What's on Easter Island. Where is Easter Island? Easter Island: photo. Who discovered Easter Island

Easter Island (Spanish: Isla de Pasqua, Polynesian: Rapa Nui) is one of the most isolated islands on Earth. The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua" (Navel of the World). Officially a territory, Easter Island is located far in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway to Tahiti. Known for its mysterious giant stone statues built centuries ago, reflecting the history of the dramatic rise and fall of Polynesian culture.

general information

The name of the island is reminiscent of the fact that it was discovered by a Dutch exploration vessel on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Ever since Thor Heyerdahl and a small group of adventurers set sail from South America to the Tuamotu Islands, far north of Easter Island, controversy over the origin of the islanders has not abated. Nowadays, DNA testing has conclusively proved that the Polynesians came from the west, not the east, and that the inhabitants of Easter Island are the descendants of intrepid travelers who traveled there from Taiwan thousands of years ago. Legend has it that people went to Easter Island because their own island was gradually swallowed up by the sea.

In short, Easter Island's backstory is a succession of achievement, prosperity and civilization that ended in environmental destruction and decline. While there is no consensus as to when humans first appeared on Easter Island (estimated to be from a few hundred to over a thousand years ago), it is believed that the first humans arrived from Polynesia. This was hardly a mistake or an accident: the evidence suggests that Easter Island was deliberately colonized by large boats with many settlers - a significant feat, given the distance from Easter Island to any other land in the Pacific Ocean.

The first islanders found the land undoubtedly a heavenly place. Archaeological evidence shows that the island was covered with trees of various types, including the largest palm species in the world, whose bark and wood the natives used to make cloth, ropes and canoes. Birds were abundant. The mild climate favored an easy life, and the abundant waters provided fish and oysters.

The islanders thrived on these advantages and reflected this in the religion that became their leisure - the giant moai, or heads, that are the most distinctive feature of the island today. The moai that dot the island are believed to have been depictions of ancestors, whose presence was probably considered a blessing or vigilant guard in every small village.

The ruins of the Rano Raraku crater in the quarry, where dozens if not hundreds of moai are located in the very center, are a testament to the importance of these figures to the islanders and the fact that their lives revolved around these creations. It has been suggested that their isolation from all other peoples working in the center of commerce and creativity was created by the expectation of some other significant path destined for them, to pursue which they could use their skills and resources. The human bird in culture (in the form of petroglyphs) is clear evidence of the hopes of the islanders for the opportunity to leave their island for distant lands.

However, as the population grew, the pressure on the island's environment increased as well. Deforestation of trees on the island gradually increased, and when this main resource was depleted, the islanders found it difficult to continue making ropes, canoes and everything needed for hunting and fishing, and ultimately to maintain a culture that encouraged the islanders to produce giant stone figures. Apparently, divisions began to intensify (with some violence), confidence in the old religion was lost, which was reflected in part in the ruins of the moai, which they deliberately overthrew.

By the end of the glorious culture of Easter Island, the population had reached a minimum, with the inhabitants sometimes resorting to cannibalism and raw food due to the small amount of food or means of obtaining a livelihood. Even the subsequent raids of powers such as and did not devastate the population so much, in the last century there were only a few hundred natives of Rapa Nui.

Today Rapa Nui National Park is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its residents rely on many tourist and economic connections and daily flights to Santiago. Like many indigenous peoples, Rapa Nui is looking for artifacts from their past and trying to integrate their culture with the political, economic and social realities of today. You can book a hotel on Easter Island at, and you can check if there is a better price. Some travelers prefer to rent accommodation from locals - you can look at the offers.

How to get there

Due to the extreme geographic isolation of Easter Island, many people believe that only a very brave traveler can reach it. Indeed, it can be reached via regular commercial air travel, Hanga Roa (IATA: IPC), as tourism is the island's main industry.

Since this place is de facto a part, this is a domestic flight from Santiago and no passports are required upon arrival from Chile. There are also flights from Tahiti - then your passport will be needed.

However, these are rather “routes” for most people, with a minimum of 5.5 hours in the air from the nearest continent, and there are very few routes to get to Easter Island. Only regular LAN Airlines flights fly daily to Santiago de and once a week to Tahiti. With no competition for this long and challenging flight, fares range from US $ 400 to US $ 1,200 per flight from Santiago. You can find out how much the flight will cost for your dates in the Trevelask section.

Easter Island is said to be "conveniently located" when it is revealed to be on the map round the world where it plays the role of an interesting stopover between Polynesia and South America, and also helps to reinforce the perception of outsiders. Because of the waves, only one in four cruise ships can dock here.

If you want to travel on a fearless route, the "sailboat" Soren Larsen sails to Easter Island from New Zealand once a year. The journey takes 35 days, crossing the point farthest from earth.

If possible, consider landing in Santiago after returning from Easter Island. There is a small chance that you will be denied boarding for your flight if a medical evacuation is needed, and the planned stop will give you more options if you are faced with this. The plane sometimes leaves the island late, and as a result, you may have problems with further connections on the mainland.

By plane

Prompt:

Easter Island - the time is now

Difference in hours:

Moscow 8

Kazan 8

Samara 9

Yekaterinburg 10

Novosibirsk 12

Vladivostok 15

When is the season. When is the best time to go

Prompt:

Easter Island - monthly weather

Major attractions. What to see

The biggest attractions on Easter Island are the figures standing on solemn platforms called ahu, moai.

Please note that moai and their platforms are protected by law and should not be approached under any circumstances. Don't go on ah. This is extremely disrespectful, and in case you damage the places, even by accident, the punishment will be severe. Recently, a German tourist who broke a moai ear was sentenced to criminal charges and a $ 10,000 fine.

Rano Raraku and Orongo require entrance ticket to the National Park, which can be bought at the airport upon arrival or at the CONAF office. You need a ticket to enter both places, so make sure you have it safe. The rest of the island can be visited without a ticket.

Ahu are mainly located along coastline islands. For the first time, visitors may be amazed at how many archaeological sites there are around the island, where you can go almost alone depending on the season and time of day.

Each clan usually had a guardian, although not all of them were moai, so if you travel along the southern coast of the island, you will see that each mile has sections of ruins.

Two exceptional sites are the volcanic craters Rano Cau Rano and Raraku. A little deeper in the quarry at “Rano Raraku” there is a place where most of the moai were created, on the side of a hill. It is a 300-foot cooled volcano that provided rocks for great creations. The visitor can see the various stages of the carving, as well as partially finished figures scattered around. The ascent along the left side of the volcano, to the top and inside the crater, will be remembered for a long time. The opposite side of the crater, where some of the moai have been carved, is one of the most dramatic spots on the island, but unfortunately not available at this time.

Likewise, Rano Kau is a remnant of a volcanic cone, ash, just like Rano Raraku, filled with fresh rainwater and having a speckled unearthly look that is breathtaking. Nearby there are other points of view of Hanga Roa.

Often overlooked, Easter Island's particularly captivating attractions are its extensive cave systems. While there are several "official" caves that are quite interesting in their own right, there are numerous unofficial caves on the island, most of which are located near Ana Kakenga. Studying them will make you feel like a real adventurer.

The CONAF (National Park Maintenance Organization) has classified the caves as dangerous for tourists, and park rangers have been regulating access to the caves since March 2014. According to the directions of the park rangers, there is a danger of collapse, especially Ana Te Pahu, which is located under the road. Consequently, tour operators will no longer take their clients to the caves (visiting the caves has now been replaced by excursions to other archaeological sites). On this moment there are no fences to prevent access and with local guides it is quite possible to visit the caves individually, although some precautions and restrictions must be observed.

While the openings in most of these caves are small (some are barely large enough to crawl through) and hidden (the background of a rather surreal lava field could be compared to the surface of Mars), many lead into prohibitively deep and vast cave systems. A note of caution: These caves can be dangerous because so many go much deeper. A man left without a torch will plunge into total darkness with little hope of being able to get out soon ... if it ever happens.

