The official Spanish name of the island Isla de Pascua also means "Easter Island." The current Polynesian name for the island, Rapa Nui ("Big Rapa"), originated in the early 1860s and refers to the island's topographical similarity to Rapa Island (sometimes called Rapa Iti, or "Little Rapa," the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands in French Polynesia. In the local language, the island's name also means "Big Earth" or "Navel of the World" (Te Pito o Te Henua).
