Hotu Matu'a

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Hotu Matu'a was the legendary first settler and ariki mau ("supreme chief" or "king") of Easter Island and ancestor of the Rapa Nui people. [1] Hotu Matu'a and his two canoe (or one double hulled canoe) colonising party were Polynesians from the now unknown land of Hiva (probably the Marquesas). They landed at Anakena beach and his people spread out across the island, sub-divided it between clans claiming descent from his sons, and lived for more than a thousand years in their isolated island home at the southeastern tip of the Polynesian Triangle.

An ariki, ‘ariki, aliki, ali‘i, ari'i, aiki or hakaiki, akariki or ‘eiki (Tonga) is or was a member of a hereditary chiefly or noble rank in Polynesia.

Easter Island Place in Valparaíso, Chile

Easter Island is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. Easter Island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.

Rapa Nui people native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island

The Rapa Nui are the aboriginal Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Rapa Nui make up about 60% of the current Rapa Nui population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile. They speak both the traditional Rapa Nui language and the primary language of Chile, Spanish. At the 2002 census there were 3,304 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.

Contents

History

Polynesians first came to Rapa Nui (also called Easter Island) sometime between 300 CE and 800 CE. These are the common elements of oral history that have been extracted from island legends. Linguistic, DNA and pollen analysis all point to a Polynesian first settlement of the island at that time, but it is unlikely that other details can be verified. [2] During this era the Polynesians were colonising islands across a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Hotu Matuʻa led his people from Hiva; linguistic analysis comparing Rapanui to other Polynesian languages suggests this was the Marquesas Islands.

Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group of closely related peoples who are native to Polynesia, an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group who trace their urheimat to Southeast Asia. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily of the Austronesian language family.

Common Era or Current Era (CE) is one of the notation systems for the world's most widely used calendar era. BCE is the era before CE. BCE and CE are alternatives to the Dionysian BC and AD system respectively. The Dionysian era distinguishes eras using AD and BC. Since the two notation systems are numerically equivalent, "2019 CE" corresponds to "AD 2019" and "400 BCE" corresponds to "400 BC". Both notations refer to the Gregorian calendar. The year-numbering system utilized by the Gregorian calendar is used throughout the world today, and is an international standard for civil calendars.

Pacific Ocean Ocean between Asia and Australia in the west, the Americas in the east and Antarctica or the Southern Ocean in the south.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

Legend

Hau-Maka had a dream in which his spirit traveled to a far country, to help look for new land for King Hotu Matu'a. He traveled to the Mata ki te rangi ("Eyes that look to the sky"). The island has also been called "Te pito o te henua", which means "the Center of the Earth." Both islands are commonly said to be Easter Island.

When Hau-Maka woke, he told the King. The King then ordered seven men to travel to the island from Hiva, their mythical home, to investigate. They found the land and returned to Hiva. The king himself then traveled to the new island. [3] The king traveled with his queen, Vakai (Vakai-a-hiva). [4]

Theories and controversy

Tuʻu ko Iho

The resemblance of the name to an early Mangarevan founder god, Atu Motua ("Father Lord"), has made some historians suspect that Hotu Matuʻa was added to Easter Island mythology only in the 1860s, along with adopting the Mangarevan language. The "real" founder would have been Tuʻu ko Iho , who became just a supporting character in the Hotu Matuʻa centric legends. [5]

Mangareva central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia

Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent population of 1,239 (2012) and the largest village on the island, Rikitea, is the chief town of the Gambier Islands.

Dates of the first settlements

There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 CE, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in Hawaii. Some scientists say that Easter Island was not inhabited until 700-800 CE. This date range is based on glottochronological calculations and on three radiocarbon dates from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest clearance activities, [6] while a recent study, with radiocarbon dates from what is thought to be very early material, proves the island was settled by 1200 CE. [7] This seems to be supported by the latest information on island's deforestation that could have started around the same time. [8] Any earlier human activity seems to be insignificant or low impact.

Hawaii State of the United States of America

Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States, having received statehood on August 21, 1959. Hawaii is the only U.S. state located in Oceania, the only U.S. state located outside North America, and the only one composed entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.

Glottochronology is the part of lexicostatistics dealing with the chronological relationship between languages.

Radiocarbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.

