The Birdman Cult of Easter Island

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Easter Island’s claim to fame is its enormous moai carvings (Easter Island heads), but today we look at the religion that likely replaced the moai faith: the Birdman Cult. With the new religion came an annual competition, in which a group of the island’s warriors competed in a death-defying race of sorts to find the first bird egg of the year.
An enormous thanks to all of Patreon supporters, especially Sean, ThemeFinland, and Stephen Page!
Our patrons help make this channel sustainable and allow us to continue to improve the quality of our content- seriously, the difference between our first couple of videos and the most recent ones is pretty noticeable!
Sources:
De la Croix, David, and Davide Dottori. “Easter Island's Collapse: a Tale of a Population Race.” Journal of Economic Growth, vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, pp. 27-55. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41219203.
Fischer, Steven Roger. Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island. Reaktion Books, 2010.
Kurin, Richard. “Moai and Mana: Dispatch 6 from Extraordinary Cultures Tour.” Smithsonian Journeys, 2009, www.smithsonianjourneys.org/blog/moai-and-mana-dispatch-6-from-extraordinary-cultures-tour-180950577/.
Routledge, Katherine. The Mystery of Easter Island: The Story of an Expedition. 1919, archive.org/details/mysteryof....
Drone footage graciously provided by Free4Travel:
• EASTER ISLAND 4K
MUSIC:
Bryan Chi
www.bryanchi.com/license
Utho Riley
/ @uthoriley
Scott Buckley
www.scottbuckley.com.au/
Doug Maxwell
• Lost In The Forest - D...

[@redplanet2720]

I find it an incredible coincidence that an island whose entire society revolved around finding eggs would come to be known as Easter Island.

[@thehuntermikipl1170]

Is that a (not funny) joke, or are you just stupid?

[@specialknees6798]

Kinda like how so many rivers just happen to be along so many state and national borders. How odd

[@redplanet2720]

@@thehuntermikipl1170 I think you're the stupid one. It was named Easter Island because it was discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday. The egg hunt thing is a legitimate coincidence. So if you'll kindly eat shit and delete your comment in shame, that would be nice.

[@redplanet2720]

@@specialknees6798 My reply to TheHunterMikiPL applies to you too.

[@specialknees6798]

@@redplanet2720 see, I thought you were making a joke, and so I responded with another joke to play along. I wasn’t calling you stupid. I didn’t know that about the island though so thanks for enlightening me. That is pretty hilarious actually.

[@jewgle275]

This reminds me of St. Matthew Island. In 1944, 29 reindeer were introduced to the island by the United States Coast Guard to provide an emergency food source. By 1957 that herd had increased to more than 1300, by 1963 there were over 6000 and in 1966 there was only 42. This population consisted of 41 female reindeer and one sterile bull with malformed antlers. The largest mammal there now is the arctic fox.

[@HistoryDose]

Just read up on that; very interesting!

[@tosgem]

They should have used goats. Drop a few of those even on a small island, come back 100 years later and there is still a population. At least, that's what's happened elsewhere

[@simonsaysdie3155]

@@tosgem source ?

[@dimitrigoryenko2901]

@@tosgem pigs too

[@harveyrouen4655]

@@simonsaysdie3155 there's plenty of islands in the south Pacific where this has happened don't have any exact source I just remember hearing it, the Spanish did the same thing with pigs in islands in the americas

[@GB-sh9st]

“War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.” -Cormac McCarthy

[@HistoryDose]

I'm reading this book right now, actually. ~Chris

[@iLLeag7e]

@@HistoryDose Hey man there is a typo at the end of this video about the Deadly Birdman Cult of Easter Island. At the end the graphic says "Link in decription" instead of "Link in description." I love your channel, keep it up!

[@chadjordan9382]

Blood meridian.

[@LuisRios-bf9vn]

Thanks for the name

[@LuisRios-bf9vn]

@@HistoryDose what's the name of the book

[@andrewbrown6522]

2 things came to mind. 1: Did they enjoy some kind of immunity after their term? 2: The fact they adhered to the 1 year term is more impressive than the feat to achieve it.

