纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 070复活节岛雕像（10）（在线收听）

Rapa Nui is perhaps a good place to end this second part of our history of the world. It was one of the last places on earth to be settled by humans - a final destination in our great journey out of Africa. Hoa Hakananai'a now stands in the gallery devoted to living and dying, surrounded by objects that show how other societies in the Pacific and the Americas have addressed the predicaments that confront humanity everywhere. He is a supremely powerful statement of the fact that all societies keep looking for new ways to make sense of their changing world, and to ensure that they survive in it. In 1400, when this part of our story ends, none of these cultures was known to Europeans. But this of course was about to change.

In the final part of the series, we will be looking at the way in which these many different worlds - even islands as remote as Rapa Nui - became integral parts of one global system. It's a history that's in many ways very familiar, but as always objects have the power to engage, to surprise and to enlighten. I hope that you'll join me on that last part of our story.