|RNature and climate:|N Volcanic island 3700 km off the South American coast. It is a plateau of lava and tuff at 100 m.a.s.l. Highest point is the volcano Terevaka reaching 600 m.a.s.l.
Flora and fauna is sparse. The climate is subtropical.
|RPeople:|N Spanish speaking people dominates.
|REconomy:|N Fishing and sheepraising.
|RHistory:|N The aboriginals were highly cultivated and had a time of prosperity between 380 and 1100 AD. From this time there are ruins of a sunobservatory and of human statues both small and of natural size.
From the second period of prosperity from 1100 to 1680, there are more than 600 huge human statues without bones. Most of the statues are between three and six metres high. The biggest is ten metres and weights 93 tons.
These statues probably represent people that after death have been raised to Gods. During this period people also exercised a birdcult.
Polynesian people invaded Rapi Nui in 1680 and the period there after is marked by civil war and cultural and economical decline.
In 1722 Europeans first saw the island, but it was forgotten. Rediscovered in 1770 when it had 3000 inhabitants.
