Hotu Matuꞌa was the legendary first settler and ''

ariki An ariki (New Zealand, Cook Islands), ꞌariki ( Easter Island), aliki (Tokelau, Tuvalu), ali‘i (Samoa, Hawai‘i), ari'i (Society Islands, Tahiti), Rotuma) aiki or hakaiki ( Marquesas Islands), akariki (Gambier Islands) or ‘eiki (Tonga) is o ...

mau'' ("supreme chief" or "king") of

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) 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 renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

and ancestor of the

Rapa Nui people The Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui: , Spanish: ) are the Indigenous Polynesian peoples of 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 ...

. Hotu Matuꞌa and his two-canoe (or one double hulled canoe) colonising party were

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

from the now unknown land of Hiva (probably the

Marquesas The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific ...

). They landed at Anakena beach and his people spread out across the island, sub-divided it between clans claiming descent from his sons, and lived for more than a thousand years in their isolated island home at the southeastern tip of the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaii (''Hawaiʻi''), Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (''Aotearoa''). This is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outsi ...

History

first came to

Rapa Nui Easter Island (, ; , ) 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 renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

(also called

) sometime between 300 CE and 800 CE. These are the common elements of oral history that have been extracted from island legends. Linguistic, DNA and pollen analysis all point to a Polynesian first settlement of the island at that time, but it is unlikely that other details can be verified. During this era the Polynesians were colonising islands across a vast expanse of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Hotu Matuꞌa led his people from Hiva; linguistic analysis comparing Rapanui to other Polynesian languages suggests this was the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

Legend

The royal adviser :es:Hau-Maka had a dream in which his spirit traveled to a far country, to help look for new land for King Hotu Matuꞌa. He traveled to the ''Mata ki te rangi'' ("Eyes that look to the sky"). The island has also been called ''Te pito o te henua'', which means "the Center of the Earth." Both islands are commonly said to be

. When Hau-Maka woke, he told the King. The King then ordered seven men to travel to the island from Hiva, their mythical home, to investigate. They found the land and returned to Hiva. The king himself then traveled to the new island. The king traveled with his queen, Vakai (Vakai-a-hiva).

Theories and controversy

Tuꞌu ko Iho

The resemblance of the name to an early

Mangareva Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent p ...

n founder god, ''Atu Motua'' ("Father Lord"), has made some historians suspect that Hotu Matuꞌa was added to Easter Island mythology only in the 1860s, along with adopting the Mangarevan language. The real founder would have been '' Tuꞌu ko Iho'', who became just a supporting character in the Hotu Matuꞌa–centric legends.

Dates of the first settlements

There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 CE, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Some scientists say that Easter Island was not inhabited until 700-800 CE. This date range is based on glottochronological calculations and on three radiocarbon dates from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest clearance activities, while a recent study, with radiocarbon dates from what is thought to be very early material, proves the island was settled by 1200 CE. This seems to be supported by the latest information on island's deforestation that could have started around the same time. Any earlier human activity seems to be insignificant or low impact.

South America or Polynesia

The Norwegian

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...

pointed out many cultural similarities between Easter Island and South American Indian cultures which he suggested might have resulted from some settlers arriving also from the continent. According to local legends, a group of long-eared unknown men referred to as '' hanau eepe'' had arrived on the island sometime after Polynesians, introducing the stone carving technology and attempting to enslave the local Polynesians. Some early accounts of the legend place ''hanau epe'' as the original residents and Polynesians as later immigrants coming from Oparo. After mutual suspicions erupted in a violent clash, the ''hanau eepe'' were overthrown and exterminated, leaving only one survivor. The first description of island's demographics by

Jacob Roggeveen Jacob Roggeveen (1 February 1659 – 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis and Davis Land, but instead found Easter Island (called so because he landed there on Easter Sunday). Jacob Roggeveen also found Bor ...

in 1722 still claimed that the population consisted of two distinctive ethnic groups, one being clearly Polynesian and the other "white" with so lengthened earlobes that they could tie them behind their necks. Roggeveen also noted how some of the islanders were "generally large in stature". Islanders' tallness was also witnessed by the Spanish who visited the island in 1770, measuring heights of 196 and 199 cm (6.4 and 6.5 ft). The fact that

sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

, a staple of the Polynesian diet, and several other domestic plants - up to 12 in Easter Island - are of South American origin indicates that there may have been some contact between the two cultures. Either Polynesians have traveled to South America and back, or South American balsa rafts have drifted to Polynesia, possibly unable to make a return trip because of their less developed navigational skills and more fragile boats, or both. Polynesian connections in South America have been noticed among the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

Indians in central and southern Chile. The Polynesian name for the small islet of Salas y Gómez (''Manu Motu Motiro Hiva'', "Bird's islet on the way to a far away land") ''east'' of Easter Island has also been seen as a hint that South America was known before European contacts. Further complicating the situation is that the word ''Hiva'' ("far away land") was also the name of the islanders' legendary home country. Inexplicable insistence on an eastern origin for the first inhabitants was unanimous among the islanders in all early accounts. Mainstream archeology is skeptical about any non-Polynesian influence on the island's prehistory, although the discussion has become political. DNA sequence analysis of Easter Island's current inhabitants (a tool not available in Heyerdahl's time) offers strong evidence of Polynesian origins. In 2017, analysis of human remains from Rapanui pre-dating European contact has found evidence of only Polynesian ancestry. A 2020 study of DNA from across Polynesia found conclusive evidence of contact with South America, which likely occurred in Eastern Polynesia before the settlement of Rapanui.

References

4 The Mystery of Easter Island - Katherine Routledge 1919 {{DEFAULTSORT:Matua, Hotu Rapa Nui mythology Rapa Nui people Easter Island Easter Island people Polynesian explorers of the Pacific Polynesian maritime navigators Date of death unknown Mythological kings Year of birth unknown Origin myths Rapa Nui monarchs Legendary Polynesian people Founding monarchs in Oceania