Easter Island

Easter Island got its name from a Dutchman, Jacob Roggeveen. He arrived on this volcanic island in 1722. Easter Island is in the South Pacific Ocean, about 3,700 kilometres west of Chile. The name of the island was Rapa Nui, but Roggeveen decided to call it Easter Island, because he arrived there on Easter Day.

There isn't much information about the islanders. People think that they first came to the island around 400 AD. Today, there are about 2,500 people. They speak Spanish or a type of Polynesian language.

Easter Island is famous for its giant statues, which are called Moai. There are about 600 of them on the coast of the island. People carved these statues from volcanic stone. Their eyes are pieces of coral. Most of them are between 3 and 12 metres high and some of them weigh more than 50 tons. Some archaeologists believe that people built the Moai as images of gods or ancestors.

There are also thousands of rock carvings of a bird-man on Easter Island. According to legend, the ancient islanders used to have competitions once a year. Men used to swim to an island nearby and bring back an egg from a special bird there. There were many sharks in the sea so this was very dangerous. The winner was the "Birdman" for that year and people think that the carvings were to honour these winners.

Level: Beginner

Book: Changes for ESO 4

Year: 2002