Rapa Nui By kohlsson Period: 800 to 1200 First Polynesian settlers arrive on Rapa Nui Period: 1200 to 1500 Mo'ai began to be created by the Rapa Nui people 1600 Deforestation and resource shortages because of Mo'ai creation 1722 First recorded European contact with the island 1805 First slave raid. Islanders taken to Chile and Peru.