The caves are also extremely wet and slippery (some ceilings have collapsed due to water erosion). In addition, subtropical rain should not be underestimated. Climatic changes are very rapid and there is a risk of unexpectedly getting into a flood zone due to rain. And this is in a cave with limited space to move!

Beaches. Which is better

Easter Island has two white sand beaches. Anakena, on the north side of the island, is great place for surfing with small waves. You can also surf in the harbor at Hanga Roa, which many of the locals do. There is a small car park, a toilet (for the price of $ 1), several small barbecue cafes with refreshments, and a shaded picnic area. Palms imported from Tahiti complete the calming effect. Anakena includes 2 ahu with moai. Be careful when walking under trees - coconuts may fall. Anakena is considered the place where the tribes of the colonialists first appeared on Easter Island, therefore it is called the birthplace of the island's civilization.

The second beach is the pearl of the island and is called Owahe, east of Anakena. This beautiful and deserted beach is surrounded by breathtaking cliffs. Please note: the path down to the beach is very rough and the best way to get here is on foot. Off-road driving (as opposed to erroneous actions of some tourists) is considered illegal in most of the island.

Sometimes large waves wash away all the sand from Ovahe and then slowly return it. The last such incident occurred in 2012.

Some sources mention that it is possible to spend the night in one of the caves in the Ovahe Beach area, but this information is outdated as water is currently seeping through the cracks. In addition, it is not recommended to enter the cave at night without an instructor.

Food. What to try

Hanga Roa restaurants are on the main street and next to the harbor, but there are several others scattered in the surrounding areas.

Traditional food includes curanto and tuna ahi.

Menus tend to be limited as most of the island's food has to be imported, which explains the level of prices on the island. Even in regular restaurants, snack prices start at $ 20 and up. The assortment of fish is quite large, as is the case in the continental one. Pizza and other familiar foods are available at the corner café next to the Catholic Church. A large pizza, however, will cost you 14,000 - 22,000 pesos. There is a large selection of toppings and a really varied menu.

There are 2 types of lobster. The big one is called a real lobster, and the small one, equally delicious, is called "Rape Rape" by the locals. Lobsters are currently protected and restrictions are imposed on fishing during the off-season.

The local tuna is considered a recognized delicacy for its white meat and is highly recommended. The octopus and several types of fish are delicious too.

There are also a few limited supply grocery stores (only a few can be considered true supermarkets) where visitors can pick up snacks, limited sundries, booze, etc. It should be noted that it is difficult to shop at the grocery stores on Easter Island. They are all quite small and their range is constantly changing. A large number of products are not on the shelves - you can get them only after consulting with the seller. If possible, it makes sense to bring canned food and drinks with you from the mainland. This will save you the need to overpay on the island, as well as provide you with everything you need.

Like souvenir sellers, many restaurants on the island do not accept credit cards or have a high minimum cost... Gratuities are also included (10% is considered a polite level). However, check your receipt before paying for anything, as some restaurants add a mandatory service fee to your bill.

• Kanahau is good food and service on the main street.
• Kotaro is a Japanese restaurant with delicious food and excellent service from the chef himself.
• Kuki Varua - Great food and great service. Try to have your table on the second floor terrace.
• La Kaleta. Restaurant with great sea views and delicious food. It has the reputation of being the best restaurant on the island, so it's not the cheapest place either.
• La Taverne du Pêcheur is a small French restaurant in the harbor side of the village. Very good seafood. Perhaps the most expensive restaurant on the island. Some people think that the prices are too high.
• Mamma Nui is a traditional family restaurant. They specialize in tuna ahi.
• Pea. Despite the sea view, the high prices are not comparable to the quality of the main dishes.
• Tataku Vave. Since the restaurant is not located in the very center, you would not have been able to find this gem without recommendations from the front desk. The seafood, service and view are as good as the most expensive restaurants, but the prices are much more reasonable. They specialize in small lobsters ("Rape Rape"). An exquisite view of the sunset and the crashing of the waves. 8,000-12,000 pesos per person, plus drinks. Steep access road, however, can be taken slowly or by taxi.
• Te Moana. The restaurant moved from the main street to the extreme line in 2013. The tuna sandwich is especially good. A live orchestra often plays on Wednesdays and weekends.
• Te Ra "ai offers a package that includes relocation (hotel - restaurant - hotel), Polynesian dance show and Curanto dinner. The restaurant is located outside Hanga Roa. Reservation required as the restaurant is very popular. The show has some Brazilian influence due to with its owner.
• Varua, Atamu Takena. A new restaurant with all the classic trappings can be found on the island at good prices, plus an excellent menu for the main dishes of the day (appetizer, main course and fruit juice). Service and food are excellent.

Less expensive options include sandwiches and empanadas. Alternatively, you can find a local bakery and make your own sandwiches. Budget tourists or those looking for simple food can try the following options:

• Club Sandwich also has fantastic empanadas, but the sandwiches are their true calling and are worth trying. Try banana and orange smoothies, if available. To my shame they are not open for breakfast.
• Donde el Gordo on Church Street is also a good option for those looking for simple food, but their sandwiches are a little more expensive.
• Mahina Tahai is a classic large “menu” that includes bread, butter, soup, fish and rice steak, juice and dessert.
• Miro is located close to the cemetery, there are great pizzas.
• Piroto Henua is a sports bar with a simple menu next to the airport entrance.

Beverages

The Chilean drink pisco, made from fermented grapes, is the island's unofficial drink. However, pisco is sour and should be mixed with lemon juice and egg whites, which is the best option if you're not used to whiskey or rum. Drinking pisco has a lower degree than vodka, although the Chileans do not recommend it.

The island also offers papaya, mango or guava drinks, depending on the season. All of these natural juices are blended with pisco. About 4,000 pesos at the restaurant.

Another common cocktail is piscola, pisco with coca cola.

The local brewery is called Mahina and produces light craft beer and stout. It was closed for almost 2 years between 2012 and 2014, but is currently working again. Delicious bottled souvenirs are also produced. Despite its name and local owner, the Akivi brand is produced on the mainland (the brewery is located in Quilpué).

The usual rate for a can of soda in a restaurant or hotel seems to be around 1,500 - 2,000 pesos. You can buy beer for the same price.

Security. What to watch out for

In practice, there is no street crime in Hanga Roa. Thus, well-behaved tourists need not be afraid of anything. Tourists who need police assistance can contact the local PDI (Chilean Federal Police) office, which is located outside of the city, minutes away by taxi and is open until 6pm. However, keep in mind: officers usually only speak Spanish.

If you have lost your passport, you can file a report for 500 pesos, as well as replace your visa application form; A photocopy of the document will be invaluable in this case. Presenting this report will allow you to board the plane back to Santiago, the rest will be decided at your embassy.

It is dark in the morning during the winter months (June - August), and it can be cold at night until spring (September - October). Depending on the season, you should not forget about sun and wind protection.

Hepatitis B shots are offered by the CDC to Easter Island visitors mainly due to street food vendors and tropical water consumption. Easter Island officials insist the water is safe, but some say it tastes different and could therefore disrupt your intestinal flora. Avoid drinking tap water and eating street food until you know how it will affect you. Let the hotels prepare all food and drink for the stomachs of tourists, and therefore be safer than restaurants. Day trips organized by travel companies often include a ready-to-eat lunch. They also need to be safe, as many travel companies are hotel-affiliated and get their food from travel hotel kitchens, but if in doubt, ask.

There are many stray dogs on Easter Island. It is advisable not to let them approach, as some of the dogs are unpredictable. Get rid of stray dogs with a commanding voice and stern gestures. If you are bitten by a dog, go to the hospital and get a rabies shot.

Visitors to Anakena Beach should be careful when walking under palm trees. Coconuts can fall and hurt you. In addition, there are many vendors of very exotic looking food and drinks on Anakena Beach that are interesting to try, but always keep in mind that there is no running water in this part of the island, so food hygiene and safety should be an important criterion when purchase. If you decide to get the hepatitis vaccine before arriving on the island, keep in mind that it involves three shots and will take several months for full protection.

