La Isla Más Increible del Mundo

I have just returned from a four day visit to Easter Island, it was incredible. Easter Island is not only a fascinating place in an archaeological sense, but also culturally. The fact that only 4,000 people inhabit the island, and that only people of Rapa Nui descent can own land makes for a very homogeneous society.

I am sure that you have all seen pictures of the Moai, so I'm not going to bore you describing them. The history of Easter Island is what really makes it an amazing place. It is believe that people arrived to Easter Island from other parts of Polynesia sometime between 400 and 700 AD. The island at this time was covered in vegetation and food sources.

When the people began building the Moai they became obsessed with them. They spent more time building Moai than farming and fishing. They were also cutting down trees to use as transport for the Moai at a massive rate. At the same time the population of the island was growing immensely, peaking at 10,000 people. 

What resulted were food shortages, and subsequently civil-war. Easter Island is a good indicator of what could happen to us if we continue to live the way we do. We have to stop being so obsessed with our own lives, but also care for future lives.