Kauai, also known as Taua’I in the ancient dialect, is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of 562.3 square miles, it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago and the 21st largest island in the United States.

It is also sometimes called the “Garden Isle” because it lies 105 miles across the Kauai Channel and northwest of Oahu. It is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park.

In the 2000 census, the population of the island was 58,303. There is no known meaning behind the name Kauai, but native Hawaiian tradition indicates the name’s origin in the legend of Hawaiiloa – the Polynesian navigator attributed with discovering the Hawaiian Islands.

The story tells the tale of how he named the island of Kauai after a favorite son. Therefore, a possible translation of the word is to “place around the neck” as in how a father would carry a favorite child; another possible translation is “food season.”

Kauai was known for its distinct dialect of the Hawaiian language before it went extinct there. The standard language today is based on the dialect of Hawaii Island, the Kauai dialect was known for pronouncing a “k” as a “t”.

Consequently, the island’s dialect retained the old pan-Polynesian “t” while standard Hawaiian dialect has innovated and changed it to the glottal stop. Therefore, the native name for the island was Tauai, and the major settlement of Kapaa would have been called Tapaa.

Kauai’s origins are volcanic, and the highest peak on this mountainous island is Kawaikini at 5,243 feet. The second highest peak is Mount Wai’ale’ale near the center of the island, 5,148 feet above sea level.

This is one of the wettest spots on earth with an annual average rainfall of 460 inches; it is located on the east side of Mount Wai’ale’ale. The high annual rainfall has eroded deep valleys in the central mountains, Silagra 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 3,000feet deep, the canyon is often referred to as “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.”

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. During the reign of King Kamehameha, the islands of Kauai and Niihau were the last Hawaiian Islands to join his Kingdom of Hawaii.

Their ruler, Kaumaulii, resisted Kamehameha for years. King Kamehameha twice prepared a huge armada of ships and canoes to take the islands by force, but twice failed. Once it was due to a storm and the second time, it was due to an epidemic.

In the face of the threat of a further invasion, however, Kaumaulii decided to join the kingdom without bloodshed and became Kamehameha’s vassal in the year 1810, ceding the island to the Kingdom of Hawaii upon his death in 1824. In 1815 until 1817, Kaumaulii led secret negotiations with representatives of the Russian-American Company in an attempt to gain Russia’s military help against Kamehameha.

However, the negotiations folded and the Russians were forced to abandon all of their presence in Kauai, including Fort Elizabeth, after it was revealed that they did not have the support of Tsar Alexander I.

Currently, Tourism is the island’s largest industry. In 2007, 1,271,000 visitors came to the island; the two largest groups were from the United States and Japan.

As of 2003, there were a total of approximately 27,000 jobs there of which the largest sector was accommodation- food services followed by government and retail. Next are agriculture and educational services.

As far as income is concerned, the various sectors that constitute the visitors industry accounted for one third of their income. On the other hand, employment is dominated by small businesses, with 87% of all nonfarm businesses having fewer than 20 employees.

As of 2003, Kauai’s unemployment rate was 3.9% compared to 3% for the entire state and 5.7% for the United States as a whole. Furthermore, the area’s poverty rate was 10.5% compared to the state’s which is 10.7%.

Author Bio: Terry Daniels has been writing about things to do in cities across America. He recommends things to do in Hawaii.

Contact Info:

Terry Daniels
TerryDaniels09@gmail.com
www.thingstodo.com

Category: Recreation and Leisure/Travel/Destinations
Keywords: things to do in hawaii