Kauaʻi is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands after Niʻihau.
With an area of 1,456.4 km2, it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the Garden Isle, Kauaʻi lies 169 km across the Kauaʻi Channel, northwest of Oʻahu. This island is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park.
The United States Census Bureau defines Kauaʻi as census tracts 401 through 409 of Kauai County, Hawaiʻi, which comprises all of the county except for the islands of Kaʻula, Lehua and Niʻihau. The 2010 United States Census population of the island was 66,921. The most populous town was Kapaʻa.
In 1778, Captain James Cook arrived at Waimea Bay, the first European known to have reached the Hawaiian islands. He named the archipelago the Sandwich Isles after his patron, the 6th Earl of Sandwich, George Montagu.
During the reign of King Kamehameha, the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau were the last Hawaiian Islands to join his Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Their ruler, Kaumualiʻi, resisted Kamehameha for years. King Kamehameha twice prepared a huge armada of ships and canoes to take the islands by force, and twice failed; once due to a storm, and once due to an epidemic. In the face of the threat of a further invasion, however, Kaumualiʻi decided to join the kingdom without bloodshed, and became Kamehameha's vassal in 1810. He ceded the island to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi upon his death in 1824.
More information: Go Hawaii
In 1815, a ship from the Russian-American Company was wrecked on the island. In 1816, an agreement was signed by Kaumualiʻi to allow the Russians to build Fort Elizabeth. It was an attempt by Kaumualiʻi to gain support from the Russians against Kamehameha I.
Construction was begun in 1817, but in July of that year under mounting resistance of Native Hawaiians and American traders the Russians were expelled. The settlement on Kauaʻi has been considered an abrupt instance of a Pacific outpost of the Russian Empire per se.
Hawaiian narrative locates the name's origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiʻian Islands.
The story relates how he named the island of Kauaʻi after a favorite son; a possible translation of Kauaʻi is place around the neck, describing how a father would carry a favorite child. Another possible translation is food season.
Kauaʻi was known for its distinct dialect of the Hawaiian language; this survives on Niʻihau. While the standard language today adopts the dialect of Hawaiʻi island, which has the sound [k], the Kauaʻi dialect was known for pronouncing this as [t]. In effect, Kauaʻi dialect retained the old pan-Polynesian /t/, while standard Hawaiʻi dialect has changed it to the [k].
Therefore, the native name for Kauaʻi was said as Tauaʻi, and the major settlement of Kapaʻa would have been pro Kauaʻi's origins are volcanic, the island having been formed by the passage of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii hotspot. At approximately five million years old, it is the oldest of the main islands. The highest peak on this mountainous island is Kawaikini at 1,598 m.
The second highest peak is Mount Waiʻaleʻale near the center of the island, 1,569 m above sea level. One of the wettest spots on earth, with an annual average rainfall of 11.7 m, is located on the east side of Mount Waiʻaleʻale. The high annual rainfall has eroded deep valleys in the central mountains, carving out canyons with many scenic waterfalls.
On the west side of the island, Waimea town is located at the mouth of the Waimea River, whose flow formed Waimea Canyon, one of the world's most scenic canyons, which is part of Waimea Canyon State Park. At three thousand feet 910 m deep, Waimea Canyon is often referred to as The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
Kokeo Point lies on the south side of the island. The Na Pali Coast is a center for recreation in a wild setting, including kayaking past the beaches, or hiking on the trail along the coastal cliffs. The headland, Kuahonu Point, is on the south-east of the island.
More information: Planet Ware
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Hawaiian Proverb
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