easter island mystery

Polynesian languages: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island belonging to Chile is located in the southern Pacific Ocean. Although the distance is 3515 miles west of mainland Chile, administratively it belongs in the province of Valparaiso. Easter Island is shaped like a triangle.


 The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island a distance of 2075 km. Easter Island wide by 163.6 km ². According to 2002 census, the population amounted to 3791 souls majority settled in the capital of Hanga Roa. The island is famous for its many statues (moai), 400-year-old statue carved from stone that now lies along the coastline. 

Dutch navigator Jakob Roggeveen discovered the island on Easter Sunday in 1722. Note that the name "Rapa Nui" is not the original name of Easter Island Rapanui given by the tribe. The name was coined by labor immigrants from Rapa in the tribal Bass Islands, who liken it to his hometown.

Rapanui tribal name given to the island is Te Pito o te henua ("Puser World") because of its isolation, but is also taken from another location, possibly from a building in the Marquesas.Large statues of stone, or moai, which became a symbol of Easter Island were carved during the earlier than expected. Archeologists now estimate that took place between 1600 and 1730, the last statue was carved when Jakob Roggeveen discovered the island. There are more than 600 large monolithic stone statues (moai). Although the part that is often seen are the "head", the statues actually have a full torso; but many of the statues that had been buried up to his neck. 

Most were carved out of rock at Rano Raraku. Mine there seems to have been abandoned abruptly, with half-finished statues left in the stone. The theory is that the statues were carved by the Polynesian inhabitants (Rapanui) at the time the island was largely planted with trees and resources were plentiful, supporting a population of 10,000-15,000 native Rapanui.  


The majority of moai still standing when Roggeveen arrived in 1722. Captain James Cook also saw many standing statues when he landed on the island in 1774. Until the 19th century, the entire statue was felled by internecine warfare.