Easter Island: The Rapanui Speech and the Peopling of Southeast Polynesia

by William Churchill

Discover Easter Island through its language, people, and remote origins. This insightful volume explores how the Rapanui speech, place names, and ancient traditions illuminate the peopling of Southeast Polynesia. Rich in historical context, it guides readers through archaeology, navigation myths, and the island’s remarkable stone monuments.

Written with a clear, approachable voice, the book traces how the island came to be known by several names, why its famous moai stand where they do, and how early explorers and local histories shaped our understanding of this far‑flung outpost. It also provides a window into the region’s linguistic threads, including a vocabulary and grammar map that connect Easter Island to broader Polynesian networks.




Learn how place names reflect the island’s geography and storytelling traditions.
See how researchers connect language, legends, and material remains (like stone monuments).
Explore the challenges of interpreting early records and indigenous perspectives.
Discover how Easter Island’s history fits into the larger Polynesian world.


Ideal for curious readers and students of linguistics, history, and anthropology, this edition makes a distant, captivating story accessible and engaging.

Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2018

About the author

William Churchill, FRAI, AIA, AAG (1859–1920) was an American Polynesian ethnologist and philologist. He was educated at Yale, where he wrote for campus humor magazine The Yale Record. In 1896 he became consul general to Samoa. In 1897 his commission was extended, making him also Consul General to Tonga. In 1902 he began working for New York Sun, where he later became a member of the editorial staff. In 1915, he took a position as research associate in primitive philology at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.