The Islanders cut down trees to transport the moai. Easter Island was settled by Polynesians between A.D. 800 and 1200. Some facts indicate that the island might have had human inhabitants as early at A.D. 400. When Europeans arrived in 1722, the native population was dying off. Evidence indicates, however, that the inhabitants once had a large, thriving civilization. Archaeological research provides evidence of ancient forests that disappeared and a society that collapsed.
Two modern states characterized by Spartan suppression of the individual are: Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, since these were very extractive and violent institutions (although Nazi Germany was worse).
