![]() By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population was estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000. But land clearing for cultivation and the introduction of the Polynesian rat led to gradual deforestation. The inhabitants created a thriving and industrious culture, as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone moai and other artifacts. While many in the research community cited evidence that they arrived around the year 800, a 2007 study found compelling evidence that they arrived closer to 1200. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.Įxperts disagree on when the island's Polynesian inhabitants first reached the island. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. ![]() Easter Island ( Rapa Nui Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. ![]()
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