Easter Island Holiday

Tiny Easter Island, famous for its enigmatic stone heads, or moai, which are dotted along the coastlines.

Also known as Rapa Nui, the island is the most remote inhabited island in the world and is a unique and fascinating place to visit.

Easter Island belongs to Chile and is home to fewer than 4,000 people, the vast majority of which reside in the capital, Hanga Roa.

The island lies 3,700km (2,294mi) west of Chile and 2,075 km (1,290 miles) east of Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific Ocean.

Made up of three volcanoes - Poike, Rano Kau and Terevaka – Rapa Nui's Polynesian influences are apparent, but it also has its own unique traditions, and an annual cultural festival, the Tapati, celebrates the island's indigenous culture

Legend has it that chief Hotu Matu'a arrived on Easter Island in a canoe with his wife and family and experts believe that the island was first settled any time between 300 and 1200 AD by Polynesians, who brought fruit, vegetables and animals with them.

The island is understood to have supported a relatively advanced civilisation at some point, but how it degenerated remains a mystery, though overpopulation and deforestation may have caused the population to plummet. Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen arrived on Easter Sunday 1722 to find only around two or three thousand people and suggestions that cannibalism has occurred.

Easter island's population was almost wiped out by the deportation of slaves to Peru and western disease during the 19th century, leaving just 110 inhabitants by 1877. Easter Island was annexed by Chile in 1888 and the native Rapanui population has since recovered in number.

The Moai, carved out of volcanic rock, were believed to have stood on ceremonial sites and are thought to have spiritual power. Carved between about AD 1100 and 1600 they are thought to have required a large proportion of the island's limited resources to create.

A United Nations World Heritage site, Easter Island has an estimated 887 monolithic stone statues, with new fragments and unfinished statues being discovered regularly. Still standing when European settlers arrived, the majority are thought to have been finished when the island's population stood at between 10,000 and 15,000 native Rapanui.

Other archaeology of interest on Easter Island includes the huge ahu ceremonial platforms, stone chicken houses, hare moa, and the remains of small prehistoric human houses. Linguists have failed to decipher the stone tablets written in an ancient script dubbed Rongorongo.

Interesting sites to visit during a trip to Easter Island include Ahu Tongariki, on the south coast of Easter, the volcanic cone of Rano Raraku, which has a number of impressive moai, Ahu Akivi, where the seven moai have been fully excavated, the giant crater Rano Kau and Anakena Beach, the island's first settlement.

Easter Island has witnessed a sharp rise in tourism in recent years, along with an increase in immigrants from mainland Chile. The airport is served by Mataveri International Airport and a growing number of travel companies now offer trips and cruises to the island, with hotels and restaurants springing up in Hanga Roa.