Debbie Wakefield, age 14, of Baton Rouge, La., for her question:
HOW DID EASTER ISLAND GET ITS NAME?
Easter Island lies in the South Pacific about 2,400 miles west of Chile. Now governed by Chile, the island was named by Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen who landed on the small chunk of land in 1722 on Easter Sunday while he was on a voyage of exploration.
Volcanic in origin, Easter Island has an area of only 63 square miles. There are no streams on the island, but water is available from three crater lakes found in three extinct volcanoes. The largest of the volcanoes rises to a height of about 1,400 feet above sea level.
A Chilean naval vessel now stops at Easter Island only once or twice each year. The population today is about 2,000. Weathered lava supports grasses on which the Chilean Navy grazes sheep.
The island's coast is very steep with no reefs. There is only one sandy beach.
The island's population was nearly wiped out in 1862 by a Peruvian slave raid that was followed by a smallpox epidemic. The entire population was then moved to the small village of Hanga Rosa on the west coast when Christian missionaries arrived in 1868 and introduced a new religion to the natives.
Three cultural ages have flourished on the island during the years, archeologists tell us. By A.D. 400, an elaborate defense position had been built by people who specialized in making small stone statues and neatly fitted masonry of large stones.
A later civilization destroyed these constructions and rebuilt them to form raised temple platforms called "ahus." Gigantic stone busts in human forms were erected on the ahus.
During this period, more than 600 large stone statues were carved from hard volcanic rock in the crater walls of the volcano Rana Roraka.
Some of the statues measured 40 feet tall. The sculptors used hand picks made of basalt. Hundreds of statues were moved to distant parts of the island and erected on ahu walls.
Huge red stone cylinders were balanced on the heads of the statues.
Ancestors of the present Polynesian population conquered the island about 1670 and massacred its inhabitants. A period of decline followed, lasting until the 1860s. During this period, all the statues in the ahus were overthrown and cannibalism was practiced.
During this period of decline, many people abandoned their grass houses and lived in underground caves where they stored their treasures.
Early missionaries found a number of wooden tablets covered by rows of a kind of script. The inhabitants could not explain the script. About 20 such boards are preserved today in museum collections.
When Roggeveen arrived, the Easter Islanders ate chiefly fish and sweet potatoes. Now they depend on supplies brought by the Chilean Navy.
An international airport was built on Easter Island during the 1960s.