Oahu

OÊ»ahu (pronounced [oˈÊ"ɐhu]) or Oahu /oʊˈÉ'ːhuː/, known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands; however, it is home to about two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii, and is the home of Honolulu International Airport. The state capital, Honolulu, is on OÊ»ahu's southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as Ford Island and the islands in Kaneohe Bay and off the eastern (windward) coast, it has a total land area of 596.7 square miles (1,545.4 km²), making it the 20th largest island in the United States.

In the greatest dimension, this volcanic island is 44 miles (71 km) long and 30 miles (48 km) across. The length of the shoreline is 227 miles (365 km). The island is the result of two separate shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau, with a broad "valley" or saddle (the central Oʻahu Plain) between them. The highest point is Ka'ala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet (1,220 m) above sea level.

Introduction

The island is home to about 976,199 people (approximately 72% of the resident population of the state, with approximately 81% of those living on the "city" side of the island). Oʻahu has for a long time been known as "The Gathering Place". However, the term Oʻahu has no confirmed meaning in Hawaiian, other than that of the place itself. Ancient Hawaiian tradition attributes the name's origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. The story relates that he named the island after a son.

Residents of Oʻahu refer to themselves as "locals" (as done throughout Hawaiʻi), no matter their ancestry.

The city of Honoluluâ€"largest city, state capital, and main deepwater marine port for the State of HawaiÊ»iâ€"is located here. As a jurisdictional unit, the entire island of OÊ»ahu is in the City & County of Honolulu, although as a place name, Honolulu occupies only a portion of the southeast end of the island.

Well-known features found on Oʻahu include Waikīkī, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Kāneʻohe Bay, Kailua Bay, North Shore.

Being roughly diamond-shaped, surrounded by ocean and divided by mountain ranges, directions on Oʻahu are not generally described with the compass directions found throughout the world. Locals instead use "ewa" (pronounced "eh-va") to mean toward the western tip of the island, "Diamond Head" to be toward the eastern tip, "mauka" (pronounced "moww-ka") is toward the mountains and "makai" toward the sea.

Locals consider the island to be divided into various areas, which may overlap. The most commonly accepted areas are the "City", "Town" or "Town side", which is the metropolitan area from Halawa to the area below Diamond Head (residents of the island north of the Koʻolau Mountains consider the Town Side to be the entire southern half); "West Oʻahu," which goes from Pearl Harbor to Kapolei, Ewa and may include the Makaha and Waianae areas; the "North Shore" (northwestern coast); the "Windward Side" (northeastern coast); the "East Side" (the eastern portion of the island, including both the Windward Side and the area east of Diamond Head; and "The Valley" or "Central Oʻahu" which runs northwest from Pearl Harbor toward Haleiwa. These terms are somewhat flexible, depending on the area in which the user lives, and are used in a mostly general way. Oahu is also known for having the longest rain shower in history with over 200 days spent with continuous rain. Kaneohe Ranch, Oahu, Hawaii reported 247 straight days with rain from August 27, 1993 to April 30, 1994. The island has many nicknames one of them being "rainbow state." This is because rainbows are a common sight in Hawaii due to the frequent rain showers. The average temperature in Oahu is around 70 to 85 degrees and the island is the warmest in June through October. The weather during the winter is cooler, but still warm with the average temperature of 68-78 degrees.

History

The 300-year-old Kingdom of Oʻahu was once ruled by the most ancient Aliʻi in all of the Hawaiian Islands. The first great king of Oʻahu was Mailikukahi, the law maker, who was followed by many generation of monarchs. Kualii was the first of the warlike kings and so were his sons. In 1773, the throne fell upon Kahahana, the son of Elani of Ewa. In 1783 Kahekili II, King of Maui, conquered Oʻahu and deposed the reigning family and then made his son Kalanikupule king of Oʻahu. Kamehameha the Great would conquer in the mountain Kalanikupule's force in the Battle of Nuʻuanu. Kamehameha founded the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi with the conquest of Oʻahu in 1795. Hawaiʻi would not be unified until the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau surrendered under King Kaumualii in 1810. Kamehameha III moved his capital from Lāhainā, Maui to Honolulu, Oʻahu in 1845. ʻIolani Palace, built later by other members of the royal family, is still standing, and is the only royal palace on American soil.

Oʻahu was apparently the first of the Hawaiian Islands sighted by the crew of HMS Resolution on January 19, 1776 during Captain James Cook's third Pacific expedition. Escorted by HMS Discovery, the expedition was surprised to find high islands this far north in the central Pacific. Oʻahu was not actually visited by Europeans until February 28, 1779 when Captain Charles Clerke aboard HMS Resolution stepped ashore at Waimea Bay. Clerke had taken command of the ship after Capt. Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay (island of Hawaiʻi) on February 14, and was leaving the islands for the North Pacific.

The Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor, Oʻahu on the morning of December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II. The surprise attack was aimed at the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine Air Forces. The attack damaged or destroyed twelve American warships, destroyed 188 aircraft, and resulted in the deaths of 2,335 American servicemen and 68 civilians (of those, 1,177 were the result of the destruction of the USS Arizona alone).

