What is the history behind Easter Island?
Known as Rapa Nui to its earliest inhabitants, the island was christened Paaseiland, or Easter Island, by Dutch explorers in honor of the day of their arrival in 1722. It was annexed by Chile in the late 19th century and now maintains an economy based largely on tourism.
What is the history of the Easter Island statues?
Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century.
What are 5 facts about Easter Island?
Here are 5 interesting facts about this mystifying corner of the world.
- It was the first Pacific island to be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site..
- None of the statues were standing when scientists arrived!
- Easter Island lies 3,700km to the west of Chile!
- It is one of the most remote islands in the world!
What was Easter Island originally called?
According to Barthel (1974), oral tradition has it that the island was first named Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka, “The little piece of land of Hau Maka”.
What destroyed Easter Island?
In December 1862, Peruvian slave raiders struck Easter Island. Violent abductions continued for several months, eventually capturing or killing around 1500 men and women, about half of the island’s population.
Who discovered Easter Island?
explorer Jacob Roggeveen
Between 600 and 800 A.D., a group of colonists from an unidentified location in Eastern Polynesia settled on Easter Island after sailing in a southeasterly direction for many weeks. The name Easter Island originated with the European explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who first saw the island on Easter Sunday, 1722.
Who discovered the Easter Island statues?
Why did they all fall over? When Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen first discovered Easter Island in 1722, all the Moai on the island stood proudly upright. Sadly, over the next 150 odd years most had toppled over.
What really happened to Easter Island?
New Possibilities. “Despite its almost complete isolation,the Easter Island inhabitants created a complicated social structure and these amazing works of art before a dramatic change occurred.
What are facts about Easter Island?
Historical summary. A thousand years ago,a small group of polynesians paddled the worlds greatest ocean in search of a new land.
What is the story behind Easter Island?
An annual event. Did you know that the inhabitants of Rapa Nui,or Easter Island as it is commonly known,used to take part in an annual event?
Who are the inhabitants of Easter Island?
Reimiro,a gorget or breast ornament of crescent shape with a head at one or both tips. The same design appears on the flag of Rapa Nui.