Spanish Expedition to Easter Island, 1770, and Its Interpretation: An example of Cultural Misunderstanding?

For years I have been studying travel narratives from four main expeditions that visited Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the 18th century: the Dutch from 1722 (the voyage of “discovery” of the island for Europe), the Spanish from 1770, the English from 1774 and the French from 1786. Ships’ logbooks, reports and memories, written as a result of these voyages, include not only valuable knowledge about the Rapanui reality and culture, but also countless examples of misinterpretations, misunderstandings and misrepresentation of the facts. In this present paper I would like to focus on one interesting example. It concerns the Spanish expedition, during which the island was annexed to the Crown. According to one interpretation of events that took place on Rapa Nui, the Spanish arrival coincided with celebrations of an important local festivity and this circumstance determined the attitude of the indigenous people towards the Europeans. However, in my opinion such explanation is dubious.