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In a book published in 1735, which German sailor and discoverer was the first European to describe the Moai figures in Easter Island?

Question #149216. Asked by pehinhota.
Last updated Apr 06 2023.
Originally posted Apr 05 2023 1:50 PM.

hypatia415
Answer has 2 votes
hypatia415
5 year member
220 replies

Answer has 2 votes.
I cannot find anything on a German sailor & discoverer who first described the Moai statues or a book published in 1735 about this subject. I can only find the name of the first European to find Rapa Nui (Easter Island). He was a Dutch admiral.

Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen

link https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/voyage-mystery-european-discovery-easter-island

Response last updated by hypatia415 on Apr 05 2023.
Apr 05 2023, 2:18 PM
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looney_tunes star
Answer has 3 votes
Currently Best Answer
looney_tunes star
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19 year member
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Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Roggeveen's journal of his trip around the Pacific Ocean in 1722 had excerpts (translated into English) with the details of the landing on Easter Island published in a 1906 book about a later Spanish expedition. The introduction to that book says (page xvi) that two or three members of Roggeveen's crew had written about the trip within a few years of their return. The link includes a translation from the German of one of those reports (page 223 on the sliding page turner, page 138 listed in the table of contents) - so I suspect the answer to the question asked is Carl Friedrich Behrens, who was a crew member on Roggeveen's voyage. Roggeveen's official log describing the events was not published until sometime after 1836.
link https://archive.org/details/voyagecaptaindo00unkngoog/page/n24/mode/2up?view=theater

According to this Wikipedia article, Behrens was the actual first person from the expedition to set foot on the island, and Roggeveen never did - he just got the credit because he was in charge of the expedition. (I am not sure whether the link will go to the original German page, or the translated into English version helpfully provided by my browser.)
link https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Behrens

Apr 06 2023, 6:32 PM
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