Rapanui the People of Easter Island

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island and Isla de Pascua, has long been said by natives to be at the navel of the Earth. The people of Easter Island knew of no others for hundreds of years and built their society and belief system isolated until contacted by the outside world in 1722. It is still unknown if the social collapse that followed was from a natural disaster, forced by the human contact or more than likely as a result of a combination of the two. In the center of the South Pacific Ocean, Rapa Nui is located 2,191 miles west of the coast of Chile, South America in the center of the Pacific Ocean. Some 2,704 miles northeast of Tahiti, the island remains even today the most isolated inhabited land on the planet. Today, 7,750 people live on Easter Island. A territory of Chile, many who live on the Island consider themselves Rapanui before Chilean. Spanish is the language spoken by most, but the almost lost language of the island is taught in schools and families to bring the pride of the native islanders to the front. Note that the island and native language is "Rapa Nui" and the people of the island are "Rapanui."