THE EASTER ISLAND
Its invented past
Tim Gernitz, Peter Hertel
Easter Sunday 1722: The sea roars. After a seemingly neverending journey across the Pacific, the outlines of an island
appear in the morning mist. Captain Roggeveen and his crew christen it: Isla de Pascua – Easter Island.
For more than 50 years, the Freiberg Archive for Civilisation Research has been researching the history of Easter
Island in the South Pacific. This non-fiction book is the unconventional result.
The early history of Easter Island is based only on myths, but not on proven facts. Numerous authors gathered verbal
reports of old natives of the 19th and 20th centuries. And created a construct that, at best, can only be described as a
fairy tale.
Easter Island was once, after the collapse of its first great culture, a place of devastation, a place of human disasters.
And a symbol of what will happen to humanity if it does not take care of its life, their dealings with each other and
their planet.
