Arielle and Connor What caused Easter Island to Collapse?

Collapse of Easter Island

Why did Easter Island Collapse?

·      Depletion of resources (deforestation)

·      Lack of trading partners

·      Political, social, religious factors

The collapse of Easter Island is heavily due to its isolated geographical location. The closest landmass to Easter Island was Chile, which was 2,300 miles to the east, and the Pitcairn Islands, which were 1,300 miles to the west. Due to the extreme distances between Easter Island and the mainland they did not have consistent trading partners. This caused them to exhaust their resources before they could be naturally renewed. The citizens of the island, the Rapanui, carved large statues known as Moai, out of stone to represent their ancestral deities. They cut down trees to clear pathways to move the Moai around the island. They also used the trees as logs to push the statues.  This then caused the soil to erode and they could no longer grow crops for food. This deforestation also led to a decline in native bird populations, which the Rapanui used as a food source.  The Rapanui became angry with their leaders and blamed their ancestors for what they thought was a curse on their civilization. They began knocking over the Moai statues as a sign of rebellion. The final Moai statue was knocked down in 1840.