Caroline and Patrick on the Easter Island - page 1
Where is Easter Island?
Far far away: it is the remotest spot in the world. It is the easternmost island of Polynesia, the vast archipelago between Australia and South America. Its closest neighbours are the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia, at a distance of more than 1550 miles (2500 km). The Chilean coast is more than 1860 miles (3000 km) away. Nowadays it is an autonomous province of Chili.
How did it get its name?
The sailors of the Dutch West India Company who discovered the island on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1722, named it Paasch-Eylandt. This name stuck in other languages: Easter Island, Isla de Pascua, Ile de Pâques...
How do you get there?
You can fly to Madrid and than to Santiago, the capital of Chili. There are three flights a week to Easter Island, that take 5 hours, even with a fast Boeing 767.
What is the weather like there?
The island is near the Tropic of Capricorn and enjoys a subtropical climate, somewhat like Florida or Northern Africa. It can be very windy because its isolation in the Pacific Ocean.
Where did the Eastern Islanders come?
Eastern Islanders are Polynesian and came from westward islands, but the time of their coming is still controversial. It is often assumed that they arrived around AD 800, but some statues were erected before AD 700. The fastest known Polynesian boat from that period, a kind of catamaran, can sail about 125 miles (200 km) a day. A journey in a straight line from the Gambier Islands would thus take twelve days.
The twentieth century Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl believed that the Easter Islanders came from Latin America. Near the Titicaca Lake in Bolivia, he came across statues that resemble those on Easter Island. But DNA research of all those populations proved that the Easter Islanders are Polynesians indeed.