Remember that some of the island locations can only be reached after a long journey, sometimes steep and potholed. Always ask your instructors about this. A path over 700 meters long will tire you quickly. Travelers will enjoy more if, especially in key areas, physical activity is not a problem.

Travelers who have difficulty walking, using stairs or wheelchairs will be restricted in travel. The tracks simply do not support wheeled transport. The stairs can be very steep and quite narrow for people walking up and down the same steps. Steep slopes sometimes do not have safety rails. Most of the trails are not comfortable and can be narrow. It is not allowed to leave the trail: this will entail a complaint from your guide and it is also against the rules of the park.

Things to do

Some areas of the restoration zone (Pua Catici and Terevaca peninsula) are forested. These sites may only be accessible for hiking or horse riding. Access to the recovery areas by car is strictly prohibited.

Most of west coast cannot be accessed by the vehicle, and thus only hiking or horse riding (limited availability).

Snorkeling is a popular pastime, even though there are current partial restrictions in some areas (near the islands of Motu Nui and Motu Ichi). There are diving centers that rent equipment and organize boat excursions for divers: Atariki Rapa Nui, Orca and Mike Rapu Diving.

Large sea turtles can be seen near the fishing boats.

Tours

Group tours are the most common way to explore the island. Given the lack of public transport, sharing the tour with a group of tourists is an effective way to reduce the burden on the environment. Travel companies also provide private tours.

Local guides can also show you some aspects of island life that you might never have seen or heard.

Travel agencies sell vacation packages that include accommodation and excursions. However, only places officially owned by the company can legally provide their services tax-free (the invoices they give you, Law 16.441). This means that you will avoid VAT and other taxes when you contact the operators directly.

There are 4 well-established local tour operators, each with at least ten years of experience.

Aku Aku Turismo. Tour operator mainly providing Spanish group tours. Their office is located next to Hotel Manutara's reception.

Kia Koe Tour, Atamu Tekena s / n, Hanga Roa, ☎ +56 32 210-0852. The main tour operator on Easter Island. The office is located on the main street. Tours are available in groups or with a private guide in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese. They also provide serviced charters and cruisers. The company was founded in 1984.

Mahinatur. One of the oldest tour operators, their specialty is tours in French.

Rapa Nui Travel. Tour operator providing mainly German group tours.

The Tourist Information Center also offers contact with freelancers, but professional guides work mainly with major tour operators.

Easter Island Travel. Specializes in private groups, has experience in adventure and independent cruise excursions. English and Spanish speaking guides.

Green Island Tours-Easter Island.

When dealing with small companies or self-employed freelancers, you should always have a description of the services and the total cost in writing for your own safety. In addition, law firms in, including Easter Island, have a RUT (9-digit code).

Hike

Hiking is pretty easy on Easter Island. It is not necessary to hire a guide for this, although it may be worthwhile to see some of the hidden archaeological treasures of these routes. If you decide to do this without a guide, all you need is a simple map and some recommendations from the porter or park rangers (especially taking into account local laws and regulations).

The most popular trekking options are recovery zones. They are not accessible for any type of vehicle (even the old paths are still partially visible, these areas are not allowed to visit):

Trekking to Terevau, the highest point of the island, is fairly easy. The way to the top will take about 1.5 hours, and take another hour on the way back (from and to Ahu Akivi). Or you can start from Vaitei (about half way to the main beach of Anakena). You can also get there on horseback (as a rule, such tours take place every morning, depending on the weather).

Rano Kau can be easily reached on foot. When you reach the volcanic crater, simply follow the eastern side of the crater to see landscapes that are not accessible by other vehicles. You can also go to Orongo or just take a guided tour.

The hike along the northwest coast will take about 5-7 hours and will require some planning and preparation. You can simply take a taxi to Anakena's main beach and drive back along the coast to Hanga Roa. You can also go on horseback, although it is less accessible (the route is less popular and more expensive than the others). Although there are several archaeological sites, which, however, are not of great interest. Among them, for example, a cave full of petroglyphs.

Pua Catici is an isolated northeastern peninsula with high steep cliffs. Some of them are currently used as grazing areas for cattle. The ascent to the top will take about 1.5 hours. Along the way, you can see some interesting monuments, including the infamous "Cave of the Virgin".

Shopping and shops

Since there is only one village on the island, Hanga Roa, craft markets and shops are mainly located on its main street, church street or nearby.

Many local small-scale producers are located in large areas close to tourist bus stops - worth seeing if you are looking for local artisan products or limited-edition souvenirs that cannot be found in other countries. You can also buy souvenirs at the airport, but they will be mass produced.

The official currency is the Chilean Peso (CLP), but unlike the continental one, here you can pay in cash using dollars (USD). Almost all hotels and business people accept USD payment, but you should recalculate to see which rate is best for you. Taxi drivers only accept small USD bills.

Some guidebooks claim that you can use Euros (EUR), but this information is false, although some gift shops will readily accept cash. However, it is possible to exchange euros at a gas station at a reasonable rate (more convenient than at banks).

When buying souvenirs, it is better to pay in cash. Often sellers will inflate the minimum cost or charge for services for using a credit card (about 10 - 20%) - only in cases where the seller accepts credit cards at all; many smaller manufacturers only accept cash.

There are a total of 2 ATMs on the island. ATM in front of Banco Estado on Tu "at maheke Hanga Roa accepts only Cirrus, Maestro and Mastercard, except for branded Visa cards. ATM on Polikarpo Toro accepts Visa, Cirrus, Maestro and Mastercard. Previously, there were ATMs in the departure hall of the airport, as well as inside the gas station but both stopped working (July 2013).

The local bank can issue loans to the Visa card, but it is open part-time (Monday through Friday, 08.00 - 13.00) and the lines can be long, especially at the end of the month.

One of the most peculiar things on the island is the banks (CONAF and almost all businesses). They are very picky when it comes to the state of dollar bills. Banknotes are not considered valid if they are torn, wet, damaged markings, or even if they are old and frayed. These bills can be saved for some other purpose. However, when you borrow dollars yourself (or exchange money before visiting the island), you must keep this in mind.

Unlike continental, 19% VAT is not charged on Easter Island.

Clubs and nightlife

The island's nightlife is less active than in large cities and the main attraction is definitely the Polynesian dance shows. Kari Kari on the main street, Wai Te Mihi near the cemetery and Te Ra "ai restaurant outside Hanga Roa have their own specialties throughout the year (except for the holiday period and Tapati when dancers participate in festival events). Discos, Toroko and piriti are places where you could easily fit into a crowd of locals.

How to get back

LAN Airlines has scheduled flights to and from (daily), Lima (currently discontinued) and Tahiti (weekly). If you are flying from a foreign airport, there will be a small cash exit fee.!

Anything to add?

Easter Island (Rapanui) (Pascua, Rapa Nui), a volcanic island in the eastern part The Pacific 165.5 square kilometers. Height up to 539 meters. Belongs to Chile. The population is about 2 thousand people. Fishing. Sheep breeding. Remains of the extinct culture of the Polynesians (stone sculpture, tablets covered with letters). The administrative center is Hanga Roa. Discovered by the Dutch navigator I. Roggeven in 1772 on Easter.

Easter Island is said to be one of the most secluded corners of the world. This tiny island of volcanic origin, no more than 24 kilometers in size, lost in the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from the nearest human civilization. It is located 3600 km west of the Chilean city of Valparaiso.

Everything connected with the island is shrouded in mystery. Where did its first inhabitants come from? How did they even find this island? How and why were more than 600 giant stone statues sculpted?

The first Europeans to set foot on the island on Easter Sunday 1772 were the Dutch sailors who gave the island its name. They found that representatives of three different races peacefully coexist on the island. There were blacks, redskins and, finally, completely white people. They behaved in a very welcoming and friendly manner.

