Geography
Easter Island Quiz
Rapa Nui — moai statues, Polynesian mystery, and one of Earth's most remote inhabited islands
Rapa Nui — moai statues, Polynesian mystery, and one of Earth's most remote inhabited islands
Easter Island has 887 moai — but the local Rapa Nui people number only about 4,000, meaning there are more giant stone heads than living islanders. This quiz covers the volcanic triangle 3,540 km off the Chilean coast, the carving and transport of the colossal moai, the Polynesian settlers who arrived around 800–1200 CE, and the European contact that started on Easter Sunday, 1722.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore the Rano Raraku quarry where moai were carved from volcanic tuff, the ahu platforms — including the 15 restored moai of Tongariki — the rongorongo script, the Birdman cult of Orongo, the 1862 Peruvian slave raids, the 1888 annexation by Chile, the 1995 UNESCO listing, and the debates between Jared Diamond's collapse theory and Hunt and Lipo's revisionist account of the island's history.
The moai were carved by the Rapa Nui people, the Polynesian inhabitants of the island, between roughly 1100 and 1680 CE. They are believed to represent deified ancestors — protectors of the island's clans.
Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen made first European contact on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722, which is how the island got its English name. Captain James Cook arrived in 1774.
Rongorongo is a system of glyphs found on wooden tablets from Easter Island. Despite extensive study it remains undeciphered, making it one of very few independent writing systems in human history.
Last updated: May 2026