The Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are composed of about 137 islands in total. Most of these are actually offshore islets, cures, and atolls. The island chain is so vast and extensive that the entire area is called the Emperor Seamount Chain. It extends from the newly forming island Loihi Seamount, which is 22 miles southeast of the Big Island, all the way out to the Meiji Seamount towards Russia. The entire chain is about 3,600 miles. The chain is produced by the movement of ocean crust over the Hawaii hotspot. A hotspot is an upwelling of molten rock from the Earth’s mantle. As the ocean crust moves, new islands begin to form. The oldest in the Emperor Chain is Meiji at about 130 million years old.

Hawaii has 8 main islands that everyone should know. The main islands consist of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau. The largest is the Hawaii Island, also known to the locals as Big Island. The next largest is the island Maui, the Valley Isle located just west of Hawai’i island. Around Maui you can find Kahoolawe, the Target Isle and Lanai, the Pineapple Island. Also near Maui is Molokai, the Friendly Isle. Heading westward from Moloka’i you’ll reach Oahu, the Gathering Place. Then Kaua’i, the Garden Isle further west and near there is Ni’ihau, the Forbidden Island.

The age of the islands were first noticed by the Ancient Hawaiians when they started to populate them. They could see the differences in composition of the islands as well. Kauai was said to be the oldest as it had the most brittle and eroded rocks. Hawai’i Island had the newest and freshly molten lava making new land. According to legend, Kauai was first inhabited by the goddess of fire Pele who lived with her family. However family feuds broke out and she was fighting with her sister Namaka, goddess of the sea. Namaka chased Pele away with her tidal waves and Pele fled from Kauai then to Oahu and so on and so forth until reaching Big Island. From there she currently lives and creates more land with her fiery powers.

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Loa’a wale lā!