[@viktoriyaserebryakov2755]

Everybody would probably gang up on them if they didn't. Plus... god.

[@J3diMindTrix]

Roman consuls (the highest position in the Republic) served for one year... then resigned, without issue the vast majority of the time... there were also 2 at any one time, to further balance power... this went on for hundreds of years (before the Empire)

[@bobsquaredme]

An absolutely fascinating story, brilliantly told. Kudos to you guys!

[@admorewarhammer5141]

Great video, love the editing and overall flow! Very engaging and easy to consume.

[@HistoryDose]

Thank you!

[@tayksy]

I'm so immersed in those videos, please keep them coming.

[@ryanhall3383]

Fantastic video!! The level of quality you guys have is amazing! Great story telling!

[@HistoryDose]

Thanks! When I write the scripts, I generally try to use storytelling to convey history. I really think stories make subjects more engaging and relatable as opposed to simple summaries of events. From there, it's up to Joe to animate the visual component. ~Chris

[@fraudrelic]

Brilliant. So entertaining and beautifully told. The narrator is a natural, keep it up!

[@HistoryDose]

Thanks so much for all the support, Mark! I’m writing the next video now!

[@dustybricks113]

The funny joke is the tribes use to walk and then climb up to get an egg when the sea level was lower. The trick is you have to sneak up to the nest, then carefully carry it down the cliff. The winner would be the chosen for the year at the festival of the birdman. A festival that was one of the origin stories after their second collapse of society. The bird man flew down from his ship and brought multiple edible foods to farm and cultivate as well as giving spiritual guidance to the people. The first collapse refers to their lost home land that sunk beneath the waves far to the north west and the survivers landed on the island. The second collapse refers to the mass rising of the ocean, resulting in over 95 percent of the island dropping below current sea level due to a raise in the ocean level along with platonic sagging of the south Pacific plate. What most see of the island currently is actually the tallest mountain of a much bigger and lost but never forgotten land. Remember most of the statues that are only heads are actually full figures with bases under them, and they where buried mostly by time. Sedimentary core samples prove the dates they where buried, not built. The birdman was originally given a meal made from one of the eggs, which is said he enjoyed greatly so every year after it would be a race to be the first with an egg so it could be prepared if the birdman would to ever return. I hope this helps to those who really would like to know. The past is only forgotten if we don't tell it to those that can hear, only in the echos of silence can things be forgotten.

[@DeeDee-bm9hr]

Tldr

[@jimjimsauce]

@@DeeDee-bm9hr why even say that? i enjoyed the comment and learning more about the video material. there’s a “read more” button that allows you to open and collapse the comment. why be so negative?

[@GameTimeWhy]

@@DeeDee-bm9hr learn to read.

[@tonyfourpaws4511]

@@jimjimsauce The less Intelligent a person is the more negative they are. It's a fact learned from years and years of traveling this world.

[@alexpapadopoulos7655]

By far my favorite KZbin channel right now! The game of thrones-esque music at the end was the icing on the cake 🍰

[@HistoryDose]

Thanks so much, Alex!! Your kind words are so appreciated

[@stadtbekanntertunichtgut]

Very good work! Interesting topic for a new Video. I found your channel a few weeks ago and loved it ever since. =)

[@HistoryDose]

We put a ton of work into these so it means a lot when we see comments like these!

[@amirfarahbakhsh2960]

dude :| i am hooked on your videos, wow, the graphics and everything else is perfect

[@lordzooq8987]

This topic is so interesting and I've never once heard of it. Wow! Thank you so much man

[@biggyg1888]

Your videos are so entertaining, your so underrated, I'm sure that you'll reach 1 mil by the end of the year.

[@clvnkln6684]

This video is excellent. Subscribed. Thank you.

[@welcometofijiboy382]

this video was perfectly made great job!

[@alextimemit9454]

Wow this blew me away. Why hasn't this channel been recommended to me before

[@tennoboi655]

They were just Bringing the statues Gum Gum

[@tennoboi655]

@Aurthur Kirksburgh XDDD

[@davidg4309]

Wait- so they had a sketchy Easter egg hunt on Easter Island? Mind blown.

