Rapa Nui National Park

Rapa Nui National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Ahu Akivi moai that face the ocean
Location	Easter Island, Chile
Nearest city	Hanga Roa
Area	6,800 hectares (17,000 acres)
Established	1935
Visitors	52,202[1] (in 2012)
Governing body	Ma'u Henua Indigenous Community[2]
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, v
Designated	1995 (19th session)
Reference no.	715
Region	Latin America and the Caribbean

Rapa Nui National Park (Spanish: Parque nacional Rapa Nui) is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern extremity of the Polynesian Triangle. The island was taken over by Chile in 1888. Its fame and World Heritage status arise from the 887 extant stone statues known by the name "moai", whose creation is attributed to the early Rapa Nui people who inhabited the island starting between 300 and 1200 AD. Much of the island has been declared as Rapa Nui National Park which, on 22 March 1996, UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria (i), (iii), & (v). Rapa Nui National Park is now under the administrative control of the Ma´u Henua Polynesian Indigenous Community, which is the first autonomous institute on the island. The indigenous Rapa Nui people have regained authority over their ancestral lands and are in charge of the management, preservation and protection of their patrimony. On the first of December 2017, the ex-President Michelle Bachelet returned ancestral lands in the form of the Rapa Nui National Park to the indigenous people. For the first time in history, the revenue generated by the National Park is invested in the island and used to conserve the natural heritage.