Destinations-Easter Islands

Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen first saw the island on Easter Sunday, 1722, hence its present name. Originally called Te Pito o Te Henua (the Navel of the World), today's visitors often refer to it as "the world's largest open-air museum". It has both a fascinating and tragic history. Easter Island, the most isolated island in the world, was most probably settled by Polynesians who ventured across the Pacific from the Marquesas Islands. Settling on Rapa Nui (the Polynesian name for the island), they worked the land and used the native palm trees both for their houses and fishing boats. Their most impressive and permanent constructions were the moais, huge images (some are estimated to weigh 50-90 tons/45,000-80,000 kg.) of their gods carved from volcanic stone and set around the island, facing the sea.

The islanders believed the gods conferred spiritual power (called "mana"), keeping their fields fertile and the ocean full of fish. All went well until the last palm tree was chopped down and the soil eroded. The lack of construction material for fishing boats in about 1580 caused a famine that swept the island. A series of civil wars followed, lasting over 250 years.

Early in the 19th century, Peruvian slave traders kidnapped or killed a significant portion of the population. In 1862, some islanders were returned to raise sugar crops, but they carried smallpox and other diseases. By 1900, the epidemics that resulted from this had reduced the island's population to 111. The population of today counts about 3,000, a mixture of Polynesian and Spanish. The official language is Spanish, but Rapa-nui (the native language) is also spoken.

The highlight of any visit to Easter Island are the moais and Rano Raraku Quarry, which alone has more than 300 moais, including one that's the size of a 7-story building. At the quarry, you can see moais in various stages of completion; from a rough outline in the ground to the nearly finished product (apparently the carvers simply laid down their tools one day, never to take them up again).

Also be sure to visit some of the 2,000 caves that contain the bones of those who fled to escape the civil wars. On the western coast of the island, near Orongo, is a cliff and petroglyph-covered altar, the center of the bird man-worshipping cult that sprang up after the stone deities "lost" their power.

• ACCESS ROUTES
  Easter Island is located at 2,300 mi / 3,750 km west of Santiago. The only ways to get there by air are via Santiago, Auckland/Sydney and Papeete, Tahiti (the island lies at roughly the same distance from the Chilean mainland and Tahiti).
• ACCOMMODATION
  Hotels on Easter Island are not deluxe, but they are more than adequate (and about three times as costly as those in Chile are). For a change of pace, plan to spend one night in one of the 'residenciales', which are local homes.
• WHEN TO GO
  Easter Island can be visited year-round.