[@asiblingproduction]

Bruh wheres the bunny at though?

[@agustinvenegas5238]

@@asiblingproduction in Australia outcompeting native wildlife

[@emberhermin52]

I'm losing my shit

[@williamrobinson4265]

brilliant compilation of research... very valuable case study

[@darrendeedman4497]

This channel deserves millions of views

[@ronimantymaki7035]

Great video! Lots of new information

[@funwithbernii4730]

This channel is awesome!!!

[@ember-brandt]

Well done! Very informative!

[@FadeDance]

This is really well done

[@TheSeppentoni]

Your care for distinct typography is great

[@pierre-carllabrecque328]

Incredible content, your channel will explode soon

[@maxsimes]

Great video, deserves more views

[@VeshThrob]

Great video very informative

[@kenfox22]

Wonderful channel

[@gaylordpantamime]

Great video

[@jamsbong]

The lack of natural resources to feed the population lead to a society that is vicious and drive people into madness. We currently have an over abundant of food (in fact food waste is an issue these days), I just hope we are wise enough to not fall into this Easter Island situation.

[@lionfire3359]

Are you kidding me these guys were surrounded by water which is abundant in fish.

[@neilpieterse9614]

@@lionfire3359 They did eat fish and birds aswell, but difficult to fish if there is no wood to build boats due to deforestation

[@laurenaroha8957]

@@lionfire3359 the water around Rapanui wasn't abundant in fish and fish didn't make up a great deal of their diets

[@laurenaroha8957]

Rapanui society was not vicious. There is no archeological evidence of warfare or any kind of significant violence on the island before contact with Europeans. They survived DESPITE a lack of natural resources because they were excellent gardeners, and their society only collapsed when they died due contact with European diseases. The survivors mostly died in enslavement or attacks by Europeans

[@lionfire3359]

@@laurenaroha8957 the oceans are the deserts and islands are the oasis,all islands are abundant with fish. Fishing with a pole isn’t the only way to catch fish. These people were skilled divers and swimmers. If they can swim miles to get an egg to prove their clan’s superiority, what they not do?

[@themk4982]

This is a crazy story but an amazing one. I reckon the main takeaway is that no matter what the circumstances, people need faith to survive.

[@erichpizer1]

great content

[@Ratok1]

My main takeaway from this is just grief. We often don't know what we're doing to each other before it's too late, but at least we can learn from history and our past mistakes. So seeing everything that's still going on today just makes me sad.

[@jazzdub4958]

Mankind will never ever learn from it's own past mistakes. We as a species are doomed to fail over and over until nature flicks the lights off for good.

[@Ratok1]

@@jazzdub4958 I hope things get better for you friend.

[@florentinoariza4026]

The Jason Scott Lee 1994 adventure drama film Rapa-Nui centered on the Birdman race.

[@danielm5161]

these are awesome

[@HistoryDose]

Thank you, Daniel! New video dropping Thursday so stay tuned!!

[@dimitrigoryenko2901]

I like to imagine the guy that was shot for grabbing the dutchman's shirt was saying something like, "this place is hell get me the fuck off this island right now!"

[@j_edwards6075]

The Dutchmen: "He looked at me funny...." 👀

[@kemshasan8866]

Fascinating stuff

[@The0Freerider0]

underrated channel.

[@gabrielsanchez8501]

This is my home. A lovely place to live. I live elsewhere now but I return every few years to see my Rapa-Nui family.

[@jimf1964]

If they cut down every single tree, they were probably over populated and in their way out one way or another. Terribly sad to lose an entire people, but it’s happened many times before, even without outside interruptions

[@GavTatu]

i've never thought to check before, i live in jersey, and just realised its a bit smaller than easter island !

[@DiscGoStu]

Outside the visitors center at Orongo there’s a mosaic depicting Manutara, the Sooty Tern. I was so taken by the story and energy of the image, I got the same symbol tattooed on my forearm before we flew back to Chile. Rapa Nui is a truly magical place, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to visit and see the Moai with my own eyes

[@tfwerwrawrafwasdrwarawrasf1745]

cool video

[@h35d85bs0]

Great video. Let's hope all of earth doesnt end up like eastern island.

