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Article: Easter island history revised.(Life)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- May 5, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ANAKENA, Easter Island -- The Garden of Eden didn't exist--at least not on Easter Island, says a new study.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is an island in the south Pacific Ocean located about 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) west of its parent country, Chile. The best-selling Collapse, by Jared Diamond, is the latest book to recount the island's sad history. Collapse is a collection of case histories of societies that fell into ruin after abusing the environment.
Histories of Easter Island maintain that mariners from Polynesia settled it sometime between AD. 400 and 1000. The population grew to about 20,000 in the ensuing years, and the people lived in harmony ...