Everything about Niihau totally explained
Niihau is the smallest of the inhabited
Hawaiian Islands in the
U.S. State of
Hawaii, having an area of . Known as the "Forbidden Isle", Niihau lies 17.5 miles (28 km) across the
Kaulakahi Channel, southwest of
Kauai, and the crescent-shaped island of
Lehua is positioned 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of Niihau. On the island, one can find the only natural lake of Hawaii, called Lake Halulu.
Owned by
Keith Robinson and Bruce Robinson, the island has been privately owned by the Robinson family since 1864. As a result, Niihau is generally off-limits to all but relatives of the island's owners, U.S. Navy personnel, government officials and invited guests. Tourists are able to visit the island through a limited number of supervised tours, including diving, hiking, and hunting safaris. Niʻihau is also referred to as the "Mystery Island", the "Distant Isle" and sometimes the "Forgotten Island", as it's frequently omitted on tourist maps. The island is famous as the location for the
Niihau Incident, in which a Japanese fighter pilot crashed on the island and terrorized its residents during
World War II. Commercially, the people of Niihau are known internationally for their gemlike
shell lei craftsmanship.
History
Prior to the unification of the
Kingdom of Hawaii under
Kamehameha I, Niihau was ruled by the
aliis. Kahelelani was the first of the Niihau ali'i. His name is now used to refer to the
Niihau kahelelani, the puka shell of the
wart turbans (
Leptothyra verruca), used to make exquisite Niihau shell jewelry.
Kaeo was a ruler of northern Niihau who unified the entire island after defeating his rival, a chief named Kawaihoa. A stone wall (
Papohaku) was built across a quarter of the southern end to mark the boundaries of the two chiefs: Kaeo's land was identified by black stones and Kawaihoa's by white stones. Eventually, a great battle took place, known as Pali Kamakaui. Kaeo's two brothers from the island of
Maui, Kaiana and his half-brother Kahekili, the King of Maui, fought the battle for Kaeo and Niihau was united under his rule. Kawaihoa was banished to the south end of the island and Kaeo moved to the middle of the island to govern. Kaeo married the noble
Kamakahelei and a future king of Niihau and Kauaʻi named
Kaumualii was born in 1790.
Kauai and Niihau are said to have carried the "highest blood lines" in the Hawaiian Islands.
By 1795, Kamehameha had managed to unify all of the islands except for Kauai and Niihau: two attempts to conquer those islands had failed, and Kamehameha lost many men: the dead bodies covered the beaches on the eastern shores of Kauai. Finally, in 1810, Kamehameha amassed a great fleet, and Kaumualii, the last native alii, surrendered rather than risk further bloodshed. Independence again became feasible after Kamehameha's death in 1819, but was put down when Kamehameha's widow
Kaahumanu kidnapped Kaumualii and forced him to marry her. Thereafter Niihau remained part of a unified Hawaii.
In 1864, Elizabeth Sinclair (later Sinclair-Robinson) purchased Ni'ihau from
Kamehameha V for the low price of $10,000 in gold. By around 1875, Ni'ihau's population consisted of about 350 Native Hawaiians, with 20,000 sheep grazing the island. This era marked the end of the art of Hawaiian mat weaving made famous by the people of Niihau. The stems of a native
sedge called makaloa (
Cyperus laevigatus) used to grow on the edges of Niihau's three
intermittent lakes. These grasses were used to weave the makaloa mats of Niihau, considered the "finest sleeping mats in Polynesia". The mats were valued by alii and foreign visitors alike, but by the end of the
19th century, Hawaiians had stopped weaving makaloa due to changes in population, culture, economics, and the environment.
In 1915, Sinclair's grandson Aubrey Robinson closed the island to most outside visitors; Even relatives of the inhabitants could visit only by special permission.
Niihau played a small role during the attack on
Pearl Harbor on
December 7,
1941. An off-course
Japanese pilot crash landed at Niihau and was captured by locals. With the assistance of local Japanese residents, the pilot escaped, but was later recaptured and killed. The incident is referred to locally as the "
Niihau Incident" or the "Battle of Niihau."
Despite the self-imposed isolation, Niihau has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. military dating from before
World War II. There is a small
U.S. Navy installation on the island, but no military personnel are permanently stationed there. More recently, however, the U.S. military has used the island for training special operations units, hiring the Niihauans as "enemy" trackers.