The most fascinating and mysterious discovery on Easter Island was the giant stone statues called moai by the locals. Many of them reach a height of 4 to 10 meters and weigh up to 20 tons. Some are even larger, weighing more than 90 tons. They have very large heads with a heavy protruding chin, long ears and no legs at all. Some have Redstone Ushapki on their heads (it is believed that these are the leaders who were deified after their death).

Easter Island photos

Secrets of Easter Island

Easter Island: where is

Easter Island is an island in the South Pacific, Chilean territory (together with the uninhabited island of Sala i Gomez, it forms the province and commune of Isla de Pasqua in the Valparaiso region). The local name of the island is Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui). Area - 163.6 km².

Along with the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, it is the most remote inhabited island in the world. The distance to the continental coast of Chile is 3514 km, to Pitcairn Island, the nearest inhabited place, is 2075 km.

Easter Island on the world map

Easter Island: how to get there

There are two ways to get to the island, and both are costly. The first one is on a tourist yacht or cruise ship, which sometimes come here. You can go on an independent trip and go to the port in a couple of weeks.

The second way is air. The island has an airport serving flights from the Chilean capital Santiago, Tahiti and Lima. The flight schedule depends on the season. For example, from December to March, you can fly only once a week. In other months - twice a week. The flight from Santiago takes approximately 5 hours.

You can only get to Easter Island from Russia by plane. Tickets are not cheap. You can buy from Moscow before Easter with transfers, you can buy from Moscow - St. Petersburg to North America, then to South America, and from there until Easter, you can immediately go to South America, and from there until Easter. In any case, you will have to spend money on a ticket. There is also very a good option when airlines offer special offers and cut the cost of air tickets by half, or even three times.

Easter Island: video

The most beautiful places of Easter

Aerial photography of Easter Island

About the whole process in detail. Let's now turn to the "heads" and go to Easter Island

Easter Island, covering 117 sq. km. -: it is located in the Pacific Ocean at a distance of over 3700 km. from the nearest continent (South America) and 2600 km from the nearest inhabited island (Pitcairn).

In general, there are many secrets in the history of Easter Island. Its discoverer, Captain Juan Fernandez, fearing competitors, decided to keep his discovery, made in 1578, a secret, and after some time he accidentally died under mysterious circumstances. Although whether what the Spaniard found was Easter Island is still unclear.

144 years later, in 1722, the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeven stumbled upon Easter Island, and this event took place on the day of Christian Easter. So, quite by chance, the island of Te Pito about those Henois, which in translation from the local dialect means the Center of the World, turned into Easter Island.

It is interesting that Admiral Roggeven with his squadron did not just sail in the area, he tried in vain to find the elusive land of Davis, an English pirate, which, according to his descriptions, was discovered 35 years before the Dutch expedition. True, no one, except Davis and his team, ever saw the newly discovered archipelago.

In 1687, the pirate Edward Davis, whose ship was carried away to the west of Copiapo, the administrative center of the Atacama region (Chile), by sea winds and the Pacific current, noticed a land on the horizon, where silhouettes were looming high mountains... However, without even trying to find out whether it was a mirage or an island not yet discovered by the Europeans, Davis turned the ship and headed towards the Peruvian current.

This "Davis Land", which much later began to be identified with Easter Island, reinforced the conviction of the cosmographers of that time that there was a continent in this region that was, as it were, a counterbalance to Asia and Europe. This led to the fact that brave sailors began to search for the lost continent. However, it was never found: instead, hundreds of Pacific islands were discovered.

With the discovery of Easter Island, it became widely believed that this is the continent escaping from man, on which it existed for millennia. highly developed civilization, which later disappeared into the depths of the ocean, and only high mountain peaks survived from the continent (in fact, these are extinct volcanoes). The existence of huge statues on the island, moai, unusual Rapanui tablets only supported this opinion.

However, modern study of the adjacent waters has shown that this is unlikely.

Easter Island is located 500 km from a range of seamounts known as the East Pacific Rise, on the Nazca lithospheric plate. The island sits on top of a huge mountain formed from volcanic lava. The last eruption volcanoes on the island occurred 3 million years ago. Although some scientists suggest that it happened 4.5-5 million years ago.

According to local legends, in the distant past, the island was large. It is quite possible that this was the case during the Pleistocene Ice Age, when the level of the World Ocean was 100 meters lower. According to geological studies, Easter Island has never been part of a sunken continent.

Easter Island's mild climate and volcanic origins should have made it a haven of paradise, away from the problems plaguing the rest of the world, but Roggeven's first impression of the island was like a desolate area covered with dried grass and scorched vegetation. There were no trees or bushes to be seen.

Modern botanists have found on the island only 47 species of higher plants characteristic of this area; mainly grass, sedge and ferns. The list also includes two types of dwarf trees and two types of shrubs. With such vegetation, the inhabitants of the island had no fuel to keep warm in the cold, wet and windy winters. The only domestic animals were chickens; there were no bats, birds, snakes or lizards. Only insects were found. In total, about 2000 people lived on the island.

Inhabitants of Easter Island. 1860 engraving

Now about three thousand people live on the island. Of these, only 150 people are purebred Rapanui, the rest are Chileans and mestizos. Although, again, it is not entirely clear who exactly can be considered purebred. After all, even the first Europeans who landed on the island were surprised to find that the inhabitants of Rapanui - the Polynesian name of the island - are ethnically heterogeneous. Admiral Roggeven, whom we know, wrote that white, swarthy, brown and even reddish people lived on the land he discovered. Their language was Polynesian, a dialect that had been isolated since about 400 AD. e., and characteristic of the Marquesas and Hawaiian Islands.

It seemed completely inexplicable about 200 giant stone statues - "Moai", located on massive pedestals along the coast of the island with miserable vegetation, far from the quarries. Most of the statues were located on massive pedestals. At least 700 more sculptures, in varying degrees of completion, were left in quarries or on ancient roads connecting the quarries with the coast. One got the impression that the sculptors suddenly abandoned their tools and stopped working ..

Distant craftsmen carved "moai" on the slopes of the Rano Roraku volcano, located in the eastern part of the island, from soft volcanic tuff. Then the finished statues were lowered down the slope and placed along the perimeter of the island, at a distance of more than 10 km. The height of most of the idols is from five to seven meters, while the later sculptures reached both 10 and 12 meters. Tuff, or, as it is also called, pumice, from which they are made, resembles a sponge in structure and easily crumbles even with a slight impact on it. so the average weight of a "moai" does not exceed 5 tons. Stone ahu - platform-pedestals: they reached 150 m in length and 3 m in height, and consisted of pieces weighing up to 10 tons.

At one time, Admiral Roggeven, recalling his trip to the island, claimed that the natives made fires in front of the "moai" idols and squatted next to them, bowing their heads. Then they folded their arms and swung them up and down. Of course, this observation cannot explain who the idols really were for the islanders.

Roggeven and his companions could not understand how, without using thick wooden rollers and strong ropes, it was possible to move and install such blocks. The islanders had no wheels, no draft animals, and no other source of energy other than their own muscles. Ancient legends say that the statues walked on their own. There is no point in asking how this actually happened, because there is still no documentary evidence left. There are many hypotheses of the movement of "moai", some are even confirmed by experiments, but all this proves only one thing - it was possible in principle. And the statues were moved by the inhabitants of the island and no one else. What did they do it for? This is where the discrepancies begin.

It is also surprising that in 1770 the statues were still standing, James Cook, who visited the island in 1774, mentioned the lying statues, no one had noticed anything like this before him. V last time standing idols were seen in 1830. Then a French squadron entered the island. Since then, no one has seen the original statues, that is, those installed by the inhabitants of the island themselves. Everything that exists on the island today was restored in the 20th century. The last restoration of fifteen "moai" located between the Rano Roraku volcano and the Poike peninsula took place relatively recently - from 1992 to 1995. Moreover, the Japanese were engaged in the restoration work.

