I’m writing a paper and I’m so confused; if the people of the island are still around, how is the island such a mystery? Is it that the Rapa Nui alive were mostly the descendants of slaves or immigrants from the island? I hope this isn’t too stupid of a question but I just can’t find anything addressing it. Thanks!
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In addition to what others have said, slavers took a ton of people from the island, and these included all the high-ranking royals and priests who were literate. Easter Island had [a writing system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongorongo) and Eugène Eyraud saw hundreds of wooden tablets with writing on them as late as 1866, but the remaining islanders had no way to read them, no use for them and a desperate need for firewood on their deforested island. So, all but a few were burned, and what has survived isn’t enough to decipher *rongorongo* with.
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