400-1000 (A.D.) Settlement and growth People from other areas of eastern Polynesia settled on Easter Island. The oldest ahu (platform-shaped altar) was created around 690 and small wooden statues bearing images of ancestors were worshipped at it. Moai were first placed on ahu around 700, but at this stage they were quite small and simple.

1000-1680 Height of ahu and moai creation Hotu-Matua, the first king of Easter Island, landed on the island around the 12th century. Ahu and moai became increasingly large as tribes on the island seemed to compete with each other in the creation of grandiose sculptures. After 1500, moai adorned with pukao (a hat or topknot) were first sculpted. This period was the apex of Easter Island culture, and during it the island's population is estimated to have been 10,000 to 20,000.

1680-1722 Population explosion and start of huri-moai ("moai-toppling wars") Creation of new moai ceased during this period. Due to the extensive cutting of forests to provide materials for creating moai, resources became scarce and the population exploded as the island's culture matured. This led to major wars, during which many moai were destroyed or toppled. Huri -moai continued until the 19th century. It was during this period that the bird man cult first appeared.

1722-1868 Contact with Europeans On 6 April 1722, Easter Sunday, the island was 'discovered' by the Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen. This accounts for the island's name, Easter in English and Pascua in Spanish. In a report on his discovery, Roggeveen described lines of gigantic statues, and islanders being led to worship by ritualists . 1770 Don Felipe Gonzalez arrived and declared Easter Island Spanish territory. When the Spaniards asked tribal chiefs to sign a document in support of this claim, the chiefs marked it in rongo-rongo, the local script. 1774 Captain James Cook arrived. He observed moai lying on the ground and described the weapons brandished by the islanders, and indication that there was a civil war happening at that time. 1776 French Admiral La P�rouse visited the island while on expedition. He too was shocked to see moai lying on the ground. After La P�rouse's visit, an increasing number of European fishing ships and whaling ships visited the island.

1804-1862 The European invasion 1804 The Russian whaling ship Neva visited. The crew observed four moai standing alongside Cook Bay, and estimated that 20 other moai were still standing. 1805 The American seal hunting ship Nancy arrived and 22 islanders were kidnapped, many of whom drowned in an attempt to swim to shore. From this point on, islanders had a hostile attitude towards outsiders. 1806 The Hawaiian ship Kanoku Manu approached, but hostile islanders prevented a landing. In the following two or three years, the officers and crew of several foreign ships tried to come ashore, but were also repelled 1811 An American whaling ship arrived and island women were kidnapped. The women were returned, but only after contracting various contagious diseases, including sexual diseases. This led to a disruption of the island's social system and intensification of the protracted civil war. 1816 The Russian warship Rurich arrived, but departed soon after due to a hostile reception by islanders. Crew noted several moai along the southeast coast of the island. 1818 Chile achieved independence from Spain. 1822 Peru declared independence from Spain. 1825 The British war ship Blossom, led by Admiral Frederick Beechey, called in at Easter Island during an expedition, but officers and crew gave up on attempts to land after islanders barraged them with stones. Beechey observed that there were four moai standing on the north side of Cook's Bay, but all moai in the village of Hanga-roa south of Cook's Bay were lying on the ground. He also noted that the villages south of Cook's Bay were severely damaged, and attributed this to the civil war that was raging. When Roggeveen visited the island in 1722 he estimated its population at 4,000, but just over 100 years later, Beechey estimated it at 1,500. 1830 Dupechi Thousars arrived and observed that there were two ahu north of Cook's Bay, one with four moai and the other with five. This was the last recorded observation of standing moai. 1862 Peruvian ships arrived and about 1,000 islanders were kidnapped.

