We were all taught to believe that the people of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) destroyed themselves by destroying their environment until the last tree was chopped down, bringing that civilization from decline to a perilous end. But that's not quite what happened. The only people in the South Pacific to develop their own language and writing system used incredible technology we do not understand and probably cannot mimic today to create moai (activated statues) with eyes made of iridescent shells watching over them, somehow buried so deep in the ground that only their massive heads stick out. It was the Europeans who arrived and possibly brought vermin and disease with them, to say nothing of their greed, malice, and eagerness to enslave and exploit the Natives that ruined this distant outpost of humanity.
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