[@purplehostofrain1901]

Too late. First there is the Coronavirus, now the riots. We're officially Eastern Island, just with different names!

[@specialknees6798]

@@purplehostofrain1901 are you 97 years old?

[@purplehostofrain1901]

@@specialknees6798 no. Why?

[@MH-ms1dg]

Time Warp Trio had a cool episode about this

[@andrylab1878]

Video is awesome, the story is sad.

[@alexanderm3504]

I always find it interesting that Aztecs, Mayan and the Maori share alot of similarities.

[@tiotiwilliams8311]

Polynesians were the first to make contact with the America’s not Columbus.

[@cadencressman]

@@tiotiwilliams8311 true, most people think he was the first European, which also is also lol the Vikings were first European

[@tiotiwilliams8311]

@Caden Cressman Only reason why I believe this theory is because the sweet potato is native to the Americas not Polynesia but they have this in their diet. Polynesians made contact somewhere In South America and traded with them brought it back to the islands and cultivated it.

[@kp-legacy-5477]

The similiratities dont stop there . Its shocking how many cultures seem to have the same origin Origins of strangers on ships bringing them civilisation after the strangers own civilisation fell during the younger dryas impact event

[@davidmartin2706]

Polynesians came from Southeast Asia. The similarities in language are undeniable. There are basically no similarities in language between Polynesian languages and Native American languages. And DNA also proves that Polynesians came from Southeast Asia

[@lordtudraska1796]

I have a scene from a book I'm writing, where Huitzilopochtli or maybe Tlaloc lands on Easter Island as the "Bird Man" and orders them to prepare for war. What is your opinion on intertwining different regional religions? I'm playing around with them in my story, as the main characters are all gods. Thanks for the information on Makemake and Tāne, I'll have to read more about them.

[@darkhope97]

Being fictional I don't think there's any major issue but Polynesian cultures are farly different to native American cultures

[@thegoodlydragon7452]

Their system to close the power vacuum makes me think of traditional monarchy and primogeniture. It's not fair and it doesn't really answer the question of why this person, but it closes the power vacuum and creates stability. Before primogeniture, as what happened in the Carolingian empire, the death of the king tends to mean civil war and instability.

[@-Unfiltered-CoconuT-]

It was actually the rats that was bought on the Dutch ships that ate the seeds of the palm trees.. with no predator to kill the rats ...they multiplied like crazy...having a feast...

[@laurenaroha8957]

It was the Polynesian rat and it was brought by polynesian settlers, deforestation took place before European contact

[@-Unfiltered-CoconuT-]

@@laurenaroha8957 oh, no, could you tell me where I can find the kiore was responsible, please. Thank you.

[@laurenaroha8957]

@@-Unfiltered-CoconuT- there is a short lecture/ talk on Nat geo KZbin by Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt called "the statues that walked" which explains an alternate theory about the islands deforestation and statues. Their book is very good too, I trust their work

[@-Unfiltered-CoconuT-]

@@laurenaroha8957 thank you! I know there was a documentary. When I think back, I'm pretty sure it was rats from dutch + sailors that bought disease. I may have mixed it up, don't even know at all. I can't even remember when I last did research. Information changes drastically. Ok, let me stop blabbering. Thank you again 🤗 be safe

[@edlinder2360]

I find it amazing that some people just totally ignore that the Polynesians say there were people there when they got there and they eventually killed them in a turf war

[@robertfreid2879]

Jared Diamond actually goes into the chaos of the Easter Island peoples in his 2005 book: "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" as an example of a society and civilization overstretching their resources and having traditional society thrown out of whack because of it. In Oswald Spengler's societal collapse theory, the Birdman Cult competitions could be seen as a form of temporary, year-long "Caesarism" that attempted to keep a failing society together and in check...

