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james_davis_nicollA different interpretation of what happened on Easter Island, one that includes this interesting bit:
You know what I think? I think the slave raids of the 1860s, in which half the population of the island was carried off, didn't help. Also, and I am just spit-balling here, neither did the introduction of TB and smallpox. But STDs plays into the whole sexy sexy promiscuous islanders trope.
Also a bit puzzled by this:
The population was about 3000 in the 1860s, which either means the place managed to sustain a 2% population growth for 90 years, Cook missed counting some islanders or some third option.
One niggling question: If everybody was eating enough, why did the population decline? Probably, the professors say, from sexually transmitted diseases after Europeans came visiting.
You know what I think? I think the slave raids of the 1860s, in which half the population of the island was carried off, didn't help. Also, and I am just spit-balling here, neither did the introduction of TB and smallpox. But STDs plays into the whole sexy sexy promiscuous islanders trope.
Also a bit puzzled by this:
When Captain James Cook visited there in 1774, his crew counted roughly 700 islanders
The population was about 3000 in the 1860s, which either means the place managed to sustain a 2% population growth for 90 years, Cook missed counting some islanders or some third option.