In the second half of the 19th century, the cult of the bird-man also died. This strange, unique for the whole of Polynesia, rite was dedicated to Makemake - the supreme deity of the islanders. The Chosen One became his earthly incarnation. Moreover, interestingly, the elections were held regularly, once a year. At the same time, the most active part in them was taken by servants or soldiers. It depended on them whether their master, the head of the family clan, Tangata-manu, or a bird-man. It is to this rite that the main cult center owes its origin - the rocky village of Orongo on the very large volcano Early Kao at the western tip of the island. Although, perhaps, Orongo existed long before the emergence of the Tangata-manu cult. Legends say that the heir to the legendary Hotu Matua, the first leader to arrive on the island, was born here. In turn, his descendants, hundreds of years later, themselves gave the signal for the start of the annual competition.

In the spring, the messengers of the god Makemake - black sea swallows - flew to the small islands of Motu-Kao-Kao, Motu-Iti and Motu-Nui, located not far from the coast. The warrior who first found the first egg of these birds and delivered it by swimming to his master was rewarded with seven beautiful women... Well, the owner became a leader, or rather, a bird-man, receiving universal respect, honor and privileges. The last Tangata-manu ceremony took place in the 60s of the XIX century. After the disastrous pirate raid of the Peruvians in 1862, when pirates took the entire male population of the island into slavery, there was no one and no one to choose the bird-man.

Why did the natives of Easter Island carve the "moai" statues in the quarry? Why did they stop doing this? The society that created the statues had to be significantly different from the 2,000 people Roggeven saw. It had to be well organized. What happened to him?

For more than two and a half centuries, the mystery of Easter Island remained unsolved. Most theories about the history and development of Easter Island are based on oral tradition. This happens because no one still can understand what is written in the written sources - the famous tablets "ko hau motu mor rongorongo", which roughly means - a manuscript for recitation. Most of them were destroyed by Christian missionaries, but those that survived could probably shed light on the history of this mysterious island... And although the scientific world has repeatedly been agitated by reports that the ancient writings have finally been deciphered, upon careful verification, all this turned out to be not a very accurate interpretation of oral facts and legends.

Several years ago, paleontologist David Steadman and several other researchers performed the first systematic study of Easter Island in order to find out what its vegetation and animal world... The result was data for a new, surprising and instructive interpretation of the history of its settlers.

According to one version, Easter Island was inhabited around 400 AD. NS. (although radiocarbon data obtained by scientists Terry Hunt and Karl Lipo of the University of California (USA) during the study of eight samples of charcoal from Anakena indicate that Rapa Nui was inhabited around 1200 A.D., ) The islanders grew bananas, taro, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, mulberry. In addition to chickens, there were also rats on the island, who arrived with the first settlers.

The period of making the statues dates back to 1200-1500. The number of inhabitants by that time ranged from 7,000 to 20,000 people. To lift and move the statue, several hundred people are enough, who used ropes and rollers from trees, which were available at that time in sufficient quantities.

The painstaking work of archaeologists and paleontologists has shown that about 30,000 years before the arrival of people and in the first years of their stay, the island was not at all as deserted as it is now. A subtropical forest of trees and small forests towered over shrubs, grasses, ferns and turf. The forest was home to tree daisies, hauhau trees, which could be used to make ropes, and toromiro, which was useful as fuel. There were also varieties of palm trees, which are now not on the island, but before there were so many that the foot of the trees was densely covered with their pollen. They are related to the Chilean palm tree, which grows up to 32 m and up to 2 m in diameter. Tall, without branches, the trunks were ideal material for ice rinks and canoes. They also provided edible nuts and juice, from which Chileans make sugar, syrup, honey, and wine.

The relatively cold coastal waters provided fishing in only a few places. Dolphins and seals were the main marine prey. To hunt them, they went out into the open sea and used harpoons. Before the arrival of humans, the island was an ideal place for birds, since they did not have any enemies here. Albatrosses, gannets, frigates, fulmars, parrots and other birds - 25 species in total - were nesting here. It was probably the richest breeding ground in the entire Pacific Ocean.

The destruction of forests began around the 800s. More and more often, layers of charcoal from forest fires began to occur, there was less and less wood pollen, and more and more pollen from grasses that replaced the forest appeared. Not later than 1400, the palm trees disappeared completely, not only as a result of felling, but also because of the ubiquitous rats, which did not give them the opportunity to recover: a dozen surviving remains of nuts preserved in caves had traces of gnawing by rats. Such nuts could not germinate. Hauhau trees did not disappear completely, but they were no longer enough to make the ropes.

In the 15th century, not only palm trees disappeared, but the entire forest as a whole. It was destroyed by people who cleared areas for gardens, cut down trees to build canoes, to make skating rinks for sculptures, for heating. The rats ate the seeds. It is likely that the birds were dying out due to contamination of flowers and a decrease in fruit yields. The same thing happened that is happening everywhere in the whole world where forests are being destroyed: most of the inhabitants of the forest disappear. All species of local birds and animals have disappeared on the island. All the coastal fish were caught. Small snails were eaten. From the diet of people by the 15th century. dolphins disappeared: there was nothing to go out to sea on, and there was nothing to make harpoons out of. It came down to cannibalism.

The corner of paradise, opened by the first settlers, became practically lifeless 1600 years later. Fertile soil, an abundance of food, a lot of building materials, sufficient living space, all possibilities for a comfortable existence were destroyed. At the time of Heyerdahl's visit to the island, there was a single toromiro tree; now he is gone.

It all began with the fact that several centuries after arriving on the island, people began, like their Polynesian ancestors, to set stone idols on platforms. Over time, the statues grew larger; their heads began to be decorated with red 10-ton crowns; the spiral of competition was unrolling; rival clans tried to outdo each other, demonstrating health and strength like the Egyptians who built their giant pyramids. On the island, as in modern America, there was a complex political system for allocating available resources and integrating the economy in various fields.

1873 engraving from the English newspaper Harper Weekly. The engraving is signed: “Easter Island Stone Idols Festival Dancing Tatoos”.

The ever-growing population was wiping out the forests faster than they could recover; more and more space was occupied by vegetable gardens; the soil devoid of forest, springs and streams dried up; the trees, which were spent on transporting and lifting the statues, as well as on the construction of canoes and dwellings, were not enough even for cooking. As birds and animals were destroyed, famine set in. The fertility of arable lands decreased due to wind and rain erosion. Droughts began. Intensive chicken farming and cannibalism did not solve the food problem. The ready-to-move statues with sunken cheeks and visible ribs are evidence of the beginning of the famine.

With a lack of food, the islanders could no longer support the leaders, bureaucracy and shamans who governed society. The surviving islanders told the first Europeans who visited them how chaos had replaced the centralized system, and the warlike class had defeated the hereditary leaders. Images of spears and daggers made by the warring parties in the 1600s and 1700s appeared on the stones; they are still scattered throughout Easter Island. By 1700, the population was from a quarter to one-tenth of its former number. People moved to caves to hide from their enemies. Around 1770, the opposing clans began to overturn statues from each other and blow off their heads. The last statue was overturned and desecrated in 1864.

As the picture of the decline of the civilization of Easter Island appeared before the researchers, they asked themselves: - Why did they not look back, did not realize what was happening, did not stop until it was too late? What were they thinking when cutting down the last palm tree?

Most likely, the catastrophe did not happen suddenly, but stretched out over several decades. The changes taking place in nature were not noticeable for one generation. Only the elderly, recalling their childhood years, could understand what was happening and understand the threat posed by the destruction of forests, but the ruling class and stonecutters, fearing the loss of their privileges and jobs, treated the warnings in the same way as today's loggers in the northwestern United States: "Work is more important than the forest!"

The trees gradually got smaller, thinner and less significant. Once the last fruiting palm was cut, and young shoots were destroyed along with the remains of shrubs and undergrowth. No one noticed the death of the last young palm tree.

