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The origin of the name "Pascua" is from the Spanish for "Easter" in recognition of the Easter Island range of the type specimen.
originally posted by: Malraux
a reply to: IAMTAT
Wow...wasn't even sure it was a real word. That's interesting. What ethnic group are the native people of Easter Island?
Although I don't conciously remember, perhaps I heard that or saw it before. Still cool, though.
The Rapa Nui are believed to have settled Easter Island between 300 and 1200 CE. Previously, the date of arrival was estimated to be around 700–800 CE, but more-recent evidence from radiocarbon dating supports an arrival date as late as 1200 CE.
The Rapa Nui People have been found to be of Polynesian origin through genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA of pre-historic skeletons. Genetic analysis performed by Erik Thorsby and other geneticists in 2007 revealed genetic markers of European and Amerindian origin that suggest that the Rapa Nui had European and Amerindian contributions to their DNA during or before the early 1800s.