TEXT: NAVEL OF THE EARTH.

As legend has it, Hotu Matua, who was king of the Maori territory, decided to migrate with his people because a natural disaster was affecting their country, so he sent a canoe withy seven young warriors to explore an island in the middle of the ocean.

Once on the island, the explorers were not happy with what they found, and only one of them wanted to stay there while the others wanted to go back to Hiva, their country. But before they could make a decision, Hotu Matua arrived with his people in two large canoes. He landed on what is now Anakena beach and called the island Te Pito O Te Henua or Navel of the Earth. After exploring the island, Hotu Matua divided the land among his people, the Hanau Momoko (thin people) and organized them in twelve clans. Then they built the village of Hanga Roa.

Tradition says that a second group of people arrived on the island later, the Hanau Eepe (Big people). The Hanau Eepe told the Hanau Momoko to carve big stone statues called Moais, a representation of their ancestors; after carving the statues, the Thin people had to put them standing on large stone platforms called Ahus. For many years the Thin People worked for the Big People like this; after extracting stone from the Rano Raraku quarry, they carved the statues and then transported them for many kilometers to the platforms.

After doing this for several years, the Thin People rebelled against the Big People, killing them all but one. They then went to live in the village of Orongo, on the Ranu Kau volcano.

In the end, the creation of the Moai and the subsequent war meant a total ecological disaster for the island with many thousands of palms growing all over the place.