The flora of the island is very poor: experts count no more than 30 plant species growing on Rapa Nui. Most of them were brought from other islands of Oceania, America, Europe. Many plants that were previously widespread in Rapa Nui have been exterminated. Between the 9th and 17th centuries, active felling of trees took place, which led to the disappearance of forests on the island (probably before that, palm trees of the Paschalococos disperta species grew on it). Another reason was the eating of tree seeds by rats. Due to irrational human economic activity and other factors, the resulting accelerated soil erosion caused enormous damage. agriculture, as a result of which the population of Rapa Nui was significantly reduced.

One of the extinct plants is Sophora toromiro, the local name of which is toromiro (rap. Toromiro). This plant on the island in the past played an important role in the culture of the Rapanui people: “talking signs” with local pictograms were made from it.

The toromiro trunk, about a human thigh in diameter and thinner, was often used in the construction of houses; spears were also made from it. In the 19th-20th centuries, this tree was exterminated (one of the reasons was that the young growth was destroyed by the sheep brought to the island).

Another plant on the island is the mulberry tree, the local name for which is mahute. In the past, this plant also played a significant role in the life of the islanders: white clothes called tapa were made from the bast of a mulberry tree. After the appearance of the first Europeans on the island - whalers and missionaries - the importance of mahuta in the everyday life of the Rapanui people decreased.

The roots of the ti plant, or Dracaena terminalis, were used to make sugar. This plant was also used to make a dark blue and green powder, which was then applied to the body as tattoos.

Makoi (rap. Makoi) (Thespesia populnea) was used for carving.

One of the island's surviving plants that grows on the slopes of the Rano Kao and Rano Raraku craters is Scirpus californicus, used in the construction of houses.

In recent decades, a small growth of eucalyptus has begun to appear on the island. In the 18th-19th centuries, grapes, banana, melon, and sugar cane were brought to the island.

Before the arrival of Europeans on the island, the fauna of Easter Island was mainly represented by marine animals: seals, turtles, crabs. Until the 19th century, chickens were raised on the island. The species of local fauna that previously inhabited Rapa Nui became extinct. For example, the rat species Rattus exulans, which in the past locals used for food. Instead, European ships brought rats of the species Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus to the island, which became carriers of various diseases previously unknown to Rapanui.

Now the island is home to 25 species of seabirds and 6 species of terrestrial birds.

The statistics for moai are as follows. The total number of moai is 887. The number of moai that are installed on the Ahu pedestals is 288 (32 percent of the total). The number of moai that stand on the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcano, where the moai quarry was located, is 397 (45 percent of the total). The number of moai that lie scattered throughout the island is 92 (10 percent of the total). moai have different heights - from 4 to 20 meters. The largest of them stand alone on the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano.

They are immersed up to their necks in sedimentary rocks that have accumulated on the island over the long history of this piece of land. Some moai stood on stone pedestals called ahu by the natives. The number of ahu exceeds three hundred. The size of ahu is also different - from several tens of meters to two hundred meters. The largest moai, nicknamed "El Gigante", is 21.6 meters high. It is located in the Rano Raraku quarry and weighs approximately 145-165 tons. The largest moai, standing on a pedestal, is located on Ahu Te Pito Kura. He has the nickname Paro, his height is about 10 meters, and his weight is about 80 tons.

Easter Island Mysteries.

Easter Island is full of mysteries. Everywhere on the island you can see entrances to caves, stone platforms, grooved alleys leading directly to the ocean, huge statues, signs on stones.

One of the main mysteries of the island, which has haunted for several generations of travelers and explorers, is completely unique stone statues - moai. These are stone idols of various sizes - from 3 to 21 meters. On average, the weight of one statue is from 10 to 20 tons, but among them there are real colossus weighing from 40 to 90 tons.

The glory of the island began with these stone statues. It was completely incomprehensible how they could appear on an island lost in the ocean with sparse vegetation and a "wild" population. Who hewed them out, dragged them ashore, put them on specially made pedestals and crowned them with weighty headdresses?

The statues have an extremely strange appearance - they have very large heads with a heavy protruding chin, long ears and no legs at all. Some have red stone caps on their heads. To which human tribe did those whose portraits remained on the island in the form of moai belonged? A pointed, raised nose, thin lips, slightly protruding, as if in a grimace of mockery and contempt. Deep indentations under the eyebrows, large forehead - who are they?

Clickable

Some of the statues have necklaces carved in stone or tattooed with a chisel. The face of one of the stone giants is dotted with holes. Perhaps in ancient times the sages who lived on the island, who studied the movement of heavenly bodies, tattooed their faces with a map of the starry sky?

The eyes of the statues look up to the sky. Into the sky - the same as when, centuries ago, a new homeland was opened for those who sailed over the horizon?

In earlier times, the islanders were convinced that the moai protect their land and themselves from evil spirits. All standing moai are facing the island. Incomprehensible as time, they are immersed in silence. These are the mysterious symbols of a bygone civilization.

It is known that the sculptures were forged from volcanic lava at one of the extremities of the island, and then the finished figures were transported along three main roads to the places of ceremonial pedestals - ahu - scattered along the coastline. The length of the largest now destroyed ahu was 160 m, and on its central platform, about 45 m long, there were 15 statues.

The vast majority of the statues lie unfinished in quarries or along ancient roads. Some of them are frozen in the depths of the crater of the Rano Raraku volcano, some go beyond the ridge of the volcano and seem to be heading towards the ocean. Everything seemed to have stopped at one moment, engulfed in a whirlwind of an unknown cataclysm. Why did the sculptors suddenly stop their work? Everything is left in place - stone axes, unfinished statues, and stone giants, as if frozen on the way in their movement, as if people just left their work for a minute and could not return to it.

Some of the statues, previously installed on stone platforms, have been knocked down and split. The same applies to stone platforms - ahu.

The construction of the ahu required no less effort and art than the creation of the statues themselves. It was required to make blocks and form an even pedestal from them. The density with which the bricks adhere to each other is amazing. Why the first axu were built (their age is about 700-800 years) is still unclear. Subsequently, they were often used as burial places and perpetuating the memory of the leaders.

Excavations carried out on several sections of ancient roads, along which, presumably, the islanders carried statues of many tons (sometimes over a distance of more than 20 kilometers), showed that all roads clearly bypass flat sections. The roads themselves are V or U-shaped hollows about 3.5 meters wide. In some areas, there are long, curb-shaped connecting fragments. In some places, the pillars are clearly visible, dug in outside the curbs - perhaps they served as a support for some device like a lever. Scientists have not yet established the exact date of the construction of these roads, however, according to the assumptions of the researchers, the process of moving the statues was completed on Easter Island by about 1500 BC.

Another mystery: simple calculations show that over hundreds of years, a small population could not hew, transport and install even half of the existing statues. Ancient wooden tablets with carved letters have been found on the island. Most of them were lost during the conquest of the island by Europeans. But some of the tablets have survived. The letters went from left to right, and then in reverse order - from right to left. It took a long time to decipher the signs inscribed on them. And only at the beginning of 1996 in Moscow it was announced that all 4 surviving text tablets had been deciphered. It is curious that in the language of the islanders there is a word denoting slow movement without the help of legs. Levitation? Was this fantastic method used when transporting and installing the moai?

And one more riddle. Old maps show other territories around Easter Island. Oral legends tell of the slow sinking of the earth under water. Other legends tell about catastrophes: about the fiery staff of the god Uvok, which split the earth. And could not exist here in ancient times more large islands or even a whole continent with a highly developed culture and technology? They even came up with the beautiful name Pasiphida for him.

Some scholars suggest that there is still a certain clan (order) of the Paschal, which preserves the secrets of their ancestors and hides them from the uninitiated in ancient knowledge.