South America or Polynesia

The Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl pointed out many cultural similarities between Easter Island and South American Indian cultures which he suggested might have resulted from some settlers arriving also from the continent. [9] According to local legends, a group of long-eared [10] unknown men referred to as hanau eepe [11] had arrived on the island sometime after Polynesians, introducing the stone carving technology and attempting to enslave the local Polynesians. [12] Some early accounts of the legend place hanau epe as the original residents and Polynesians as later immigrants coming from Oparo. [13] After mutual suspicions erupted in a violent clash, the hanau eepe were overthrown and exterminated, leaving only one survivor. [14] The first description of island's demographics by Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 still claimed that the population consisted of two distinctive ethnic groups, one being clearly Polynesian and the other "white" with so lengthened earlobes that they could tie them behind their necks. [15] Roggeveen also noted how some of the islanders were "generally large in stature". Islanders' tallness was also witnessed by the Spanish who visited the island in 1770, measuring heights of 196 and 199 cm (6.4 and 6.5 ft). [16]

The fact that sweet potatoes, a staple of the Polynesian diet, and several other domestic plants - up to 12 in Easter Island - are of South American origin indicates that there may have been some contact between the two cultures. Either Polynesians have traveled to South America and back, or South American balsa rafts have drifted to Polynesia, possibly unable to make a return trip because of their less developed navigational skills and more fragile boats, or both. Polynesian connections in South America have been noticed among the Mapuche Indians in central and southern Chile. [17] The Polynesian name for the small islet of Salas y Gómez (Manu Motu Motiro Hiva, "Bird's islet on the way to a far away land") east of Easter Island has also been seen as a hint that South America was known before European contacts. Further complicating the situation is that the word Hiva ("far away land") was also the name of the islanders' legendary home country. Inexplicable insistence on an eastern origin for the first inhabitants was unanimous among the islanders in all early accounts. [18]

Mainstream archeology is skeptical about any non-Polynesian influence on the island's prehistory, although the discussion has become political. DNA sequence analysis of Easter Island's current inhabitants (a tool not available in Heyerdahl's time) offers strong evidence of Polynesian origins. However, since few islanders survived the 19th century slave raids, epidemics and deportations (perhaps only 0.25% of the peak population), this evidence depends on how representative the survivors were of the general Rapanui population.

See also

Related Research Articles

Thor Heyerdahl Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer

Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany, and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. The expedition was designed to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between separate cultures. This was linked to a diffusionist model of cultural development. Heyerdahl subsequently made other voyages designed to demonstrate the possibility of contact between widely separated ancient people, notably the Ra II expedition of 1970, when he sailed from the west coast of Africa to Barbados in a papyrus reed boat. He was appointed a government scholar in 1984.

Rongorongo Undeciphered text of Easter Island

Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that appears to be writing or proto-writing. Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, none successfully. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, none of these glyphs can actually be read. If rongorongo does prove to be writing and proves to be an independent invention, it would be one of very few independent inventions of writing in human history.

In Polynesian mythology, Hawaiki is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories.

Rapa Nui or Rapanui also known as Pascuan, or Pascuense, is an Eastern Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family spoken on the island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island.

Isla Salas y Gómez island of Chile

Isla Salas y Gómez, also known as Isla Sala y Gómez, is a small uninhabited Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. It is sometimes considered the easternmost point in the Polynesian Triangle.

<i>Rapa-Nui</i> (film) 1994 American film directed by Kevin Reynolds

Rapa-Nui is a 1994 film directed by Kevin Reynolds and coproduced by Kevin Costner, who starred in Reynolds's previous film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). The plot is based on Rapanui legends of Easter Island, Chile, in particular the race for the sooty tern's egg in the Birdman Cult.

Matua may refer to:

Easter Island was traditionally ruled by a monarchy, with a king as its leader.

Rapa Nui mythology, also known as Pascuense mythology or Easter Island mythology, refers to the native myths, legends, and beliefs of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island in the south eastern Pacific Ocean.

Hanau epe

The Hanau epe were a semi-legendary people who are said to have lived in Easter Island, where they came into conflict with another people known as the Hanau momoko or "short-ears". A decisive battle occurred which led to the defeat and extermination of the Hanau epe. According to the legend, these events are supposed to have happened at some point between the 16th and 18th centuries, probably in the late 17th century.

Anakena beach

Anakena is a white coral sand beach in Rapa Nui National Park on Rapa Nui, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. Anakena has two ahus; Ahu-Ature has a single moai and Ahu Nao-Nao has seven, two of which have deteriorated. It also has a palm grove and a car park.

Ahu Akivi particular sacred place in Rapa Nui (or Easter Island)

Ahu Akivi is a particular sacred place in Rapa Nui in the Valparaíso Region of Chile, looking out towards the Pacific Ocean. The site has seven moai, all of equal shape and size, and is also known as a celestial observatory that was set up around the 16th century. The site is located inland, rather than along the coast. Moai statues were considered by the early people of Rapa Nui as their ancestors or Tupuna that were believed to be the reincarnation of important kings or leaders of their clans. The Moais were erected to protect and bring prosperity to their clan and village.

History of Easter Island

Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island, located in the mid-Pacific 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 occasion. The ensuing cultural legacy has brought the island notoriety out of proportion to the number of its inhabitants.

Father Sebastian Englert OFM Cap., was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist and ethnologist from Germany. He is known for his pioneering work on Easter Island, where the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum is named after him.

