Portal:Hawaii/Selected article/11

Hawaii (island)

Satellite view of Hawaiʻi

The Island of Hawaiʻi (called the Big Island or Hawaiʻi Island) is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean and one of the eight main islands that compose the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. With an area of 4,028 square miles (10,432 km²), it is the largest island in the United States and the 76th largest island in the world. Larger than all of the other Hawaiian Islands combined, Hawaiʻi is said to have been named for Hawaiʻiloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. However, other accounts attribute the name to the legendary land or realm of Hawaiki, a place from which the Polynesians originated, the place where they go in the afterlife, the realm of the gods.

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