Wonderful Facts About Easter Island
Easter Island, situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far from civilization, is one of the most mysterious places on our planet. Many travelers and scientists worldwide ponder why there are no forests there, how enormous stone statues came to be, and how the islanders got there. Today, we will delve into these and other mysteries of Easter Island in our article.
Moai Statues
Undoubtedly, the most famous landmark of Easter Island is the mysterious Moai statues. There are over 900 of them, all towering stone heads several meters high and weighing tens of tons each.
It is believed that the islanders began crafting these statues in the 11th century and continued for almost 500 years. They carved them from the island's rock, likely in a horizontal position, and then transported them to the valley using special wooden platforms.
The purpose and methods behind the creation and transportation of the Moai statues remain a mystery to this day - one of humanity's greatest puzzles. Researchers have tried asking the natives, but their response shed no light: "They walked themselves."
First Europeans
The first European to reach the island was the Dutch captain Jacob Roggeveen in 1722, which happened to be on Easter Sunday, hence the island's name.
When Roggeveen arrived, the island was virtually barren because most trees had been cut down by the locals, who used the wood for building houses, boats, and platforms to transport Moai. Today, vegetation on Easter Island has increased - about 50 years ago, eucalyptus and acacia trees were imported from Chile.
Rapa Nui
The locals refer to Easter Island as Rapa Nui. In their language, "Rapa" means "to make statues depicting deities," and "Nui" means "big" or "many."
The island's area is 163.6 km², with a length from west to east of 24 km and from north to south of 12 km.
Tourists on Easter Island
The island attracts tourists willing to travel thousands of kilometers to see the stone idols with black holes or coral eyes. Unlike Roggeveen's months-long journey, planes now fly to Easter Island.
There is no industry on the island, and agriculture is poorly developed; a large portion of the food is imported by sea and air. As a result, prices there are twice or three times higher than on the mainland part of Chile.
The island's inhabitants, about 3,700 people, mainly earn a living from tourism. Additionally, they do not pay any taxes, which is why Easter Island is often referred to as a Tax-Free zone.
First Inhabitants of the Island
Easter Island, which belongs to Chile, is the most remote inhabited island in the world. The distance to the nearest inhabited place is 1,819 km.
How the island's first inhabitants arrived remains another serious puzzle for scientists. It is believed that they arrived around 1,000 years ago on rafts from Peru (a distance of 8,000 km) or more likely, the Marquesas Islands (3,200 km). It's hard to believe they could have made such a journey across stormy oceans on such unreliable rafts.
After arriving on Easter Island, the Indians began farming and hunting seals, dolphins, and other marine mammals. They even imported Polynesian rats. The only livestock brought to the island were chickens.
Their peaceful life lasted until the second half of the 19th century - then most of the locals were enslaved and taken to Peru by slave traders, and also a significant part of the population died as a result of tuberculosis and leprosy epidemics.
Interestingly, while Christian priests who arrived on Easter Island fought against pagan customs, they continued for a long time after their arrival, including practicing cannibalism!
Notable Places
Easter Island is popular among tourists not only because of its stone idols. For example, there are several excellent bays favored by surfers from around the world. There are several interesting caves, which were used by Indians for various purposes in ancient times: the birth cave (a local maternity hospital), the cave of the uninhabited (a kind of spa center where young girls hid from the sun so that their skin would be as white as possible), the leper cave, where people with leprosy were isolated, and the cemetery cave, which was used for burial.
Mataveri Airport
Another notable place on the island is Mataveri Airport. It was built in the 1980s and has an extremely long runway - 3,318 meters. Such length was due to the fact that the airport was intended not only for airplanes but also as a backup landing site for space shuttles. Its project was developed and implemented by Americans, based on an agreement between Chilean President Augusto Pinochet and US President Ronald Reagan.
