What makes Big Island special:
The island's official name is actually Hawaii, but even the Hawaiians themselves call it Big Island to distinguish it from the entire island chain, which is also called Hawaii. At 10,430 km², Big Island is the largest island in the US state of Hawaii and the largest island in the United States.
Big Island sits above the volcanic hotspot that gave rise to the entire island chain, and it is the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands, as researchers can determine from the estimated age of mineral samples.
The island consists of five large volcanoes.
- To the north, the extinct Kohala.
- To the west, Hualalai, which was last active in the 19th century.
- To the east, the extinct Mauna Kea, considered the tallest mountain in the world because it grew from the ocean floor. Its total height from its underwater base to its summit is approximately 10,205 metres.
- Mauna Loa in the south, at 4,170 m, which last erupted in 1984, and Kilauea in the southeast, at 1,222 m, considered one of the world's most active volcanoes. Its eruption has been ongoing since 1983.
South of the Hawaiian coast and still beneath the ocean surface lies the youngest volcano, Lōʻihi.
The height of the two volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa creates extreme weather differences between the lush, green east side and the sun-drenched west side. Mauna Kea is home to the world's largest astronomical observatory, the Mauna Kea Observatory.
The history of Big Island:
- Around 1,500 years ago, guided only by the stars and travelling by canoe, the Polynesians made their way from the Marshall Islands — over 2,000 miles away — and set foot on Big Island for the first time.
- About 500 years later, settlers from Tahiti followed, bringing with them their belief in gods and demigods. Territorial disputes between ruling tribal chiefs were a constant feature of daily life.
- In 1820, the first Protestant missionaries arrived on Big Island.
- In 1893, American colonists — who controlled a large part of the Hawaiian economy — overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom in a peaceful but controversial coup.
- In 1898, Hawaii became a territory of the USA.
- In the 20th century, sugar and pineapple plantations drove the Hawaiian economy, leading to large waves of immigration from Japan, China, the Philippines, and Portugal.
- The "Aloha State" became the 50th US state in 1959.