Easter Island has many names:

Hititeairagi (rap. Hititeairagi), or Hiti-ai-rangi (rap. Hiti-ai-rangi);

Tekaouhangoaru (rap. Tekaouhangoaru);

Mata-Kiterage (rap. Mata-Kiterage - translated from Rapanui "eyes looking into the sky");

Te-Pito-te-henua (rap. Te-Pito-te-henua - "the navel of the earth");

Rapa Nui (rap. Rapa Nui - "Great Rapa"), the name mainly used by whalers;

San Carlos Island, named after the King of Spain by Gonzalez Don Felipe;

Teapi (rap. Teapi) - this is how James Cook called the island;

Vaihu (rap. Vaihu), or Vaihou (rap. Vaihou), - this name was also used by James Cook, and later by Forster Johann Georg Adam and La Perouse Jean François de Halo (a bay in the northeast of the island was named after him);

Easter Island, named so by the Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeven because he discovered it on Easter 1722. Very often Easter Island is called Rapa Nui (translated as "Big Rapa"), although it is not Rapanui, but Polynesian in origin. Such

The island got its name thanks to the Tahitian navigators who used it to distinguish between Easter Island and Rapa Island, which lies 650 km south of Tahiti. The very name "Rapa Nui" has caused a lot of controversy among linguists about the correct spelling of this word. Among

English-speaking specialists the word "Rapa Nui" (2 words) is used to name the island, the word "Rapanui" (1 word) - when it comes to people or local culture.

Easter Island is a province within the Chilean region of Valparaiso, headed by a governor accredited to the Chilean government and appointed by the president. Since 1984, only a local resident can become the governor of the island (the first was Sergio Rapu Haoa, a former archaeologist and museum curator). Administratively, the province of Easter Island includes uninhabited islands Sala i Gomez. Since 1966, a local council of 6 members, headed by the mayor, has been elected every four years in the Hanga Roa settlement.

There are about two dozen police officers on the island, mainly responsible for security at the local airport.

Chilean armed forces (mainly the Navy) are also present. The current currency on the island is the Chilean peso (there are also US dollars in circulation on the island). Easter Island is a duty-free zone, so the island's tax revenues are relatively insignificant. To a large extent, it consists of government subsidies.

colossus (height 6 m) after excavation of Easter Island (after: Heyerdahl, 1982

By the way, this is the props thrown into the sea during the filming of the next film on the island. So there were no underwater statues.

Here's another theory of how things should look.

Guided by the name of the island. But the island was created long before the concept of Easter arose, and there are much more anomalies in it, so we learn new knowledge right after the end of the world 🙂

Easter Island is an island in the Pacific Ocean, the farthest from land of all known islands (as a result of which tourism to this island is expensive). The island is of volcanic origin and is located at the intersection of several lithospheric plates (under it is the boundary of the fault of giant tectonic plates, which seem to divide the ocean floor; the oceanic plates of Nazca, the Pacific and the axial zones of the underwater ocean ridges converge on the island). Well, the most famous attraction is the stone statues:

The island has the shape of a right-angled triangle, the hypotenuse of which is the southeastern coast. The sides of this "triangle" are 16, 18 and 24 km long. Extinct volcanoes rise in the corners of the island:

1. Rano Kao (324 m)
2. Pua Catici (377 m)
3. Terevaka (539 m - the highest point of the island)

Let's start our tour of Easter Island with stone statues. All stone statues are monolithic, that is, carved from a single piece of stone, not glued or stitched together. Ancient craftsmen carved "moai" - stone statues on the slopes of the Rano Roraku volcano, located in the eastern part of the island, from soft volcanic tuff. Then the finished statues were lowered down the slope and placed along the perimeter of the island, at a distance of more than 10 km. The height of most of the idols is from five to seven meters, while the later sculptures reached both 10 and 12 meters.

The statues wore hats of red pumice on their heads, and their eyes were painted:

Tuff, or, as it is also called, pumice, from which they are made, resembles a sponge in structure and easily crumbles even with a slight impact on it. so the average weight of a "moai" does not exceed 5 tons.

Stone statues were installed on stone "ahu" - platform-pedestals, which reached 150 meters in length and 3 meters in height, and consisted of pieces weighing up to 10 tons from the same pumice.

According to another version, the stone statues of Easter Island are estimated much more heavily: they say that their weight sometimes reaches more than 20 tons, and their height is more than 6 meters. An unfinished sculpture was found about 20 meters tall and weighing 270 tons.

In total, there are 997,397 stone moai statues on Easter Island. All moai, except for seven statues, "look" into the interior of the island. These seven statues also differ in that they are located inside the island, and not on the coast. A detailed map of the location of stone statues, as well as other attractions, can be viewed in this picture (click to enlarge):

It is also said that there are two types of statues on the island:

1. The first species, without "caps" (45% of the total), are 10-meter giants weighing 80 tons. All of them stand on the slopes of the Ranu-Raraku crater in sedimentary rocks up to the chest - this is for the reason that they are much older than other statues, those with "caps". The fact that these statues are much older than the second type of moai also indicates that the traces of erosion on them appeared much more clearly than on the "dwarf" 4-meter statues. In addition, moai giants of 10 meters height do not have "caps" and their appearance is slightly different from the second type. For example, their faces are narrower.
2. The second type is small 3-4-meter statues (32 percent of the total), which were placed on pedestals (ahu). All ahu are standing near the seashore. These moai have bizarre "hats". This type of moai is very well preserved. Their faces are more oval than the narrow-faced statues of the first type.

The erection of statues on Easter Island is a stumbling block among "rationalists" and "otherworldly". The first claim that all the statues could have been erected on the island by ordinary people using ordinary earthly means. Whereas the "otherworldly" bring anything from magic-mana to aliens as powers to install statues.

The Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl in his book "Aku-Aku" describes one of these methods, which was tested in action by local residents. According to the book, information about this method was obtained from one of the few remaining direct descendants of the builders of Moai. So, one of the Moai, overturned from the pedestal, was erected back by using the logs slipped under the statue, as levers, by swinging which it was possible to achieve small movements of the statue along the vertical axis. The movements were recorded by placing stones of various sizes under the upper part of the statue and alternating them. The actual transportation of the statues could be carried out by means of wooden sleds.

Whoever is right, one thing is true: all the statues were made on this very island, in quarries. And from there they were transported to the installation site. How did you find out? Quite simply: many unfinished idols are in the quarries. When looking at them, one gets the impression of a sudden stop to work on the statues.

The photo shows one of the unfinished stone statues:

And here are some more unfinished statues on the side of the volcano:

Let us dwell on one more yet inexplicable phenomenon, which, of course, loses in scale, but goes head to head in mystery.

This is the mysterious writing of Easter Island. We can say that this is the most mysterious writing system in the world. The latter is a fact all the more significant because until now it was not possible to find writing on the Polynesian islands.

On Easter Island, writing was found on relatively well-preserved wooden tablets, in the local dialect called kohau rongo-rongo. The fact that wooden planks have survived the darkness of centuries, many scientists explain by the complete absence of insects on the island. Nevertheless, most of them were eventually destroyed. But the culprit was not the tree bugs introduced by the white man, but the religious fervor of a certain missionary. The story goes that the missionary Eugène Eyraud, who converted the inhabitants of the island to Christianity, forced these writings to be burned as pagan.

Nevertheless, a certain number of tablets have survived. Today in museums and private collections in the world there are no more than two dozen kohau rongo-rongo. Many attempts have been made to decipher the contents of the ideogram tablets, but they all ended in failure. By the way, studies of recent years have once again confirmed that on the kohau rongorongo tablets, each sign conveys only one word, and not the entire text is written on them, but only keywords, the rest were read by Rapanui from memory.

There is another interesting fact on the island. So, the first picture in the article shows the heads of statues with underground bodies. So, this image is not far from the truth. So, if you take and dig around some of the statues, you can dig up some very interesting things:

That is, some of the statues are much larger than they appear. And how they ended up underground is unknown: either by themselves, or they were initially covered up.

Another mystery of the island is the purpose of the paved roads, the time of their creation is lost in the mists of time. On the Island of Silence - another name for the island - there are three of them. And all three end in the ocean. Some researchers, on the basis of this, conclude that the island was once much larger than it is now.

