Easter Island

Easter Island was made by volcanoes.

Three old volcanoes grew up from the bottom of the sea. Their lava joined them together into a triangle. Now the volcanoes are quiet, and rainwater fills their craters.

Easter Island is not a piece of a sunken continent. It is an oceanic island built by volcanoes that rose from the sea floor. Three volcanoes, now extinct, sit at its three corners, joined together by their own lava flows, which gives the island its triangle shape.

The volcanoes are made mostly of tuff, a soft rock formed from packed volcanic ash and fragments, and the ground is covered with old lava fields where people find obsidian, a black volcanic glass. Rain collects in the crater lakes of the volcanoes. The crater of Rano Kau is about 900 meters across, and its water is piped to the town of Hanga Roa.

Britannica describes Easter Island as a typical oceanic high island formed by volcanoes rising from the seafloor, not part of a sunken landmass. Three extinct volcanoes, chiefly of tuff and joined by their own lava flows, give it its triangular shape; parasitic tuff cones dot eroded lava fields of black or rusty cellular lava in which obsidian is common. The coast is mostly soft, ashy cliffs dropping 150 to 300 m, broken by low, rugged lava; Anakena has the only true sand beach, and there is no natural harbor.

Rain collects in the boggy crater lakes of Rano Kau, Rano Raraku and Rano Aroi; the extremely deep crater of Rano Kau, about 900 m wide, supplies Hanga Roa. Geological evidence shows no perceptible rise or fall of the coastline since the last fall in sea level less than 10,000 years ago, but rising seas in the early 21st century have increased coastal erosion that threatens archaeological sites. The climate is subtropical, about 18 to 23 °C on average, with about 1,250 mm of rain a year.

Only a few kinds of plants and animals reached Easter Island on their own.

Seabirds flew there, and fish swam around it. People brought sweet potatoes, bananas and chickens. Today grass covers most of the island.

Because Easter Island is so far from everywhere, very few living things reached it by themselves. Before people came, the only animals with backbones were fish and seabirds that can fly long distances. Pollen buried in the ground shows that trees, including a giant palm, once grew there. Today grass and small ferns cover most of the land.

The island's own tree, the toromiro, died out on the island in the 1950s. Luckily, seeds had been collected and planted in a botanical garden in Sweden, and young trees were brought back to the island in 1988. Settlers brought plants such as sweet potatoes, bananas, taro and sugarcane. In 2018 a marine protected area of about 740,000 square kilometers was created in the ocean around the island.

Britannica notes that before humans arrived, the only vertebrates were fish and long-distance seabirds; land life was limited to a few isopods, spiders, insects, worms, a snail and a centipede. At European contact the endemic toromiro was the only wild tree; overcut by carvers, its last local specimen died in the 1950s, but seeds collected by a Norwegian expedition grew in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, and saplings were reintroduced in 1988. Pollen shows that other trees and shrubs, including the giant Chile palm, grew on the island until they were destroyed by extensive fires at the time of human settlement. Today only 31 wild flowering plants, 14 ferns and 14 mosses are reported.

Settlers brought crops from Polynesia and America: sweet potato, the staple, plus bottle gourds, sugarcane, bananas, taro, yams and the paper mulberry for bark cloth; totora reed now grows in the crater lakes. Sheep, horses, cattle and pigs arrived from 1864. Sea turtles and seals are now rare, while crayfish and fish abound offshore. In 2018 the Rapa Nui Marine Protected Area was established, covering some 740,000 km² of ocean around the island.

The moai are very old and easy to damage.

Visitors look at them from a distance and never touch or lean on them. A local guide shows visitors around the park.

Rapa Nui National Park is cared for by the Ma'u Henua Indigenous Community. Its rules help protect the moai for future generations. Every visitor needs a ticket, and it is required to go with a guide accredited by Ma'u Henua. Look at the moai and ahu from the permitted distance, without touching them or leaning on them. Breaking these rules can lead to fines under Chile's National Monuments law.

Getting there takes planning too. The UK government's travel advice says visitors to Rapa Nui must fill in an entry form, show a return ticket and have a registered place to stay. Chile has strong earthquakes, so follow the instructions posted in hotel rooms.

Rapa Nui National Park's official site sets the rules: buying a ticket and hiring a guide accredited by Ma'u Henua are mandatory; Rano Raraku and Orongo may be visited only once per ticket; visitors must observe the moai and ahu from the permitted distance, without touching or leaning on them; and breaking the rules can bring fines of 5 to 100 UTM under Chile's Law No. 17.288 on national monuments. UNESCO identifies visitor management as a great imperative for the site, along with livestock control, more ranger staff and preventing illegal occupation of park land.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office notes entry conditions for Rapa Nui: a completed entry form, a return ticket, and accommodation registered with SERNATUR, the national tourism service, or an invitation letter. It also warns that car insurance is not available on the island, and that major earthquakes are a risk in Chile, so travelers should note the instructions in hotel rooms. Rising seas and coastal erosion, Britannica adds, already threaten some archaeological sites near the shore.