Sacred Destination: Easter Island

A small island in the South Pacific, nestled between Chile and Tahiti, is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world. Covering only 64 square miles, the island was formed out of ancient volcanic eruptions and holds many mysteries and undiscovered secrets. Easter Island is famous for its 800 lofty statues which stand across the island, towering above an

average of 16 feet, weighing about 14 tons. Some statues are as large as 33 feet and weighed more than 80 tons— one statue only partially excavated from surrounding bedrock was 65 feet long and an estimated 270 tons. It is still unknown how and why the native people of Rapa Nui assembled these ancient statues on the island.

Although there is still a lot to discover regarding this popular isolated travel destination, archaeologists and historians have established the native Rapa Nui people probably arrived to the island from Polynesia around 400 AD. The written language of the Rapa Nui has yet to be deciphered yet it looks as if during the 16th and 17th centuries there were as many as 10,000 – 15,000 inhabitants on the island.

The island is now sparse with very few trees but was once thought to be a forest of palms. Historians believe that the native islanders completely deforested the island in the process of building the giant statues. Overtime, evidence has shown that the disappearance of the trees is a direct correlation with the population disappearance on the island; aiding the collapse of the civilisation.

The small surviving population were soon almost completely exterminated, with only 111 inhabitants left on the island in 1877. Soon after, the island was annexed by Chile. Today, the increase of tourism on the island coupled with the inflow of people from mainland Chile are threatening to alter the Polynesian identity of the island. Political tensions within the past 20 years between the native Rapanui— opposed to private property and in favour of traditional communal use of land— have created debate over the possession of the land.

With tensions so high, the mystic and traditional layout of the land has become a scared and culturally rich destination of travellers across the globe. The magnificent statues, which hold ancient secrets and unknown history, are a site to visit while they remain preserved and standing as they are believed to be the sanctuaries of the Rapa Nui nation.

While the statues have been toppled and re-erected over the centuries, the spiritual presence of Rapa Nui is still strongly present at the sites and atop the sacred volcanoes on the island.