As of 2011, Rapa Nui's main source of income derived from tourism, which focuses on the giant sculptures called moai.

[3][clarification needed] Protests in 2010 and 2011 by the indigenous Rapa Nui on Easter Island, objecting to the creation of a marine park and reserve,[4] have led to clashes with Chilean police.

The Rapa Nui People have been found to be of Polynesian origin through genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA of pre-historic skeletons.

The main stories of Rapa Nui mythology are that of Hotu Matu'a, believed to be the first settler of Easter Island, and the Tangata manu.

The best-known aspect of the Rapa Nui culture is the moai, the 887 human figures carved from rock between 1250 and 1500 CE and transported throughout Easter Island.

Modern Rapanui music has had Latin American influences creating new genres such as the Rapa Nui style of tango.

[12] Nowadays, young people are bringing back Rapa Nui tattoos as an important part of their culture and local artists base their creations on traditional motifs.

[12] The ink was made out of natural products, primarily from the burning of Ti leaves (Cordyline terminalis) and sugar cane.

Notable ingredients include seafood such as fish, octopus (heke), eel, sea snails (pipi) and crustaceans (lobster), as well as sweet potato, taro, banana, pineapple, coconut, pumpkin, and poultry, pork and lamb meat.

The most prominent proponent of this explanation is Jared Diamond who proposes a scenario for the "ecocide" on Easter Island in his 2005 book Collapse.

This idea that Rapa Nui society collapsed came out of the imbalance between general resources present on the island, mainly population, timber and food sources, and the energy- and resource-intensive feat of transporting and raising the moai.

A source of good timber is also currently noticeably absent from the island, the tallest extant plant life averaging around 7 feet.

This trend of extinction and extirpation is a common occurrence when humans populate a new area, because of tendencies to overhunt and overexploit resources.

He further hypothesizes that there were about 7,000 individuals pre-war, a number which fell to the 2,000 whom missionaries met when they showed up in the 19th century and conducted the first census of the island.

[15][16] Agriculture on Easter Island shows signs of intensification before European arrival, necessary because of its climate which had an excess of wind and a low amount of rainfall for the area.