William Mulloy American anthropologist

William Thomas Mulloy, Jr. (1917–1978) was an American anthropologist. While his early research established him as a formidable scholar and skillful fieldwork supervisor in the province of North American Plains archaeology, he is best known for his studies of Polynesian prehistory, especially his investigations into the production, transportation and erection of the monumental statuary on Rapa Nui known as moai.

The Rapa Nui calendar was the indigenous lunisolar calendar of Easter Island. It is now obsolete.

Atamu Tekena

Atamu Tekena or Atamu te Kena, full name Atamu Maurata Te Kena ʻAo Tahi was the penultimate ‘Ariki or King of Rapa Nui from 1883 until his death. He was appointed as the ruler in 1883 by the French Picpus missionaries in the island to represent their interest after a two decade interval in the native kingship caused by the disruptions of Westernization. Although a member of the Miru clan, traditionally associated with the native kingship, he was not a royal of the traditional patrilineal line of kings. In 1888, he signed a treaty of annexation ceding Easter Island to Chile in a ceremony officiated by Captain Policarpo Toro. His name is translated as "Adam the Gannet".

Juan Tepano

Juan Tepano Rano ʻa Veri ʻAmo was a Rapa Nui leader of Easter Island. He served as an informant for Euro-American scholars on the culture and history of the island.

References

  1. ↑ Carlos Mordo, Easter Island (Willowdale, Ontario: Firefly Books Ltd., 2002)
  2. ↑ Summary of Thomas S. Barthel's version of Hotu Matu'a's arrival to Easter Island.
  3. ↑ Thomas S. Barthel’s The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Settlement of Easter Island (Honolulu: University of Hawaii 1978; originally published in German in 1974)
  4. ↑ Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin, 1971
  5. ↑ See Steven Fischer (1994). Rapanui's Tu'u ko Iho Versus Mangareva's 'Atu Motua. Evidence for Multiple Reanalysis and Replacement in Rapanui Settlement Traditions, Easter Island. The Journal of Pacific History, 29(1), 3-18. See also Rapa Nui / Geography, History and Religion. Peter H. Buck, Vikings of the Pacific, University of Chicago Press, 1938. pp. 228-236. Online version.
  6. ↑ Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books: 2005. ISBN   0-14-303655-6. Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter pp.79-119. See page 89.
  7. ↑ Hunt, T. L., Lipo, C. P., 2006. Science, 1121879. See also "Late Colonization of Easter Island" in Science Magazine. Entire article Archived 2008-08-29 at the Wayback Machine . is also hosted by the Department of Anthropology of the University of Hawaii.
  8. ↑ Hunt, Terry L. (2006), "Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island", American Scientist, 94 (5): 412–419, doi:10.1511/2006.61.412
  9. ↑ Heyderdahl, Thor. Easter Island - The Mystery Solved. Random House New York 1989.
  10. ↑ There is no doubt that the Polynesian elite practiced ear-lengthening on Easter Island until the late 19th century, but its possible origin from South America has been noted. The Inca chiefs were called Orejones, "big ears," by the Spaniards because the lobes of their ears had been enlarged artificially to receive the great gold earrings which they were fond of wearing. See Inca Land - Explorations in the Highlands of Peru by Hiram Bingham, 1912. Online version.
  11. ↑ In the Rapanui language the pronunciation is "eepe" "meaning "stout," however American Paymaster William Thomson wrote it as "epe" in his 1886 book Te Pito o Te Henua translating it as part of the term "long ear." Outsiders have spelled it that way ever since and the original meaning has become convoluted, however to the Rapanui "hanau eepe" means "born stout" and refers to people of high rank as opposed to "hanau momoko" which means born like a lizard, or low rank people, not "short ear."
  12. ↑ Compare this with South American traditions recorded in the 16th century, in which the Inca Emperor Tupac Inca Yupanqui is credited to have undertaken an almost year-long Pacific exploration around 1480, encountering "black people" and finding islands Nina and Hahua chumpi. The same legend claims that occasional travels oversees were done already earlier. See History of the Incas by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, 1572. Online version of the book, page 91; in English.
  13. ↑ This version was recorded by Doctor J.L. Palmer in 1868. See Heyerdahl. However, the legends may be influenced by the situation of the 1860s: fierce fighting ensued on the island when the remaining population and returning immigrants fought for the land and resources.
  14. ↑ The "Hanau Eepe", their Immigration and Extermination.
  15. ↑ Vanderbes, Jennifer (2004). Easter Island (Delta trade pbk. ed.). New York, NY: Delta. p. 35. ISBN   978-0-385-33674-1.
  16. ↑ See Heyerdahl.
  17. ↑ Mapuche Indians and Polynesian connections.
  18. ↑ This was recorded e.g. by the British B. F. Clark in 1877. See Heyerdahl.

4 The Mystery of Easter Island - Katherine Routledge 1919

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