Other+Important+Info+About+Central&South+America

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Easter Island is as told to be the most isolated and inhabited inland in the world. In addition to that, it is also home to a world of great mystery. On the island there are numerous statues with unknown origin. This island has puzzled people for years and some have come up with a theory of its beginning.

The island is far out in the Pacific and triangular in shape. It is only about 64 square miles with a volcano on each tip. As the story goes, its steep slopes stood out to a group of Polynesian seafarers. We do not know why they had originally set out on this journey or how long they were out at see, but they were soon to make this island their home. At that time, the island was filled with lush tropical forests and the plants they brought with them grew plentifully in the volcanic soil. Archeologists suspect that the population hit a high of between 7,000 and 9,000 people around 1550 A.D. They grew up and formed clans on different parts of the island. However one thing kept them together, the statue construction. map to easter island

The islanders took statue construction on a massive scale, and this ultimately lead to their downfall. Every time they made a statue, moai as they’re called, they depleted more and more of the forests. The Easter Islanders chiseled the titanic moai out of the side of the cliff face, making them out of the volcanic rock. They were said to be true artists, carefully sketching out each figure and abandoning it if it had an imperfection. They would roll the moai on tree trucks and pull them with ropes after completing them. This was starting to destroy the forests. If some moai broke while being moved, they were again abandoned. Few lie cracked on road sides around the island. After being set in previously prepared holes designs were inscribed on they and they were decorated with coral and obsidian eyes. But only a few were treated in this manor. Some were placed on platforms in specific groups. Others were half buried and tipped over. It is unknown why the people did this. Some think it was spiritual, some think they may have represented different chiefs of the island. They all are scattered somewhere near the coast, some looking out to see and some looking toward the island. Many believe the different clans were racing to build the biggest and best moai, their population increasing and increasing. They had an obsession with the statue building, some would have been impossible to move. One, still carved into the rock, was over 70 feet tall.But then disaster struck.

The forest was continuously being cut down, to make houses, for fire and now to be used to roll and erect the moai. Without the trees the land began to erode. The topsoil was washed away and the land became infertile. The tribes turned against each other, battling for the few recourses left. Some resorted to cannibalism, eating their dead enemies to give them strength. Skeletons provide archeological evidence. The moai were toppled, smashed and buried. The Rapa Nui culture was vanishing. There was no wood left to build escape boats. Their people were dying off.

The island was a wasteland and they were more cut of than ever before. Their was no way of getting off it. Out of the few survivors, the Birdman Cult begain to arise. They once again begain to transfrom the rocks, however this time they carved designs into the ones along the shore. The culture was begining to rebuild itself. But we will never know if the Rapa Nui would have prospored once again. In 1862 a wave of slave traders came to the island, taking away all the healthy individuals. Disease struck the group leaving the culture in disarray.

Eventually missionaries reached the island. They arrived on Easter Sunday, giving it the name Easter Island. At this point the group was most vunerable, their society in ruins. This made it easy for the mission to convert them to Christianity. Islanders were forced to move from their native parts of the island so the land could be used for ranching. Their tattoos, peircings and body paintings we banned. Their artworks and sacred items destroyed. Most of the Rapa Nui people died out, the understanding of their culture forever lost.

This story can be related to our world, just on a smaller scale. It shows what deforestation can do, and how an entire culture was lost. Even today, people still are unsure why the Rapa Nui built the moai. Some think they represented gods, some think they stood for cheifs and, when the cheif died, they tipped the statue over. Others belive the island is a work of extraterristrial life. But no matter what happened here, it will remain a mystery. ( http://mysteriousplaces.com/Easter_Island/index.html )

media type="youtube" key="gfbQA-Krx9Q" height="405" width="660" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfbQA-Krx9Q )

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Other Attractions of the Region: __Iguazu Falls__  These are the waterfalls of the Iguazu River, located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. The height of its longest drop is 82 meters, with 275 drops, this waterfall divides the Iguazu into an upper and lower part.

(  ) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls)

__Angel Falls__  This waterfall is the tallest in the world. Located in Canaima National Park, Venezuela it has a total height of 3,212 feet. The falls feed into the Kerep River and, because of the height of the falls, the water is pulverized by strong winds and turned into mist, which has even been said to be felt from a mile away.

) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Falls

__Statue of Christ the Redeemer__ This is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It stands at about 130 feet tall, and is considered the largest art deco statue in the world. The monument was completed on October 12, 1931 and it now not only symbolizes Christianity but also an icon of Brazil. = = 

[|( statue picture]) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_(statue) 

__Machu Picchu__  Machu Picchu is now one of the most recognizable syblols of the Inca Empire. Sometimes known as "The Lost City of the Incas," Machu Picchu is located on top of a mountain ridge, next to the Urubamba Valley, in Peru. It is thought to be constructed around 1430 A.D in hopes of becoming the great new city for the Incas. However construction was abandoned after around 100 years of buliding, due to Spanish conquest of the civilization. Many locals new of they city of ruins, but it had still remaind a secret to the outside world until 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. <span style="color: #ffad00; display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 229.6%; text-align: left;">

[|( machu picchu image]) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu )

<span style="color: #ffad00; display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 229.6%; text-align: left;">__Tikal__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This is one of the largest sites of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in Northern Guatemala. It was considered one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Maya dating back to 400 B.C.

[|(tikal picture]) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal ) <span style="color: #ffad00; display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 229.6%; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #ffad00; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 368%; text-align: center;">••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••