Formed from the ash and lava of three underwater volcanoes, Easter Island or Rapa Nui is the most remote inhabited island on the planet. The Rapa Nui people, who erected immense stone sculptures of their chieftains around the coast to watch over them, ironically almost wiped themselves out in the process through deforestation, and in doing so made the moai statues a source of enduring fascination.
Easter Island is a Tintin story come to life – a volcanic island of mystery surrounded by 1,000 stone giants, where a bizarre Birdman cult flourished and the locals revere an unusual rock said to possess supernatural energy.
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The island is so named because the first European to land here, a Dutch explorer, arrived on Easter Sunday. But to the Rapa Nui it was Te Pito O Te Henua – the navel of the world – and their ancestral lands now rightly make up the national park which covers most of the island. We may not know the origins of their ancient culture, but that serves only to make this place even more special.
Read our Easter Island travel guide for more details.