1862-1877 The island's population declines dramatically 1863 Only 15 of the kidnapped islanders were returned, and they spread smallpox among the population. Islanders died in droves and the population plummeted to about 600. 1864 Eug�ne Eyraud arrived and took up residence. He converted the islanders to Christianity. 1866 Dutroux-Bornier arrived. In the same year, the British battleship Topaze also arrived. The ship's surgeon was the first to report that all moai which had once stood on ahu were now partially destroyed and lying on the ground. He removed moai from Orongo. Artifacts started being actively removed from the island at about this time. 1870 Dutroux-Bornier purchased key parcels of land and began his despotic rule of the island. In the same year, the Chilean corvette O'Higgins arrived and a geological survey of the island was conducted. The Chileans obtained rongo-rongo tablets. 1871 To escape Dutroux-Bornier's despotism, 300 islanders left to work on plantations in Tahiti. Most of the remaining islanders subsequently went to Mangareva Island. Islanders were led there by Brother Roussel, the successor of Eyraud, who was killed in an accident. 1872 Writer Pierre Loti arrived on the French warship La Flore. Loti later wrote the travelogue titled Easter Island. He took one moai from the island. 1877 Dutroux-Bornier was killed by islanders, by which time the island's population was down to 111.

1877-1955 Naval incursions 1877 Alexander Salmon arrived to take care of the property left behind by Dutroux-Bornier. 1882 The British war vessel Sappho and the German sloop Hy�ne arrived. Surveys were conducted, but a large ethnological collection was removed and destroyed. 1886 The U.S. war vessel Mohican arrived. Paymaster William Thomson conducted an impressively extensive and detailed archaeological and ethnological survey of the island. Through his interviews it was discovered that the last moai were toppled in 1862. As a result of improper archaeological methods, however, numerous structures were demolished. He also removed paving stones and rongo-rongo tablets. 1888 The Chilean government annexed the island and changed its name to Isla De Pascua. 1901 The island was placed under the jurisdiction of the Chilean navy. Responsibility for day-to-day running of the island was delegated to the Chilean-based British Williamson, Balfour Company. 1914 British ethnographer Katherine Routledge arrived. Her interviews on the island's history and culture with island elders produced some highly significant findings, but many of these records have since disappeared. 1934 Belgian archaeologist Dr. H. Lavachery and French ethnographer Dr. A M�traux arrived on the Belgian ship Mercator. They studied the island's oral traditions and surveyed the origins of its stone statues. 1935 Missionary Padre Sebastian Englert arrived and set up schools, improved facilities for lepers, and on his own, conducted surveys of the island's history and ruins. Unfortunately, however, he inscribed numbers on some of the artifacts. 1945 The rights and interests of Williamson, Balfour Company were transferred to a British sheep ranching company owned by Charles Derry, a resident of Chile. 1947 Thor Heyerdahl sailed his raft Kon Tiki and 'proved' his theory that eastern Polynesian was inhabited by people from South America. 1952 Chilean nationalism led to the nationalization of many Chilean companies 1954 Spurred by a new awareness of their Polynesian ethnicity and a desire to learn about the movement among native Tahitians to obtain independence from France, three Easter Islanders successfully completed a 4,000 kilometer voyage to Tahiti in a small boat equipped with a compass. 1955 A survey group comprised of Thor Heyerdhal and other Norwegian archaeologists, American archaeologist William Mulloy, as well as geographers arrived to conduct a extensive survey and excavations. The group evacuated moai and ahu at Rano Raraku and restored moai at Anakena. Heyerdhal's Aku-Aku attracted a great deal of interest from all over the world, and many other researchers began visiting the island.

1960- Present situation of Easter Island and the gigantic stone statues 1960 William Mulloy and Chilean archaeologist Gonzalo Figueroa restored seven moai. In the same year a tsunami generated by a powerful earthquake in Chile destroyed ahu and washed away a number of moai in Tongariki. 1963 Archaeologist Francis Majeur arrived. 1964 A political movement arose in opposition to governance of the island by the Chilean navy. The Chilean government agreed to install a civilian governor and implement elections leading to self-governance. 1966 The first mayoral election was held. 1968 The moai at Ahu Tahai was restored thanks to aid provided by the publisher of the French magazine Paris Match, which covered the story. Articles in the magazine about the restoration work generated a great deal of interest in the island, and many travelers subsequently visited it. 1978 Easter Island archaeologist (and recently mayor) Sergio Rapu discovered the eyes of a moai during restoration of Ahu Naunau at Anakena. 1992-1995 Ahu Tongariki and 15 moai were restored by a joint Chilean-Japanese team funded by Tadano, a Japanese crane manufacturer. In addition to re-erecting the huge statues, the team focused on using special resins to protect artifacts from the warm salty winds blowing in off the sea.