What was it like to travel to Easter Island?

History

How did people travel to Easter Island?

According to Thor Heyerdahl, people from a pre-Inca society took to the seas from Peru and voyaged east to west, sailing in the prevailing westerly trade winds. He believes they may have been aided, in an El Niño year, when the course of the winds and currents may have hit Rapa Nui directly from South America.

Why would people want to visit Easter Island?

Moai statues



Numbering almost a thousand, the moai (monolithic human statues carved from a single piece of stone) are scattered all over the island. They’re the principal reason people come to Easter Island and truly make any trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
 

Do people travel to Easter Island?

Easter Island attracts around 100,000 visitors every year. Naturally, with this many people visiting such a small island, accommodation can fill up quickly, so be sure to book your Easter Island tour well in advance when you do. Virtually all of the hotels are in Hanga Roa so this is where you will be basing yourself.
 

Is it hard to visit Easter Island?

Though flying to Rapa Nui isn’t hard, per se, it is a long journey. After all, it’s one of the world’s most remote, inhabited islands. The only airline that flies here is LATAM, a Chilean airline headquartered in Santiago. That means travelers must necessarily fly through Chile.
 

How did the people of Easter Island survive?

Graduate student Tanya Brosnan, who led a recent study of coastal seeps — where fresh groundwater flows into the ocean — on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), carries out conductivity measurements near Ahu Tongariki on the east side of the island.
 

What are 3 facts about Easter Island?

5 facts about Easter Island

  • It was the first Pacific island to be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site..
  • None of the statues were standing when scientists arrived!
  • Easter Island lies 3,700km to the west of Chile!
  • It is one of the most remote islands in the world!

 

What are 5 interesting facts about Easter Island?

The Things You Should Know About Easter Island

  • Easter Island is a special territory of Chile.
  • Easter Island has many names.
  • There are nearly 900 Easter Island statues.
  • The Easter Island heads have bodies.
  • The moai represent the spirits of ancestors.
  • Rapa Nui National Park is a World Heritage Site.

Why did people leave Easter Island?

Destruction of society and population. A series of devastating events killed almost the entire population of Easter Island. Jared Diamond suggested that Easter Island’s society so destroyed their environment that, by around 1600, their society fell into a downward spiral of warfare, cannibalism, and population decline.



Why is Easter Island such a mystery?

Easter Island must surely be one of the greatest mysteries of human civilisation. Many theories have been formed over the years about where the original inhabitants came from, why they built hundreds of monumental statues called Moai, how they transported them and why the people who made them eventually died out.
 

How did the Polynesians travel to Easter Island?

They sailed the sea hundreds of years before Europeans, using voyaging canoes crafted from island materials and stone tools. The Polynesians approached the open ocean with respect; indeed, the ocean was integrated naturally into Polynesian culture, as they came from small islands surrounded by vast ocean expanses.

How did they transport the Easter Island heads?

Island legends claim they walked from the quarry to their ahu. Some researchers believe the moai were laid on wood sledges and moved along by means of log rollers. Others think they were moved while standing up on a sledge. One method suggests rocking the statues along on a wooden bipod/fulcrum.

How did the people transport the statues across Easter Island?

Even specialized priests were known to move moai at the request of those who wanted them on their family land or ahu. Method: Tied statue on its back to a sledge (sled) made from a tree fork. 180 islanders pulled the statue using two parallel ropes tied to each side.



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