Easter Island, also known as Rapanui, is the most remote inhabited island in the world. However, it is better known for its moai statues, which are one of the most mysterious artifacts in human history. The islanders believed that the creation of stone idols would bring them prosperity, but in fact it led to the disappearance of forests and turned the island into an uninhabitable place.
The appearance of people on Easter Island is still a mystery. The distance from the nearest inhabited island is more than 2 thousand kilometers, and from the nearest mainland – more than 3.5 thousand kilometers. The local inhabitants have features of three races – australoid, mongoloid and Caucasian – which is of interest to scientists.
Easter Island is a rectangular triangle with sides of 16, 18 and 24 kilometers. The surface of the island is riddled with craters of extinct volcanoes, under which are lava caves that form bizarre underground mazes on several floors. Some people believe the underground passages link Rapanui with Chile, where the ancient settlers came from.
The Moai Istukans, which are the symbol of Easter Island, were created about 1200 years ago. They are believed to contain the souls and powers of the island’s chiefs. Accordingly, the construction of the new statue was intended to strengthen the protection of Rapanui and increase the amount of benevolence poured out by the higher powers.
However, the creation of the moai statues led to the disappearance of the island’s forests. The inhabitants of Rapanui used trees to create supporting structures for the statues. At least that is what scientists claim, who have to somehow explain the movement of statues of such gigantic proportions. When the forests disappeared, the island became an uncomfortable place to live. This caused the death of many animal and plant species on the island.
By the way, as it turned out later, the statues that we see on the island, this is only the upper part of them. It turns out that the global cataclysm was really global and Easter Island was not spared.