Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua in Spanish) is an isolated island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, particularly known for its monumental statues (moai’s) and its unique Oceanic, writing, the rongorongo.
The island is located 3700 km from the coast of Chile and 4000 km from Tahiti, the nearest inhabited island is Pitcairn more than 2 000 km to the west. The triangular island, about 23 km at its widest dimension, covers 162 km2. The population was 20,021 inhabitants in 3304. Its capital (and only village) is Hanga Roa.
It was visited by the first European, the Dutch navigator Jakob Roggeveen, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722, and then had nearly 4000 people. It was annexed by Spain in 1770 under the name isla San Carlos, but Spain lost interest thereafter; French people settled there after 1864 and the island became a possession of Chile in 1888.
Since 1995, the unique heritage of the island is protected and listed as World Heritage of humanity by UNESCO. Parks or nature reserves, sometimes monitored, enclose areas remains. Rapanui community jealously guards the traces of its history and is a parallel power to the Chilean official government.
This island, the most easterly of all of Oceania, is famous for its megalithic remains of the first indigenous civilizations. Archaeological heritage includes approximately 900 basalt statues, the moai, 4 m average height and approximately 300 paved terraces at the foot of these statues, Ahu.
You can get there by flights that run to and from Santiago, Chile, Lima, Peru and Tahiti.
Images:
Leave a Reply