Hotu-iti (also, "Tongariki territory") is an area of southeastern

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its ne ...

that takes its name from a local clan. Located in

Rapa Nui National Park Rapa Nui National Park ( es, Parque nacional Rapa Nui) is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located ...

, the area includes

Rano Raraku Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on the lower slopes of Terevaka in the Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island in Chile. It was a quarry for about 500 years until the early eighteenth cent ...

crater, the

Ahu Tongariki Ahu Tongariki () is the largest ahu on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Its moais were toppled during the island's civil wars, and in the twentieth century the ahu was swept inland by a tsunami. It has since been restored and has fifteen moai, in ...

site, and a small bay. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Hotu-iti clan was one of two

polities A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...

on Easter Island.

Geography

Hotu-iti contains Rano Raraku crater, which is the island's only source of a type of stone that was considered to be the best for carving statues; it was also a source of moss which was used for canoe caulking. Hotuiti Bay, a small cove, is protected by the cliffs of the Poike Peninsula. According to local legend, the god

Tangaroa Tangaroa (Takaroa in the South Island) is the great of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish, in Māori mythology. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai he exercises control over the tides. He is sometimes depicted a ...

was killed in the bay and was buried in the vicinity. The

cliffs and quarry stand above Hotu-iti. The landscape has been described as a "wondrous spiritual landscape of striking beauty".

History

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the island was divided into two polities, described as either west (Tu'u) and east (Hotu-iti) confederacies, with Hotu-iti being the lower ranked; or northern (Tu'u Aro) and southern (Hotu-iti). In 1960, a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

, approximately above sea level, crossed of Hotu-iti, sweeping away ahu and

moai Moai or moʻai ( ; es, moái; rap, moʻai, , statue) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but ...

(statues), and scattering them by . Fifteen statues of Hotu-iti's Ahu Tongariki site were damaged; a team of Japanese archaeologists restored the site between 1992 and 1994.

Leadership

Polynesian mythology The Polynesian narrative or Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia (a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian Triangle) together with those of the scattered cul ...

, Hotu-iti was the youngest and favourite son of

Hotu Matu'a Hotu may refer to: * Hotu Matu'a, legendary first settler of Easter Island * The Yellow River Map The Yellow River Map, Scheme, or Diagram, also known by its Chinese name as the Hetu, is an ancient Chinese diagram that appears in myths conc ...

, the legendary first settler of Easter Island. One of the known chiefs of the Hotu-iti clan was Kainga, said to be a descendant of the sixth son of the first king who "proved himself a valiant warrior." He had a son who succeeded him named Huriavai. The Tupahotu, Koro-Orongo and Ure-o-Hei clans were considered part of the Hotu-iti clan.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Geography of Easter Island Polynesian mythology Rapa Nui mythology