[@laurenaroha8957]

Jared Diamond was wrong.. He projected western issues onto the Rapanui people. Terry hunt and Carl Lipo explain how wrong he got it in a 2011 lecture for Nat geo and in their book "The statues that walked"

[@TheWoollyFrog]

The collapse due to resource exploitation narrative was so popular in academia a few years back despite being so dishonest and selective with facts.

[@theEpicxY]

"Get vaxxinated" -Birdman of the year

[@missingblessings2802]

😅

[@jonahbarnes5841]

Another excellent video! And just to remind, please please please never get political. Thank you

[@strongfp]

I remember watching a movie about this as a kid, Rapa-Nui it's called.

[@Inuhater]

This is cool af

[@Inuhater]

I take it back, the disease and cultural decline isn’t cool

[@DjWellDressedMan]

This explains the Birdman Cult Rubbing from Rapa Nui that I own.

[@finsternis1986]

Damn, they never even talked about how he co-founded Cash Money Records...

[@herrnoname2.094]

ahahhahaha, da kommt ja richtig die Sonne raus, so lustig ist der Kommentar😂

[@jybrokenhearted]

What about the original inhabitants of the island? The ones that built the megalithic structures and actually started the statues?

[@davidhowell1415]

I would love to know if anyone repeated as the bird man and if so what is the longest streak. I personally think it’s possible but highly unlikely

[@jswets5007]

This Birdman Cult ripped off the hunger games...

[@alexpapadopoulos7655]

What song is used at the end?

[@distinctlyspruce3540]

The story of Easter Island as a society that destroyed itself from within perpetuates common blind spots and shallow analysis that obscure the role that power plays in social and ecological disintegration. For people interested; the historical record is not settled about the state of the island and the Rapa Nui at the time of the first voyages there by Europeans. Here is an account of the Rapa Nui from French navigator Jean-Francois de Galaup La Perouse who visited the island in 1786 "The aspect of the island is by no means so barren and disgusting as navigators have asserted.....the accounts given of the inhabitants appear equally incorrect... Instead of meeting with men exhausted by famine... I found, on the contrary, a considerable population, with more beauty and grace than I afterwards met with in and other Island; and a soil, which, with very little labour, furnished excellent provisions, and in an abundance more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants." There is more recent scholarship that supports these observations and suggests that the Rapa Nui were living in a stable and thriving society up to and for sometime after the arrival of Europeans.

[@darkhope97]

There's quite a fun comic made by a chilean author about a boy that's thanks to aliens get a belt that allows him to travel in time and places and in one of the comics he goes to easter Island and shows their culture

[@markjoyce3172]

They landed at the wrong place and didn't want to see the mistake repeated, so left giant signpost statues for other travellers

[@mkestay]

Amazing, concise and well articulated. love these short videos, please keep them coming. Would love to see more on ancient mesopotamian, sumerian and median empires. As well as the Muslim golden age and its influence on western civilization.

[@nprwikeepa6082]

In NZ we had Pa Wars. Now we have sporting tournaments - Called Pa Wars 😂

[@-Jansen155]

It's absolutely insane and incredible that humans have done things as dangerous as this trial, especially without modern healthcare. The challenge for the egg is something that would happen in a Samurai Jack episode...

[@finalascent]

Anyone here see the 1994 Kevin Reynolds' film Rapa Nui? Not especially well written, with uneven performances, but the cinematography and score were spellbinding, and I have to commend Reynolds for shooting on the actual island, rather than subbing the Azores, Canaries or some other "easier" location. It depicts the Birdman race for the tern's egg and it's exciting and suspenseful.

[@alsadek1503]

this video brought back a memory of a movie I watched as a child depicting the egg hunt. maybe its a false memory? it would have been in the 90's.

[@Lucifurion]

Pretty sure you're thinking of the movie "Rapa Nui" that came out in 94.

[@alsadek1503]

@@Lucifurion yes!!! Thank you!!!

[@jakefearing6640]

Bruh the bird men would be chillin if we didn’t do that final slave thing

[@jollimaiahtacksworth]

Just to clarify in case anyone wanted to know, tangata means man/person and manu means bird. The video makes it seem otherwise, idk why tho.

