Jean-Baptiste Dutrou-Bornier
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Jean-Baptiste Onésime Dutrou-Bornier (19 November 1834 – 6 August 1876) was a French mariner who settled on
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 ...
in 1868, purchased much of the island, removed many of the
Rapa Nui people The Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui: , Spanish: ) are the Polynesian peoples indigenous to Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60% of the current Easter Island population a ...
, and turned the island into a sheep ranch.


Early life

Dutrou-Bornier served as an artillery officer in the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, and by 1860, had become a master mariner. He abandoned his wife and young son in France, and in 1865, bought a one-third share in the schooner ''Tampico''. He sailed to
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, where he was arrested, accused of arms-dealing, and sentenced to death. Released on the intervention of the French consul, he sailed to
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
, where he began recruiting labour from the islands of East Polynesia for coconut plantations.


Arrival on Easter Island

In November 1866, Dutrou-Bornier transported two missionaries, Kaspar Zumbohm and Theodore Escolan, to Easter Island. He visited the island again in March 1867 to recruit labourers, but then amassed huge gambling debts and, as a result of some fraudulent deals, forfeited his share of the ''Tampico''. He acquired the yacht ''Aora'i'' and arrived on Easter Island in April 1868, where the yacht was burnt. He set up residence at Mataveri and began buying up land from the Rapanui. In 1869, he seized Pua ‘Aku Renga, Koreto, the wife of a Rapanui, and married her. He tried to persuade France to make the island a
protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
and recruited a faction of Rapanui, whom he allowed to abandon their Christianity and revert to their previous faith. With rifles, a cannon, and hut burning, he and his supporters ran the island for several years as "governor", appointing Koreto
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. The title had no legitimacy behind it and is not recognized by the Rapanui or modern historians. Dutrou-Bornier aimed to cleanse the island of most of the Rapanui and turn it into a sheep ranch. He bought up all of the island, apart from the missionaries' area around
Hanga Roa Hanga Roa (; rap, HaÅ‹a Roa, Rapa Nui pronunciation: ˆha.Å‹a ˈɾo.a (Spanish: ''Bahía Larga'') is the main town, harbour and seat of Easter Island, a municipality of Chile. It is located in the southern part of the island's west coast, in th ...
, and moved a few hundred Rapanui to Tahiti to work for his backers. In 1871, the missionaries, having fallen out with Dutrou-Bornier, evacuated all but 171 Rapanui to the
Gambier islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera a ...
. Those who remained were mostly older men. Six years later, there were just 111 people living on Easter Island, and only 36 of them had any offspring.


Death

In 1876, Dutrou-Bornier was killed in an argument over a dress, though his kidnapping of pubescent girls may also have motivated his killers.


Legacy

Following Dutrou-Bornier's death and into the present day, the island's population slowly recovered. But with over 97% of the population dead or having left in less than a decade, much of the island's cultural knowledge had been lost. Neither his first wife back in France, who was heir under French law, nor his second wife on the island, who briefly installed their daughter Caroline as Queen, were to keep much from his estate. But to this day, most of the island is a ranch controlled from off-island, and for more than a century, real power on the island was usually exercised by resident non-Rapanui living at Mataveri. An unusual number of shipwrecks had left the island better supplied with wood than for many generations, whilst legal wrangles over Dutrou-Bornier's land deals were to complicate the island's history for decades to come.Steven R Fischer The island at the end of the world. Reaktion Books 2005 pages 106-122


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutrou, JeanBaptiste 1834 births 1876 deaths People from Montmorillon History of Easter Island Easter Island people 19th-century French criminals People of the Crimean War French military personnel of the Crimean War French sailors French farmers European colonisation in Oceania Slavery in Oceania 1860s in Easter Island Self-proclaimed monarchy