An Island Mystery

Three centuries ago, when European explorers first sighted the Pacific island of Rapa Nui, it was home to a thriving population and hundreds of haunting moai statues. But, within a few generations, the landscape was decimated and its population in sharp decline. So what happened? Cat Jarman untangles

- By Cat Jarman. Photographs by Robert Harding, Bridgman, Paul Hewitt, Getty, AWL Images and Alamy

On Easter Sunday 1722, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen sighted a small, largely treeless island on his journey across the Pacific Ocean. It was located almost 2,000 miles from South America, the nearest continent, and more than 1,200 miles from the nearest island; it was one of the most remote and isolated locations in the world. Roggeveen's crew rejoiced, and he gave to the land the name Paásch Eyland (Easter Island], because it was discovered by us on Easter Day.

Yet despite its remoteness, the sailor soon discovered that the island was already home to a population of settlers, who had arrived there centuries earlier: “We saw smoke rising in several places,” Roggeveen reported, “from which we concluded that there were people dwelling on the same.” Those people had named their home Te Pito o te Henua - the navel of the world - or, more commonly, Rapa Nui. The Dutch explorers estimated that the population, known as the Rapanui, numbered around 3,000, and described it as “healthy.

In 1774 Captian Cook also visited the island, while searching for a new continent in the frigid waters of the southern Pacific. After two months at sea, his crew were exhausted and debilitated by scurvy, and in desperate need of provisions. They headed to Rapa Nui but were surprised by what they found: a barren island with neither wood nor much fresh water on its roughly 164 sq km. Nature,” Cook noted, “has been exceedingly sparing of her favors to the spot.”