Easter Island
Easter Island is located in the Pacific Ocean, 3,703 km from Chile. It is known locally as Rapa Nui. Easter Island is famous all over the world for its stone sculptures, moai, of which there are more than one hundred.
The island was discovered on April 5, 1722, by a traveler from Holland, Jacob Roggeveen. It was decided to name Easter Island, in honor of a religious holiday. Soon, the island was forgotten for more than 50 years. Later, there were attempts to take control of the island, but due to the small importance of the island, they did not try very willingly. During this time, James Cook and even Russian ships were here. 1862 was a sad year in the history of the island's inhabitants. Slave traders from Peru arrived here and enslaved more than 1,000 people to extract guano. No more than a hundred survived due to the terrible working conditions. Soon, the French authorities and the governor of Tahiti intervened, forcing the return of all the inhabitants of the island. But due to diseases, 15 residents reached the island, who infected the entire island with smallpox and tuberculosis. The former king also died in slavery, and the outbreak of civil war and disease reduced the population of Easter Island to half a thousand.
Easter Island was formed by volcanoes, the remnants of which can be found here. The largest of them, Rano-Kao, has a height of only 324 meters, its crater has a diameter of one and a half kilometers, and a depth of 800 meters. The Terevaka volcano has 2 craters and they are filled with fresh water. Due to the fertile land, the absence of powerful winds and the "greenhouse effect", there is a rich vegetation in the craters of the volcano, which the rest of the island cannot boast of.
The main attraction of Easter Island is the Moai stone sculptures. The moai are up to 20 meters high and some even have caps made of red stone. They were made in a quarry in the middle of the island, and the statues are still standing there. According to the local legend, the moai themselves went to their camp sites, but there is a slight catch - the moai have no legs. A traveler from Norway, Thor Heyerdahl, in his book "Aku-Aku" described one of the ways of moving, which he received from a local resident. The statues on Easter Island were moved on wooden sleds, and they were lifted by swinging logs, lifting the statue so, and then fixing the lift by placing stones, and so on until the statue assumed an upright position. If the rulers of the island had more people, they would certainly have built the pyramids of Giza from moai.
There are more than 300 moai statues at the foot of Rano Raraku volcano. This is the most visited place among travelers. Next to the bay is the ahu Tongariki ceremonial platform with 15 statues placed on it. In Anakena Bay, you can find one of the island's most excellent beaches with coral sand, and picnics can be arranged in a grove nearby. According to legend, the boat of the first king of Rapa Nui Hotu Matu with its first inhabitants landed in this bay.
The flora and fauna of Easter Island is very scarce. There are about 30 plant species, almost all of which were brought to the island. Before the Europeans arrived here, there were many sea birds and animals in these places: seal, turtle, crab.
The main profit of the island comes from tourism. Easter Island can only be reached by plane from Santiago or by ship, but the latter rarely come here.
