Before the Dutch explorer, Jacob Roggeveen discovered the isolated island in the Pacific and gave it the name that the rest of the world would come to know today, Easter Island had numerous other names way back. The oldest name on record is Te Pito o Te Henua, which directly translates to “The Center of the World” in English.
Besides that, settlers of the island also called it Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, which in English means “Eyes Looking at Heaven.” In the end, sailors from Tahiti named the volcanic island Rapa Nui during the 1860s and the rest, as they say, was history.
Where Did the Name Come From?
The land of the Moai came to be known as Easter Island after it was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen during an expedition to find “Davis Land”. Roggeveen was the first-ever European to reach the remote volcanic island in the Pacific and called it Paasch-Eyland which meant "Easter Island" in 18th century Dutch. And as it appeared, it was during an Easter Sunday (April 5, 1722), when the Dutch explorer found the island.
Formally a territory of Chile, the official name of the island is “Isla de Pascua”, which is in Spanish, but at the same time would translate to “Easter Island” in English. It also goes by the name of Rapa Nui, due to its similarity to the Rapa Island of the Bass Islands.
The First Settlers
In contemporary times, a well-known theory about Easter Island suggested that Indians hailing from the coastal regions of South America were the first to populate the secluded island. Following a careful study from renowned archaeologists and linguists though, the theory was eventually discredited by the rest of the academic world.
These days, the widely recognized notion is that the original people that discovered Easter Island came from Polynesian ancestry. It’s highly possible that the Islanders came from the Marquesas or the Society Islands which is an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Historians believe that they arrived in Rapa Nui as early as 318 AD.
There Was More Under the Surface
The most recent discovery surrounding the Moai was that the stone heads actually had bodies that were buried deep into the earth. Oftentimes, only their massive heads popped out from the ground which is why nobody would have imagined prior to the discovery that they, in fact, have bodies complete with arms and legs. The discovery also led many to believe that there might be plenty more secrets hidden beneath the ground waiting to be uncovered.
And as it happened, the Moai still had plenty of secrets to share and they were later revealed following a major excavation project led by top archaeologists who discovered that their bodies also featured highly detailed tattoos. If there is one thing that we can learn from this discovery that is there is truth to the saying: “there is more to something than meets the eye.”
The Head Director
The Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) which excavated the Moai bodies was headed by Jo Anne Van Tilburg. Following the determination and hard work of the Van Tilburg team to uncover the hidden secrets of the Moai, she then made an announcement on the company’s website. She revealed, “Our EISP excavations recently exposed the torsos of two 7m tall statues."
After their groundbreaking discovery, countless travelers and advocates of the mysterious Easter Island across the world were shocked to hear that the island’s long-fabled statues actually had bodies! But perhaps what’s even more important is that we have learned a whole lot about the Rapa Nui and their knowledge of ancient engineering.