Travel to Latin America

Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island (Lonely Planet Chile and Easter Island)

Format: Paperback
Author: Charlotte Beech
ReleaseDate: May, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

lonely planet Chile & Easter Island
All lonely planet books I've bought in the past have been excellent; always full of honest information for budget/backpacker travelers. I'm planning a trip to Chile and this book has been so completely helpful. They list everything you can imagine from hostels in every area to dinning to ferry schedules and bus routes/rates. I wouldn't trust any other travel book when traveling abroad. .

FACTUAL ERROR
There is one important factual error that readers show know about: The account of the Peruvian slave raids on Easter Island as it appears on page 428 makes reference to an out-dated and erroneous account of Easter Islanders being forced to work the guano deposits on Peru's Chincha Islands. As the author of "The Complete Guide to Easter Island" (Easter Island Foundation, 2004), I read with much interest the chapter on Easter Island in the 2006 edition of "Chile & Easter Island" by Charlotte Beech, et al. Due to confused personal accounts reported incorrectly by early ethnologists and historians, this story appeared in some of the first Easter Island literature and has been repeated ad nauseam by more contemporary writers who haven't done their homework -- so it's no surprise that it might end up being source material for the authors of "Chile & Easter Island" who may have had little or no way of knowing the inaccuracies involved. But, as Easter Island researcher and author Grant McCall discovered after doing extensive historical and genealogical research on the islanders (including a visit to the Chincha Islands), there is no evidence to support allegations that Easter Islanders were taken to the Chincha Islands. There is evidence that Easter Islanders were taken to coastal plantations in Peru where they were sold as indentured servants, however. One key fact that has been uncovered in investigating this misinformation is that the guano mines were not actually operating at the time of the 1862 slave raids (they were temporarily closed due to Spanish raids), so it's clear that Easter Islanders couldn't even have been on the Chincha Islands. This may all seem like a small matter but, when it comes to Easter Island (where there has been no shortage of nonsense written and far fewer mysteries than most people would like to believe), the more accurate we can get, the better!
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