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Easter Island

Easter Island
Rapa Nui
Isla de Pascua
Special Territory, Province and Commune
Flag of Easter Island
Flag
Official seal of Easter Island
Seal
Coat of arms
Coat of arms
Easter Island map showing Terevaka, Poike, Rano Kau, Motu Nui, Orongo, and Mataveri; major ahus are marked with moai
Easter Island map showing Terevaka, Poike, Rano Kau, Motu Nui, Orongo, and Mataveri; major ahus are marked with moai
Easter Island is located in Pacific Ocean
Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean
Coordinates: 27°7′S 109°22′W / 27.117°S 109.367°W / -27.117; -109.367Coordinates: 27°7′S 109°22′W / 27.117°S 109.367°W / -27.117; -109.367
Country  Chile
Region  Valparaíso
Province  Isla de Pascua
Commune  Isla de Pascua
Seat Hanga Roa
Government
 • Type Municipality
 • Body Municipal council
 • Provincial Governor Melania Carolina Hotu Hey
 • Alcalde Pedro Edmunds Paoa (PRO)
Area
 • Total 163.6 km2 (63.2 sq mi)
Population (2016 projection)
 • Total 6,600
Time zone CLT (UTC−6)
 • Summer (DST) CLST (UTC−5)
Country Code +56
Currency Peso (CLP)
Language Spanish, Rapa Nui
Website Municipality of Isla de Pascua
NGA UFI=-905269
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Rapa Nui National Park
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island
Location Chile
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, v
Reference 715
UNESCO region Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription 1995 (19th Session)

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.

Polynesian people most likely settled on Easter Island sometime between 700 and 1100 CE, and created a thriving and industrious culture as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone moai and other artefacts. However, human activity, the introduction of the Polynesian rat and overpopulation led to gradual deforestation and extinction of natural resources which severely weakened the Rapa Nui civilization. By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population had dropped to 2,000–3,000 from an estimated high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier. European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860s further reduced the Rapa Nui population, to a low of only 111 inhabitants in 1877.

Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The nearest inhabited land (around 50 residents in 2013) is Pitcairn Island, 2,075 kilometres (1,289 mi) away; the nearest town with a population over 500 is Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva, 2,606 km (1,619 mi) away; the nearest continental point lies just in central Chile, 3,512 kilometres (2,182 mi) away.

Easter Island is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, and, more specifically, it is the only commune of the Province Isla de Pascua. According to the 2012 Chilean census, the island has about 5,800 residents, of whom some 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui.


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