Many residents of Niihau had been employees of the Niihau Ranch until the Robinson family finally shut down the operation in 1999; it hadn't been profitable for most of the 20th century. Many of the residents ended up on federal
welfare, although these benefits will expire soon. The Robinson family has been considering alternative economic options to keep their residents employed, such as an increased economic role for the U.S. military (an earlier 1999 proposal to establish a missile testing program on the island fell by the wayside), or increased tourism. Either of these would erode the relative isolation that the residents currently enjoy.
Geography
Contrary to popular belief, Niihau isn't the geologically oldest of the eight main islands.
Kaua'i, which neighbors Niihau in the north-east, is older. This is because Niihau was formed by a secondary vent that formed after the Kauai volcano was erupting. It is estimated that Kauai was formed 5.1 million years ago, while Niihau is estimated to have been formed 4.9 million years ago. Niihau consists of one extinct volcano that had a large landslide to the east.
The island is relatively arid, being situated in the
rain shadow of
Kauai and lacking the elevation needed to catch significant amounts of
Trade Wind rainfall (see
orographic precipitation); This is similar to the island of
Kahoolawe which is in the rain shadow of
Maui. And, like Kahoolawe, Niihau is subject to long periods of
drought. Historical droughts on Ni'ihau have been recorded several times, one by
Captain James Cook's former junior officer,
George Vancouver in 1792. Vancouver had been told that the people of Niihau had abandoned the island because of a severe drought and had moved to Kauai to escape famine. It is thought that population movement from Niihau to Kauai during severe drought periods may have been common.
The island is located about west of Kauai. Its dimensions are 6.2 miles by 18.6 miles (30 km x 10 km); its land area is 56.6% larger than uninhabited
Kahoolawe). The maximum elevation (Paniau) is . The
United States Census Bureau defines Niihau (with the neighboring small island of
Lehua) as
Census Tract 410 of
Kauai County, Hawaii. Its
2000 census population was 160.
Communities include:
Politics
In 2004 President
George W. Bush received all but one of the 40 votes cast on the island. The remaining vote was cast for
Green Party nominee
David Cobb. 51 registered voters didn't cast ballots. In 2006
Dan Akaka received 33 votes in the 2006 Senate election to
Cynthia Thielen's 3.
Economy
On the beaches of the island are found
pupu, shells that wash onto the shores of Ni'ihau during the winter months. The sale of shells and shell jewelry provide an additional source of income for the local populace. The shells and jewelry are so popular, that in 2004, Governor
Linda Lingle signed a bill to protect Niihau shell leis from counterfeiting. Other economic activities include fishing, sheep
ranching,
charcoal production, and
honey cultivation.
Mullet farming is popular on Niihau, with ponds and lakes stocked with baby mullet which reach upwards of nine to ten pounds (4–4.5 kg) apiece before they're harvested and sold on the islands of
Kauai and
Oahu. However, hunting on the island by the natives is forbidden as the Robinson family possesses exclusive hunting rights only to be granted to tourists of the island.
Culture
The island has approximately 160 permanent inhabitants, nearly all of whom are
Native Hawaiians who live in the island's main settlement of
Puuwai. They support themselves largely by subsistence agriculture and
welfare and generally lead a rural, low-tech life. They speak the
Hawaiian language, in part encouraged by terms in the purchase contract which obligated the new owners to help preserve Hawaiian culture and tradition. Niihau is the only Hawaiian island where the Hawaiian language is spoken as a primary language.
The Native Hawaiians are not isolated from the outside world, however: Niihau is subject to regular droughts that occasionally force the population to evacuate to Kauai temporarily, until their fresh water supply is replenished by rainfall. To avoid a long boat ride, the island's owners maintain an
Agusta A109 helicopter for use in emergencies and for transporting Navy contractors and residents to and from Kauai. These helicopter trips are supported by its use for limited tours and safaris on the island.
A form of
Ipu art is known to have developed solely on the island of Ni‘ihau. In this method, after a design is carved in the skin of a fresh
gourd, it's filled with
dye which, after several weeks, changes the color of the uncarved portions of the surface where the skin is intact.
Music plays a central role on the island, with
a cappella singers making use of only two or three tones and changing rhythms.
Ukulele and guitar playing is nearly ubiquitous among the Native Hawaiians of Niihau, and there are three separate styles of
slack-key music, with an older style originating from
Kohala, Hawaii.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Niihau'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://niihau.totallyexplained.com">Niihau Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
