King Nga'ara

Nga‘araThe name Nga‘ara has been variously spelled "Gnaara, Gaara, Ngaara, Nga-Ara, Gahara," and "Gobara." "G" is a common convention for IPA| [ŋ] in the Pacific, and Roussel, who transcribed the name as "Gahara," frequently used "h" for glottal stop. "Gobara" may be a typo for "Gahara." Routledge's informants, some of whom had known Nga‘ara, support a reading of IPAlink|ŋaʔaɾa "Nga‘ara."] (reigned from the death of his father, Kai Mako‘i ca. 1835 to his own death just before 1860) was the last great "‘ariki," or paramount chief, of Easter Island, and the last master of rongorongo.

Nga‘ara, based at ‘Anakena, used the "mana" (sacred power) of rongorongo in an annual festival to assert control of the island from the Birdman priests of ‘Orongo. When he died, his son Kai Mako‘i ‘Iti (Jr) took over the festival, until he was captured in the great Peruvian slaving raid of 1862. Although the slaves were freed the next year, Kai Mako‘i did not survive.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*cite book |author=aut|Fischer, Steven Roger |year=1997 |title=RongoRongo, the Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Texts |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press
*van Hoorebeeck, Albert (1979) "La vérité sur l'île de Pâques." Le Havre. Fr icon
*Métraux, Alfred (1937) "The Kings of Easter Island." Bishop Museum. [http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_46_1937/Volume_46,_No._182/The_kings_of_Easter_Island,_by_Alfred_Metraux,_p_41-62/p1?action=null]