The first map of Easter Island (1772)

This map was published by cartographer Felipe González Ahedo in 1772, upon his return from the expedition that brought the Spanish to Easter Island in 1770.

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui in the local language, is an island located in the Pacific Ocean, 3,700 kilometres off the coast of Chile. The Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen was the first European to sight the island in 1722, and he also gave it the name by which it is currently known, Easter Island. The expedition led by González Ahedo renamed it San Carlos Island, in honour of King Charles III of Spain.

On this map, oriented with south at the bottom, the author shows the outline of the island, as well as the main points of interest on the coast, marked in red letters. The numbers that appear along the coast are the depths of the nearby waters, to facilitate navigation.

The text on the left describes the expedition, which departed from the Port of Callao, on the coast of Peru, on 10 October 1770. After more than a month sailing the waters of the Pacific, it arrived at Easter Island on 15 November. They stayed there for six days, during which time the crew took the opportunity to circumnavigate the island and exchange information with the more than 1,000 native inhabitants.

The lower part shows a detail of the cove on the north coast, where three of the more than a thousand moai that were scattered throughout the island are also depicted.

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