The statues of Easter Island Easter Island is renowned for the nine hundred massive carved statues known as Moai, some weighing more than fifty tons. Located 2200 miles due west of Chili and 1200 miles east of Pitcairn Island, is a sixty-three square mile island formed eons ago by two volcanoes. Because a Dutch seaman, Jacob Roggeveen, came upon it on Easter Day, 1722, we know it on our maps as Easter Island. Polynesians know it as Rapa Nui. By either name, Easter Island is renow...