Rapa Nui lies roughly 2,200 miles west off the coast of Chile. The small island has been inhabited since time immemorial by a Polynesian people, the Rapa Nui, who have their own distinct language and culture. Currently, the Rapa Nui are organized into 36 clans. Chile claimed control of the island in 1888, immediately confining the Rapa Nui people to one town and leasing out the rest of the island for ranching. The Rapa Nui people were confined generations and their internment ended only relatively recently – in the 1960's.