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

by William Churchill

Uncover the mystery of Easter Island and its towering stone statues in a detailed, archival study.

This introduction surveys how the island received its names, the legends about its discovery, and the great stone figures that line the shorelines. It explains why the monuments, carved from volcanic rock, remain a focal point for scholars and visitors alike, and it situates the island within the broader story of Pacific exploration.

The work also delves into language, place-names, and the island’s unique history, offering context for how inhabitants and outsiders understood the land and its symbols. It ties together archaeology, ethnology, and geography to present a coherent view of a place few really understand, but many find endlessly fascinating.

Explore how the land earned its name and what that reveals about its history. Learn about the moai statues, their placement, and the significance of their platforms. See how early navigators and later scholars analyzed Easter Island’s past. Discover the vocabularies and linguistic notes that illuminate Rapanui and related tongues. Ideal for readers curious about Pacific history, archaeology, and language studies.

358 pages, Paperback

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.