And finally, a trump card that breaks the arguments of the "rationalists". So, next to Rapanui is the tiny islet of Motunui. This is a few hundred meters of a steep cliff, dotted with numerous grottoes. Island on the map:

So, a stone platform has been preserved on it, on which statues were once installed, later thrown into the sea for some reason. And the question arises - how? How rationally can stone statues be delivered there? No way. Only with the help of unknown forces.

Which, by the way, begs the question: why? If rationalists justify the device of stone statues at least acceptable - for protection from floods, or for protection from something else, or as objects of worship, etc., then the supporters of the "otherworldly" hypothesis of the installation of statues simply have nothing to say. Think for yourself: why would people who possess supernatural abilities and can carry multi-ton boulders over a huge distance would do this? After all, they did not worship them: real power and superstition do not go hand in hand ...

So the hypothesis of "otherworldly" also disappears in vain. What is left? The facts remain:

• Easter Island, many hundreds of kilometers away from inhabited lands
• huge multi-ton statues (some are more than half dug into the ground)
• undeciphered writing
• roads of unknown purpose
• lack of intelligible theories of how this was all done.

And it turns out that Easter Island is a mystery that has not yet been solved.

And it will not work if the end of the world happens tomorrow 🙂

Based on materials http://agniart.ru/rus/showfile.fcgi?fsmode=articles&filename=16-3/16-3.html and http://www.ufo.obninsk.ru/pashi.htm

It has the shape of a right-angled triangle, at the corners of which are located inactive volcanoes, which are one of the main natural attractions. The total area of ​​Easter Island is 163.6 km².

Why is Easter Island so named?

Even without looking at the map, you can guess that the island has a name that is atypical for South America. In fact, in its entire history, it had several names: the natives gave it two names at once "The Navel of the Earth" and "Eyes Looking to the Sky", the Indians - "Rapa Nui", and James Cook - Vaihu. The first to explore Easter Island was the Dutchman Jacobson Roggeven. He came down to the island in 1722. It happened on Easter Sunday, which gave the name to the "find". Since official name became "Easter Island", and the locals still consider it Rapa Nui, so you can often hear this name from the Chileans.

Who lives on Easter Island?

The small island is home to only 6 thousand people. Scientists claim that at one time there were about 15,000 inhabitants. When Roggeven discovered the island, more than 10,000 thousand people lived on it. The population decline was influenced by the hostility between the settlements, which led to wars, as well as cannibalism. But the biggest tragedy, which claimed thousands of lives, happened when Europeans visited Easter Island. Their barbarism once and for all destroyed the civilization that had existed here for centuries. They took most of the population into slavery in Peru, many of them died of disease. As a result, only 3,000 people remained. But life under European control became unbearable, and the population of Easter Island dropped to 178. That was how many natives were on the island when it joined Chile in 1888.

The indigenous inhabitants of Easter Island are Rapanui, or as they are now called by the Paschal people. Today there are only 48% of them on the island, some of which are mestizos with Chileans from the mainland. The remaining 52% are Spanish.

Climate and weather

The island has a tropical climate with an average annual temperature of 21.8 ° C. August is the coldest month of the year and January is the warmest. Tourists should be pleased with the fact that the heat is rare here, but there are often winds. It is also interesting that the source fresh water serve as lakes in the craters of volcanoes. One may wonder why the Chileans of Rapa Nui don't use rainwater? The answer lies in the soil, which has a very soft and loose structure, so water does not stay on the surface, but immediately seeps into the ground. Because of this, you rarely see puddles on the island, which is good news for hikers.

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna of the island is very scarce; there are only 30 plant species and almost the same number of animals on Rapa Nui. Once the island was covered with dense forests, but droughts, rodents and the greed of people have left only small green areas from the rich fauna. Today Easter Island is "rich" in 48 species of plants. The Swedish scientist Karl Scottsberg found 46 plant species on the island in 1956, only two have been added to them in half a century. Interestingly, there is no island in the world with a scarier flora than Rapa Nui.

As for the animals, things are no better with them. Due to the isolation of Easter Island from the continent, there are very few fauna here. Of the vertebrates, there are only two species of lizards and the European rat, it is believed that they got to the island by accident. The people themselves brought the Polynesian rat to the island, but the "native" European rat drove it out. Realizing that it is extremely difficult for people on the island to survive with such a limited wildlife, in 1866 cattle were brought to Rapa Nui - rams, pigs and horses, which helped in the development of agriculture.

Of the insects on Easter Island, only worms, snails and a couple of spider species live. The Europeans brought in crickets, scorpions and cockroaches, which find it difficult to live here, so their population periodically decreases to a critical minimum.

sights

Easter Island has amazing and mysterious sights in its arsenal. Tourists can start admiring them already through the plane's window, since the main attraction, the stone statues, can be seen before landing. Moreover, it is much easier to assess the scale of the work of the natives who made the statues from the sky. The indigenous population, who lived here 6-9 centuries ago, believed that supernatural power lurked in them, so they were scattered throughout the island. Scientists who have researched are confident that people have developed their skill in creating them over several centuries, since the technology is flawless.

When the plane descends, you can see the unusual landscape of Easter Island, which is covered with many volcanic craters, which looks like the surface of the moon. Such a sight cannot leave you indifferent.

An attraction that can be seen even from space is the Rano Kau crater. It is located in the lower left corner of the triangular island. Once on the ground, it is worth visiting the crater as it is an interesting sight. The crater is filled with water, on the surface of which sea plants float, open areas of water reflecting the blue sky. One gets the impression that this is a model of the Earth.

There are several coastal islands around Rapa Nui that look very picturesque. The most famous of these are Motu Nui and Motu Ichi.

It is interesting that many buildings have survived on the island from the times of the life of the Rapanui people, which are unique in their kind. The dwellings of the Paschal residents were made of soft stone, while they are well preserved to this day, the work on their restoration was successful, and today tourists can see the original dwellings of the natives. Also interesting to look at the temple Ahu Vinapu with stone sculptures.

One of the most mysterious places is Ahu Akahang a, stone column with four statues. According to legend, this is the grave of the very first king of the island, Hoto Matua. Therefore, the inhabitants of the island often come here, especially the descendants of the Rapanui people. Tourists, for sure, will also be imbued with the significance of the historical person, since the specially designated picnic area Anakena Beach is the place where he took his first steps on the island of Hoto Matua.

Tourism on Easter Island

Easter Island, rich in attractions, offers its tourists several types of recreation for every taste. The most popular is sea travel on cruise ships and yachts. The Pacific Ocean is an ideal place to be alone with the water element and admire its power. Also, such walks provide an opportunity to explore the island from the outside, swimming around it. Another way to appreciate the beauty of Rapa Nui is the five-hour plane trip, which allows you to see many of the island's attractions from a low altitude.

Diving enthusiasts will have great pleasure diving from rocks or yachts in ocean depths... Experienced divers will help you get as much fun as possible.

Easter Island secrets

Rapa Nui is woven of secrets, besides, modern scientists believe that the civilization that existed here was several heads taller than its contemporaries. The first thing that attracted the attention of researchers on Easter Island was the caves. They played the role of quarries, and nearby there were workshops where stone sculptures were created using a unique technology. Despite the fact that they are made of soft stone, their shape has persisted for centuries, and this is a real mystery. After all, scientists have not yet been able to restore the technology of creation.

Another interesting and mysterious fact about Easter Island is that other territories are depicted on the old maps of Rapa Nui. They are also accompanied by legends that the earth is slowly sinking under water. These maps indicate that there were many other islands in the Pacific Ocean and even the mainland, where other highly developed peoples and civilizations lived. Having studied the documents found, scientists were able to assume that the Paschal order still exists and keeps secrets that were known only to the Rapanui people.

Where is Easter Island?

Easter Island is easy to find on the world map, it is located in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, 3515 km from the coast. Rapa Nui and the nearest inhabited island of Pitcairn are separated by 2,075 km. Therefore, the easiest way to get to it is to use the services of airlines. On Easter Island there is one that receives flights from Santiago and Valparaiso.