20 Quick facts about Easter Island

Easter Island is one of the most unusual islands on our planet. It has the shape of a triangle with sides of 16, 24, and 18 kilometers. The mysterious Easter Island has attracted the attention of researchers with its interesting riddles for many decades. Now there are almost no secrets left on it. Science has been able to explain everything, including the famous stone idols. Let’s find out the 20 most interesting facts about Easter Island.

The island was officially taken under the control of the Republic of Chile in 1888.
Previously, curious tourists rarely got here, because it was very far and expensive. Now you can get to Easter Island relatively quickly. Planes fly here from Chile.

Where is Easter Island located?

Among all the inhabited islands in the world, Easter Island is the most remote from the “mainland”. Being in the Pacific Ocean, it is thousands of miles away from the nearest civilized country (the nearest neighbor is the Galapagos Islands, 3,000 km away).

UNESCO Heritage Site :

The entire island has been considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

The only city on the island is Anga-Roa. About 90% of all islanders live here. There is a school on Easter Island, but if the locals want to get a better education, after graduation they go to the mainland to enroll in one of the Chilean universities.

What is the land like on Easter Island?

The island has an almost regular triangular shape, with three volcanoes rising at the corners. Fortunately, these volcanoes are extinct.
The landscapes on Easter Island are quite sparse for vegetation. Once there were forests on it, but the locals have exhausted almost all of them, using the wood for tools for making statues.

How long did Easter Island last?

The first people arrived on Easter Island about 1200-1500 years ago. Scientists believe that these were two large families who sailed here on two large boats.
Only a few centuries later, scientists arrived on the island to study the ancient statues. The British expedition arrived in 1914, the Franco-Belgian — in 1934, the American-in 1956. However, before that, they had repeatedly tried to destroy these statues on the initiative of Christian missionaries, who saw them not as a historical monument, but as objects of idolatry. But, fortunately, the monuments still survived.
Also, when Europeans first arrived on Easter Island, they noted a strange custom of residents — Rapanui men cut their earlobes.

Easter Island is famous for?

The famous statues of Easter Island, Moai, are made of tuff, a mineral that is compressed volcanic ash.
Almost all the statues of Easter Island are made of pumice stone, so even the largest of them weigh no more than 5 tons, despite their impressive size. But there are others — for example, one of the unfinished idols weighs about 270 tons, and its height should have been about 20 meters.
A lot of secrets were connected with these giants. For example, it was unclear how it was possible to put these giants in the place where they are now standing. The natives stubbornly claimed that these colossi move by themselves.
Stone statues stand near the Pacific Ocean along the entire coast, they are located on special sites of volcanic rock.
Not all the statues have survived to this day, some are destroyed, others are toppled. They are not the same size and differ in thickness. The smallest ones are 3 meters long. Large ones weigh 80 tons and reach 17 meters in height.
Mysterious giants, moai silently rise on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, lined up and looking towards the island. These giants are like an army defending their possessions. Despite all the simplicity of the figures, the moai are fascinating. These statues look especially powerful in the rays of the setting sun when only huge silhouettes loom.

Surprising Interesting Facts about Easter Island :

Now there are 397 statues on the island.
There is also no river on Easter Island. The highest point of Easter Island lies at an altitude of 539 meters above sea level. This is the top of the Terevaka volcano.
There is also a little fauna, only 31 species of birds live here.
There is an Internet connection on Easter Island. At least, in the capital and in general the only local city, Anga-Roa.
Even before the advent of Christian missionaries, the islanders had their writing system based on unique hieroglyphs.

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