History : Easter Island, lost in the Pacific Ocean , has only been known to Europeans since the 18th century; it was discovered in 1722 by the Dutchman Roggeven. Since the seafarer noticed a triangular piece of land on Easter Sunday, the island got its modern name, although the locals - descendants of Polynesians still call it Rapanui. In 1770, the Spaniard Gonzalez arrived in this place, who formally declared the island to be the territory of Spain, however, the annexation of the territory did not follow.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a small island was visited by Cook and Laperuz, explorer Lisyansky, and Peruvian pirates captured the islanders to be sold as slaves. In 1863, French missionaries arrived in Rapanui, seeking to spread Catholicism among the islanders, exchanging the best fertile plots from naive Polynesians for pieces of colored fabric, and transporting local residents to Tahiti for hard labor on plantations. In 1888, Easter Island became an integral part of Chile, and is still governed by a Chilean commandant.
Sightseeing : Easter Island allows everyone to visit Chile, and it attracts the attention of tourists due to the unusual stone sculptures that the islanders call the Moai. The sculptures resemble huge heads, and their mass is tens of tons, so no researcher can accurately explain how heavy sculptures could appear on an island with a “wild” population and rather sparse vegetation. Who could knock out the Moai, bring them to the coast, put statues on specially prepared pedestals, and then crown them with a massive headdress?
Huge sculptures were carved from blocks of volcanic lava in the southern part of Rapanui, and then they were already ready to be installed on ceremonial pedestals located along the ocean coast. And among the surviving Moai, a huge statue of Ahu Ko Te Riky weighing twenty tons stands out, its head is decorated with a symbolic stone, and its creation dates back to 690. Unusual sculptures are also found in the vicinity of the Rano Raraku quarry, and the height of most Moai is more than six meters. Each statue in this place previously belonged to a separate family of islanders, and under it was a crypt, where the Polynesians carefully laid the bodies of deceased relatives.
Arriving on Easter Island, travelers will be able to begin acquaintance with the original culture of the islanders by visiting the town of Orongo, where you can see the restored buildings erected from soft stone. The city is surrounded by an impregnable rock, on which even now carved images of mythical bird people are clearly visible. The most interesting attraction is the ancient Ahu Vinapu temple with stone sculptures, the look of which recalls the work of the Inca Indians. Perhaps these statues are evidence that the first inhabitants of Rapanui were immigrants from South America.
Visiting the mysterious Easter island, you can wander for a long time through the territory of the ancient fortress Ahu Tahai, which was restored in the 60s of the last century thanks to the work of the American William Mullah. The temple of the 7th century, which is the oldest architectural structure of the island of Rapanui, has been preserved on the territory of fortification, and in this place there are various types of gravestones.
Riddles : Easter Island attracts travelers and explorers with other riddles besides the huge moai. So, the islanders still keep wooden figures, as well as sacred tablets carved from toromiro wood with unusual inscriptions and drawings. The inhabitants of the island call such plaques “rongo-rongo”, and the signs and letters inscribed on them, which are the rudiment of primitive writing, are still not deciphered.