Easter Island, Chile

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a remote place. This 64-square-mile volcanic island lies some 2,000 miles from Tahiti and the coast of South America.

The giant stone monoliths of Easter Island have fascinated and puzzled Westerners since the Dutch seaman Roggeven first made landfall there on Easter Sunday, 1722. And the mystery of Easter Island's first settlers remains just that—a mystery. Most anthropologists believe the island was settled as part of the great wave of Polynesian emigration, since the first inhabitants arrived in 400-700 BC.

In addition to erecting the great Moai, the society of Rapa Nui possessed considerable masonry skills, on par with those found in the Inca Empire of South America. Today, Easter Island has a population of approximately 3,400, although it is believed that the society that produced the great stone Moai no longer exist.