why do they call easter island easter island
Easter Island The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday (5 April) in 1722, while searching for Davis or David's island. Roggeveen named it Paasch-Eyland (18th-century Dutch for "Easter Island").[9][10] The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island".