Easter Island was the first Pacific island to be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Easter Island lies 3,700 km to the west of Chile and it is one of the most remote islands in the world.
The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 monumental statues, called Moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people.
The first known European visitor to Easter Island was the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who arrived there in 1722. The Dutch named the island Easter Island to commemorate the day they arrived. There are no trees on Easter Island. When it rains on the island, the water rapidly drains through the porous volcanic soil, leaving the grass dry again. That’s one reason why Easter Island has stayed almost entirely bare, with no trees or shrubs.
Construction of the Moai statues appears to have stopped around the time of European contact in 1722. Over the next century, the Moai would fall over, either intentionally pushed over or from simple neglect. Why construction was abandoned is another mystery. It is unknown how the Rapa Nui have moved the stones without trees to anchor the soil.
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