An earthquake, measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, struck the island of Hawai'i and the surrounding islands at 07:07:49 HST on October 15, 2006, causing an island-wide power outage and over $200 million in damage.

Today, Oʻahu has become a tourism and shopping haven. Over five million visitors (mainly from the American mainland and Japan) flock there every year to enjoy the quintessential island holiday experience.

Tourist attractions

Top beaches

• Ala Moana Beach
• Hanauma Bay
• Kaneohe Bay
• Ko Olina Beach Park
• Kailua
• Lanikai Beach
• Sandy Beach
• Sunset Beach
• WaikÄ«kÄ« Beach
• Waimanalo Beach
• Waimea Bay

Attractions

• Ala Moana
• Aloha Tower
• Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa
• Banzai Pipeline
• Bernice P. Bishop Museum
• Diamond Head
• Kaena Point
• Honolulu
• Honolulu Museum of Art
• Laie Hawaii Temple
• Mauna Ala
• Makapu'u Lighthouse
• National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific or "Punchbowl"
• North Shore
• Pali Lookout
• Pearl Harbor
• Polynesian Cultural Center
• Triple Crown of Surfing
• USS Arizona Memorial
• USS Missouri
• Valley of the Temples Memorial Park
• WaikÄ«kÄ«
• Waimea Valley
• Kailua Beach Adventures

In media

Due to its beauty, easy access from Hollywood, and incentives offered by the state and local governments, Oʻahu has been featured in many movies and television shows. A sampling of notable films and shows that have shot scenes on Oʻahu includes, but is not limited to:

Films

• North Shore (1987)
• 50 First Dates
• Battleship (2012) is set and filmed on location on OÊ»ahu and the other Hawaiian islands
• Blue Crush
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• From Here to Eternity (1953)
• The Disney Channel movie Johnny Tsunami as well as its sequel, Johnny Kapahala, use O'ahu as the hometown of the family
• Jurassic Park movies
• Mighty Joe Young
• Pearl Harbor
• Some scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides were filmed on OÊ»ahu
• Soul Surfer
• The Descendants
• The Even Stevens Movie, also by Disney, was filmed in various locations on O'ahu
• The Karate Kid, Part II
• Tora! Tora! Tora!
• Windtalkers
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Many scenes from the arena were filmed on O'ahu

Games

• In the video games Test Drive Unlimited and Test Drive Unlimited 2 players can drive around O'ahu island's 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of road.
• Some aircraft can be flown over O'ahu as it appeared during the later years of World War II in the online multiplayer combat flight simulator War Thunder. Most American aircraft can be flown from the Pearl Harbor airstrip in the game's Test Flight mode.

Literature

• The novel From Here to Eternity (1951) and the film and television series based on it all end with the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Michael Crichton's posthumous techno-thriller novel, Micro, is set in the island of O'ahu.
• Boyd Morrison's book The Tsunami Countdown is set on O'ahu.

Television

• PBS Nature's Condition Black
• Dante's Cove
• The reality TV show Dog the Bounty Hunter is filmed in the regions of Honolulu, OÊ»ahu (as well as other regions in OÊ»ahu), and the city of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of HawaiÊ»i
• The children's series Flight 29 Down was filmed on the island
• The 1979 TV miniseries and 1980 From Here to Eternity TV series were filmed on location
• Both the original Hawaii Five-O television series and its more recent version, Hawaii Five-0, are set and filmed on location on the island
• Hawaiian Eye, while set in Hawai'i, was filmed in Los Angeles
• Jake and the Fatman
• Lost was filmed almost entirely on O'ahu, with many locations on the island (predominantly Honolulu) serving as a stand-in for other locations (including United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and South Korea). Many of the show's stars still call the island home. The island's thick rainforests and picturesque beaches are prominently featured.
• Magnum, P.I.
• MythBusters shot their 2012 Season's "Duct Tape Island" episode on this island
• North Shore
• The River was filmed on O'ahu

Renewable energy

From 2009 to 2011, Ocean Power Technologies ocean-tested its wave power generation system at the US Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) at Kaneohe Bay. Hawaii is the number one place Marines request as their base. The Oʻahu system was launched under the Company's program with the US Navy for ocean testing and demonstration of such systems, including connection to the Oʻahu grid.

Notable people

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Oahu

References

Notes

Sources

• Doyle, David W., Rescue in Paradise: Oahu's Beaches and their Guardians (Island Heritage, 2001)
• Macdonald, Gordon A., Agatin T. Abbott, and Frank L. Peterson. 1983. Volcanoes in the Sea. University of HawaiÊ»i Press, Honolulu. 517 pp.
• Pukui, M. K., S. H. Elbert, and E. T. Mookini. 1976. Place names of HawaiÊ»i. University of HawaiÊ»i Press. 289 pp.

External links

• Media related to Oahu at Wikimedia Commons
• Oahu travel guide from Wikivoyage