Easter Island Travel Guide

300

Polynesians arrive from the Marquesas or Mangareva

1680

possible beginning of birdman cult at Orongo

1722

Jacob Roggeveen arrives on Easter Sunday

1774

Captain James Cook stops here briefly

1786

French explorer La Pérouse calls

1862

Peruvian slavers kidnap some 1,400 Rapanui

1863

smallpox epidemic decimates the population

1866

French Catholic missionaries convert survivors

1866

last birdman festival at Orongo

1877

island population down to 110 persons

1883

Chile defeats Peru and Bolivia in War of the Pacific

1888

Chile annexes Easter Island

1955

Thor Heyerdahl conducts excavations on the island

1960

Ahu Akivi restored by Mulloy

1966

the Rapanui become Chilean citizens

1967

opening of Mataveri Airport for travel

1973

opening of island's Anthropological Museum

1978

Ahu Nau Nau is restored by Sergio Rapu

1980

Council of Elders former on the island

1984

first Rapanui governor appointed

1986

Americans extend airstrip for NASA space shuttles

1993

filming of Kevin Costner's epic Rapa Nui

1994

protesters demand the return of indigenous land

1996

Kari Kari Ballet Cultural formed

1996

UNESCO declares Easter Island a World Heritage Site

1999

the Chilean government agrees to land redistribution

2001

1,400 hectares of land granted to Rapanui families

2002

Biblioteca William Mulloy opens

2003

additional land grants to Rapanui families

2007

administration separated from Valparaiso

2008

Posada de Mike Rapu opens at Vaitea

2009

protesters block airport runway over immigration