[@ryjitarose5590]

I know this video is old but I want to say that the palms went extinct because the soon-to-be-native settlers unintentionally brought rats with them who ate the seeds. There also isn't enough archaeological evidence to prove there was much war on Rapa Nui

[@AG-io5wr]

Legend has it there's a rabbit on the island that lays eggs.

[@snowsnow4231]

this is the future of humanity, the difference is that they had a small island, while we have a planet

[@GistOfItMedia]

A seafaring nation of people; only a stone's throw away from south america. We see massive stone sculptures of faces in Rapa Nui. We also see massive stone faces in south america, and we call the olmec. Can't help but think these societies are way older than we assume. Especially if Rapa Nui had a written language that we still can't decipher

[@touareggyal]

I’m from New Zealand!

[@peter4Flags]

Would conservation help . Continuing resources, hence no need for war.

[@jacktribble5253]

Was the inter-tribal warfare replaced with competition or was the "Competition" just added to the culture?

[@Tom-kw3ue]

Sounds like where we headed now.

[@thefisherking78]

Tragedy upon tragedy

[@andrewsnyder7310]

They should make a movie

[@transformersrevenge9]

At first I thought this had something to do with Th3Birdman.

[@matthewporras3815]

I love how some Gods can be present and other cant! *unpresent Gods*: "aw fuck this"

[@waterwarriors911]

Lost history is never easy to find.

[@whiteelephant3673]

War. War never changes.

[@jamie3483]

Man if they had got to Antarctica the stuff they would of found

[@kneeboardtorque5971]

What program is there to repopulate the trees and the ecosystem on the island?

[@darkhope97]

Well to the best of my knowledge there are some programs but I a slow process since they don't want to put to much strain on the island capability to sustain a growing eco system and let's not also forget that most of the needs for the islanders are covered of with resources from the continent and they focus more on tourism since it does gives quite amount of money with minimum impact on their eco system

[@-Jansen155]

Holey moley it's hard to believe a trial like that for power existed. This vid made me think of the Prime Directive from Star Trek, which is a rule saying they aren't allowed to interfere with the development of a civilization that's oblivious to the galactic community, and can't even make the existence of themselves known. Everything Easter Island was doing may seem like pointless suffering to us, but if they remained isolated, then they could have eventually solved their problems. They already were developing a political system to give different "ideologies" a chance of power. We can see why all of the suffering our society is going through has a point to it, even if we are wrong about most of the things we believe. I actually don't think I want extraterrestrials to come save us because I want to be proud that our race figures it out on its own, just like Easter Island could have if not for the explorers. Another takeaway from this was how much having something to believe in matters. Imagine if Easter Island only had literal observable things to focus on and no higher beliefs; they probably would have had no shot at making it and just drowned in their misery. Even if a society's necessary belief system is totally made up gods, there could still be a lot of truth in it, even spiritual truth, if their belief system is in line with the footprint of consciousness. And who knows, there could be bird-like extraterrestrials out there that have essentially created Heaven and are spiritually advanced in reality (like the Blue Avians).

[@gor764]

Yeah, I know some theorize that the Birdman Cult was instituted by ETs

[@powerist209]

To be fair, Prime Directive is mostly based on Anthropology, except a lot more hands on and there are circumstances where said researcher use medicine to save a dying man or intervene a wrongfully accused from execution. Plus it’s more “stop trying to enslave the natives, make badly one sided treaty, or peddle addictive products at high mark ups”.

[@samuelcolegrove2314]

Why hasn't palm trees been re introduced to Easter island?

[@davidcho4399]

we're a small island in this vast universe

[@TheEbrithil2]

What an eldritch horror story

[@joeyjojojunior1794]

I came here to learn about Makemake

[@emmarich9477]

It seems like a microcosm of modern civilization.

[@desdeelumbral8210]

If we dont smarten up we will face a similar fate as the wapa noobo.

[@jazzdub4958]

The Birdman winning chief - not a title I'd want after 12 months giving it up to someone else and suffering the payback. Doomed society in truth, but very interesting culture and history to learn.

[@isaacodegard740]

Why doesn’t he mention that the heads had bodies.?..?