America's only island state sits 2,000 miles off the mainland
Hawaii is the sole U.S. state outside the North American continent, a Polynesian archipelago about 2,000 miles southwest of the mainland. One hundred thirty-seven volcanic islands span some 1,500 miles; Midway alone sits outside the state grouping.
The state takes its name from its largest island. Tradition credits a discoverer named Hawaiʻiloa, while linguists link the word to Proto-Polynesian *Sawaiki, homeland, with cousins in Māori Hawaiki and Samoan Savaiʻi. Hawaiian joined English as an official state language in 1978, and most state bodies write Hawaiʻi with the ʻokina even though the federal Admission Act used the plain spelling.
It is the southernmost state and the only one wholly surrounded by water. Of the eight main islands seven are inhabited: Niʻihau is privately managed by the Robinson brothers, and uninhabited Kahoʻolawe is off-limits without permission. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, nine older, eroded remnants of bigger volcanoes, stretch from Nīhoa to Kure Atoll. Mauna Kea reaches 4,205 metres above sea level but about 10,200 metres from its base on the ocean floor, taller than Everest.
The islands grow over a stationary hotspot as the Pacific plate slides northwest, so active land volcanoes sit on the Big Island. Kīlauea's 1790 explosion killed up to 5,405 warriors and their families, the deadliest known modern eruption on US soil, and in May 2018 it opened 22 fissures, destroying at least 36 buildings and forcing more than 2,000 people from their homes.
Life reached the islands by wind, waves and wings, and the main islands are less than 10 million years old. Hawaii now has more endangered species, and has lost a larger share of its endemics, than any other state; 32 surviving bird species, such as the nēnē and ʻIʻiwi, live nowhere else. Plantations dominated the economy from the late 19th century to the mid-20th, after which tourism and the military became the largest sectors.
Source: Hawaii
