today, it has the status of special territory within Chile. The entire island became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, with much of it protected within the Rapa Nui National Park. It is thought that the Rapa Nui, the inhabitants of the island, came from other pacific islands in canoes between 700 and 1100 AD.

Why was the moai important to the Rapa Nui?

Lipo’s team believes the creation of the moai and their pukao are evidence that the Rapa Nui people were more cooperative and community-minded than warrior-like. Analysis of obsidian artifacts from the northern part of the island gave insights about land use over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4U5Y7MSAJc