That's because Easter Island is considered the most remote inhabited island in the world. But it's definitely worth visiting; it's #35 on our AbsoluteVisits for its unique monumental statues, called moai. There are around 887 of them scattered around the untamed landscape, creating one-of-a-kind compositions.
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Easter Island Anakena Beach bay
by Tim Waters
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Easter Island Anakena Beach bay moai sta
by msdstepan
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Easter Island countryside east grass
by Two years of travelling
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Easter Island moai Ahu Tongariki statues
by Ndecam
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Easter Island moai quarry statues
by JC Richardson
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Easter Island moai rows stars
by JC Richardson
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Easter Island volcano Rano Kau crater
by stephenk1977
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Quick Facts & History
Named for its discovery on Easter Sunday, Easter Island is located in Santiago, Chile and, for such a small island, has many mysterious aspects and legends attached to it. Easter Island is 14 miles long (23 km) and 7 miles wide (11 km).
There are no mammals on Easter Island!
Easter Island is most famous for the large statues, also know as moai, which archaeologists now believe were carved between 1600 and 1730. There are approximately 800 in total! There are many rumors as to the purpose or motivation behind creating these large statues, which seem to have been one of the large causes of the islands former population dying out from lack of resources.
One legend of the island is that there was a cult called the Birdman cult that held a competition every year for one person from each tribe to swim to a nearby islet and search for the first egg laid by a Sooty Tern (a tropical ocean seabird). Supposedly, the first swimmer to return with an egg could claim control of all of the islands resources for the rest of the year!
You wouldnt know it from looking at it now, but Easter Island was once covered in trees! (Today it is almost entirely grass, without a single tree in sight). It is believed that the inhabitants of the island deforested the entire island to make their statues (as well as a few other tools), eliminating its resources until they were reduced to drastic survival measures such as cannibalism!
