Argumentative Essay On Easter Island

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William F Reeves EG-481 12/14/2011 THE LESSON OF EASTER LSLAND In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead? Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations?…show more content…
Easter Island, which consists of a scant 64 miles of land, is the most isolated habitable land on the planet. It lies in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,000 miles west of the nearest continent (South America), and 1,400 miles away from even the nearest habitable island (Pitcairm). Given its mild climate, volcanic origins and fertile soil, Easter Island should be a miniature paradise. Instead, it is a virtual wasteland. When seafaring Europeans first encountered Easter Island they found a population of about 2,000 people scraping out a living on the barren island. Although the natives appeared to be from Polynesian ancestry, the natives that these first Europeans contacted not only had no idea that other human beings existed elsewhere on the planet, but their crude, leaky canoes could not possibly have made the journey to the island from elsewhere. Nor did they possess the skill, manpower, social structure or tools necessary to create the 200 giant heads that once stood upright on the island, let alone the 700 others that were abandoned in various stages of completion -- some in quarries, others laying abandoned on ancient
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