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The Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui: [ˈɾapa ˈnu.i], Spanish: [ˈrapa ˈnu.i]) are the indigenous Polynesian peoples of Easter Island.The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60% of the current Easter Island population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile.
It was this era of peace and recovery that saw the linguistic change from old Rapa Nui to the Tahitian-influenced modern Rapa Nui language, and some changes to the island's myths and culture to accommodate other Polynesian and Christian influences (notably, Ure, the old Rapa Nui word for "penis", was dropped from many people's names).
Hotu Matuꞌa was the legendary first settler and ariki mau ("supreme chief" or "king") of Easter Island and ancestor of the Rapa Nui people. [1] Hotu Matuꞌa and his two-canoe (or one double hulled canoe) colonising party were Polynesians from the now unknown land of Hiva (probably the Marquesas).
But there are two words pronounced pito in Rapa Nui, one meaning "end" and one "navel", and the phrase can thus also mean "The Navel of the World". Another name, "Mata ki te rangi", means "Eyes looking to the sky". [18] Islanders are referred to in Spanish as pascuense, but members of the indigenous community are commonly called Rapa Nui.
The people of Rapa Nui were especially competitive during those times. They usually competed to build a bigger moai than their neighbors, but when this failed to resolve the conflict, the tribes often turned to war and throwing down each other's statues.
[5] Around that time, he became a catechumen in the Catholic Church, and he was later baptized, being one of the first Rapa Nui people to do so. [2] [5] He was given the baptismal name Kerekorio (Grégoire or Gregorio). [3] [5] However, in October 1867, Easter Island was devastated by tuberculosis and Manu Rangi was among the deceased. [5]
The Rapa Nui people were devastated by raids of slave traders who visited the island in 1862. Within a year, the individuals who remained on the island were sick or injured, and lacking leadership. The survivors of the slave raids had new company from missionaries, who converted the remaining populace to Christianity.
The 1888 Rapa Nui-Chile annexation treaty with Tahitian and Rapa Nui translation on the left and Spanish translation on the right. In 1887, Captain Policarpo Toro was sent by the government of Chile to purchase Salmon's sheep ranch and negotiate the annexation the island from the Catholic mission authority in Tahiti.