Major Islands of the World
Major Islands of the World : Australia
| Baffin | Borneo | Ellesmere
| Great Britain | Greenland
| Hawaii | Honshu
| Java | Lombok
| Luzon | Madagascar
| Male Island | New
Guinea | North Island |
Ross Island
| South Island | Sri
Lanka | Sulawesi | Sumatra
| Taiwan | Victoria
Hawaii
The Island of Hawaii (called the Big Island or Hawaii proper) is one of eight main islands that make up the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is said to have been named after Hawaiiloa, a legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered the Hawaiian Islands. However, other accounts attribute the name to the legendary land or realm of Hawaiki, or Havaiki, a place from which the Polynesians originated (see also Manua), the place where they go in the afterlife, the realm of the gods. The Island of Hawai?i is larger than all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.
The Island of Hawaii is administered under the County of Hawaii. The county seat is Hilo. It is estimated that as of the year 2003, the island had a resident population of 158,400 persons.
Geology and geography
The Island of Hawaii is built from five separate shield volcanoes that erupted somewhat sequentially, one overlapping the other. These are (from oldest to youngest): Kohala (extinct), Mauna Kea (dormant), Hualalai (dormant), Mauna Loa (active, partly within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), and Kilauea (very active; part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park). Interpretation of geological evidence from exposures of old surfaces on the south and west flanks of Mauna Loa led to the proposal that two ancient volcanic shields (named Ninole and Kulani) were all but buried by the younger Mauna Loa (MacDonald and Abbott, 1970). Geologists now consider these "outcrops" to be part of the earlier building of Mauna Loa.
In greatest dimension, the island is 93 miles (150 km) across and has a land area of 4,038 mi² (10,458 km²), representing 62% of the total land area of the Hawaiian Islands. Measured from its base at the sea floor, to its highest peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, even taller than Mount Everest, according to the Guinness Book of Records. Traditionally, Hawaii is known as the Big Island because it is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands and some confusion between Hawaii Island and Hawaii State can be avoided.
Because Mauna Loa and Kilauea are active volcanoes, the island of Hawaii is still growing. Between January 1983 and September 2002, 2.2 km² (543 ac) of land were added to the island by lava flows from Kilauea volcano extending the coastline seaward. Several towns have been destroyed by Kilauea lava flows in modern times: Kapoho (1960), Kalapana (1990), and Kaimu (1990).
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