ラパヌイの歴史– category –

ラパ・ヌイ語 世界でも最も神秘的で魅力的な言語の一つ、ラパ・ヌイ語を紹介します。ラパ・ヌイ語は、太平洋の孤島、イースター島の先住民によって話されている言語です。この小さな島は、世界的に有名なモアイ像で知られていますが、その言語も同様にユニ...

EPILOGUE The people of Easter Island, in their global solitude, were able to adapt to and survive the worst clamities: drought, climate crises, raids by slave traders, epidemics, territorial dispossession, forced labor and the almost tot...

THE FOREIGNERS SETTLE Horror struck Rapa Nui on December 12, 1862, when a fleet of slave traders took half the population, about 1,100 people including the king. Nearly all of them died of illness durning deportation. In 1864, a missiona...

FIRST VISIT OF FOREIGNERS The solitude of Rapa Nui, lasting about six centuries, came to an end on April 5, 1722, Easter Sunday, whith the sudden arrival of a strange group of people on impressive ships; the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen stay...

SACRED WOOD In Polynesia, trees and gods were inseparable; the birds, messengers of the gods, landed on tree branches while the roots plunged into the soil to the land of the dead. Just like stones or animals, trees had a soul. The choic...

THE RONGORONGO SECRET The islanders are distinguished by their extraordinary achievements: conquerors of the most isolated land in the world, sculptors of gigantic statues raised on monumental platforms, they also invented a system of wr...

WOOD SCULPTURES The wood sculptures of Rapa Nui, of which there is a large variety, show autstanding craftsmanship and skill. The statuettes are named moai miro (moai = representation; miro = wood). The name of some of these moai is foll...

ROCK ART At Orongo, rock art has been expressed in all its forms: engraving, sculpture, painting. The Hoa Haka Nanaia moai, 2.4m high, buried up to its stomach in one of the stone houses with its face turned towards the wall, is the only...

THE BIRD-MAN The climate crisis caused a vertiable revolution that upset the very foundations of Rapa Nui society. In the 17th century, the supernatural powers of the ariki mau from the Hotu Matua lineage proved ineffective in the fight ...

THE ADAPTATIONS In the 17th century, the sudden disappearance of the large trees caused deep psychological, religious, social, economic and architectural transformations. The people of Rapa Nui, deprived of their vessels, were prisoners ...