In this essay I will examine two different cultural groups, the Rapa Nui of Easter Island and the Tiwi Islanders of the Northern Territory of Australia . My main focus will be the impact of colonization on these two different cultural groups. I will explain how these two different cultural civilizations were colonized at different times in history and how this affected each culture. I will describe the differences that occurred on each island and how each group handled the different situations they found themselves in. I will outline how these two indigenous groups responded to the colonizers, discussing the impacts of colonization on each of the island's human populations and the changes that resulted. I will explain the role that colonization played in creating the current situations of each group and what changed the traditional life of both groups and discuss the social and cultural changes of both groups. These two different cultural groups, the Tiwi of Australia and the Rapa Nui. of Easter Island are located in very different parts of the world and were discovered at different times in history. It has been suggested that the human population of Easter Island reached an unknown number in the thousands, followed by war and then a collapse in population size. This theory is questionable. It comes from the French explorer Comte De La Pérouse. Perugia believed that human overpopulation on Easter Island was destroying natural plants, degrading the island's ecosystems, and nearly leading to the extinction of the human population. Perouse also believed that the Rapa Nui had cut down so many trees in an attempt to move the large Moai statues around the island that they no longer had enough trees on the island to make...... middle of paper...... still managed the island with great agricultural practices. Then, in 1805, Americans arrived in Rapa Nui and began bringing slaves back to America to work in the mines. The worst year for the Rapa Nui was 1863-1864. During this period, the Americans took 1,400 Rapa Nui as slaves to America. When the rest of the world found out, they forced the Americans to take the Rapa Nui back to Easter Island. But the damage was already done and the Americans only sent 12 Rapa Nui natives back to Easter Island. The 12 people sent back had smallpox and spread it to the other islanders, causing even more deaths. It was recorded in 1877 that there were only 111 Rapa Nui left on Easter Island. Easter Island went from a population of thousands to just one hundred and eleven inhabitants in the 150 years since the Dutch arrived on Easter Island..