CHILE: Easter Island
Rapa Nui named `Easter Island` by the Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen who
discovered it on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722, lies in the central Pacific
Ocean, a long way from anywhere. The Rapa Nui people who are believed to
have migrated from Polynesia around 300 AD call it Te pito o te Henua,
`navel of the world`. A volcanic landmass covering some 100 sq km, the
island is world famous for giant stone statues or moais. At Ahu Tongariki 15
of the bulky figures stand in regimental line-up on a monumental stone
platform. Others are scattered across the treeless slopes or lie where they
were originally carved in a mountain quarry. Their significance is not fully
understood. Perhaps they were local tiki-gods or tribal totems marking the
territory of the island clans. Rapa Nui also counts hundreds of petroglyphs
picked in the rocks. They include representations of the "Tangata manu" from
the ancient bird-man cult suppressed by Christian missionaries in the 1860s.
This was an annual competition between the clans whose contestants had to
swim out to a tiny islet and return safely with the first egg laid by the
sooty terns which nest there in thousands. The winner was given the title
Tangata manu and great power in local society while his clan was awarded
sole rights to collect that seasons eggs to supplement a fish and taro diet.
The island was annexed by Chile in 1888 where it is known as Isle de Pascua.
The Rapa Nui National Park with its enigmatic statues was inscribed on the
World Heritage List in 1995.