Easter Island (Rapa Nui) — The Navel of the World

Also called Rapa Nui ("Great Rapa") or Te Pito o te Henua ("Navel of the World") by the islanders.

LOCATION:  The eastern-most Polynesian island, 2,200 miles west of Chile, 1,200 miles east of Pitcairn Island, its closest neighbor

AREA:  63 square miles.

POPULATION:  2,095

DISCOVERED:  The first European to land on the island, Dutch admiral Jakob Roggeveen, arrived on Easter Sunday, 1722. In 1770, an expedition dispatched by the Spanish viceroy of Peru rediscovered the island. British navigator Captain James Cook also visited in 1774.

GOVERNMENT:  In 1965, the Chilean government appointed a civilian governor and gave the islanders full Chilean citizenship. It is now a province of Chile's Valparaiso region.

LANGUAGES:  Spanish and Rapa.