(Redirected from Ni\'ihau)
'Niihau' is the smallest of the inhabited
Hawaiian Islands in the
U.S. State of
Hawaiʻi, having an area of 179.9 km² (69.5 sq mi).
[2] 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 Niʻihau.
Since 1864, the island has been privately owned by the Robinson family. As a result, Niʻihau 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 is frequently omitted on tourist maps. The island is famous as the location for the
Niʻihau Incident, in which a Japanese fighter pilot crashed on the island and terrorized its residents during
World War II. Commercially, the people of Niʻihau are known internationally for their gemlike,
shell lei craftsmanship.
History
Prior to the unification of the
Kingdom of Hawai'i under
Kamehameha I, Ni'ihau was ruled by the
ali'is. Kahelelani
[3] was the first of the Ni'ihau ali'i. His name is now used to refer to the ''Ni'ihau kahelelani'', the pupu shell of the
wart turbans (''Leptothyra verruca''), used to make exquisite Niihau shell jewelry.
[4][5]
Kaeo was a ruler of northern Ni'ihau who unified the entire island after defeating his rival, a chief named Kawaihoa. A stone wall (''Papohau'') 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 Ni'ihau 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 Ni'ihau and Kauaʻi named
Kaumuali'i was born in 1790.
Kauaʻi and Ni'ihau are said to have carried the "highest blood lines" in the Hawaiian Islands.
[6]
By 1795, Kamehameha had managed to unify all of the islands except for Kauaʻi and Ni'ihau:
[7] two attempts to conquer those islands had failed, and Kamehameha lost many men: the dead bodies covered the beaches on the eastern shores of Kauaʻi.
[8] Finally, in 1810, Kamehameha amassed a great fleet, and Kaumuali'i, the last native ali'i, surrendered rather than risk further bloodshed. Independence again became feasible after Kamehameha's death in 1819, but was put down when Kamehameha's widow
Ka'ahumanu kidnapped Kaumuali'i and forced him to marry her. Thereafter Ni'ihau remained part of a unified Hawai'i.
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.
[9] This era marked the end of the art of Hawaiian mat weaving made famous by the people of Ni'ihau. The stems of a native
sedge called "makaloa" (''Cyperus laevigatus'') used to grow on the edges of Ni'ihau's three
intermittent lakes.
[10] These grasses were used to weave the makaloa mats of Niihau, considered the "finest sleeping mats in Polynesia". The mats were valued by ali'i 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.
[11]
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.
Ni'ihau played a small role during the attack on
Pearl Harbor on
December 7,
1941. An off-course
Japanese pilot crash landed at Ni'ihau 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 "
Ni'ihau Incident" or the "Battle of Ni'ihau."
[12][13]
Despite the self-imposed isolation, Ni'ihau 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 Ni'ihauans as "enemy" trackers.
Many residents of Ni'ihau had been employees of the Ni'ihau Ranch until the Robinson family finally shut down the operation in 1999; it had not 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
Pu'uwai village
Contrary to popular belief, Ni'ihau is not the geologically oldest of the eight main islands.
Kaua'i, which neighbors Ni'ihau in the north-east, is older. This is because Niihau was formed by a secondary vent that formed after the Kaua'i volcano was erupting. It is estimated that Kaua'i was formed 5.1 million years ago, while Ni'ihau is estimated to have been formed 4.9 million years ago. Ni'ihau 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
Kaua'i 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, Ni'ihau is subject to long periods of
drought.
[14] 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 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.
[15]
The island is located about 29 km (18 miles) west of Kaua'i. Its dimensions are 30 km by 10 km (6.2 x 18.6 mi; its land area is 56.6% larger than uninhabited
Kaho'olawe). The maximum elevation (Pānī'au) is 390 m (1280 ft). The
United States Census Bureau defines Ni'ihau (with the neighboring small island of
Lehua) as
Census Tract 410 of
Kaua'i County, Hawai'i. Its
2000 census population was 160.
[16]
Communities include:
★
Kamalino
★
Ke'elinawili
★
Ki'eki'e
★
Ki'i
★
Lē'ahi
★
Lehua Landing
★
Nonopapa
★
'Ō'iamoi
★
Pu'uwai
Politics
The island of Niihau was considered as a possible location for the
United Nations headquarters in 1944 by
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt had visited Hawaii in 1934.
[17][18]
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 did not cast ballots.
[19]
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.
[20] The shells and jewelry are so popular, that in 2004, Governor
Linda Lingle signed a bill to protect Niihau shell leis from counterfeiting.
[21] Other economic activities include fishing, sheep
ranching,
charcoal production, and
honey cultivation.
[22] Mullet farming is popular on Niihau, with ponds and lakes stocked with baby mullet which reach upwards of nine to ten pounds apiece before they are harvested and sold on the islands of
Kauai and
Oahu.
[23] 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.
[24]
Culture
The island has approximately 160 permanent inhabitants,
[25] nearly all of whom are
Native Hawaiians who live in the island's main settlement of
Pu'uwai. 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. Ni'ihau is the only Hawaiian island where the Hawaiian language is spoken as a primary language.
[26]
The Native Hawaiians are not isolated from the outside world, however: Ni'ihau is subject to regular droughts that occasionally force the population to evacuate to Kaua'i temporarily, until their fresh water supply is replenished by rainfall. The island's owners maintain a
helicopter for use in emergencies and for transporting residents to and from Kaua'i, thus avoiding the long boat ride. These helicopter trips are supported by its use for limited tours and safaris on the island.
[27]
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 Ni'ihau, and there are three separate styles of
slack-key music, with an older style originating from
Kohala, Hawaii.
[28]
Notes
1. Table 5.11 - Elevations of Major Summits
2. Table 5.08 - Land Area of Islands: 2000
3. Kahelelani: ''pathway to heaven''
4. .
5. The real deal: Genuine Niihau shells have lasting quality Nadine Kam
6. .
7. Coulter, John Wesley. (Jun, 1964) "Great Britain in Hawaii: The Captain Cook Monument". ''The Geographical Journal'', Vol. 130, No. 2. doi:10.2307/1794586
8. .
9. .
10. .
11.
12. Clark, Blake. "Remember Pearl Harbor". Retrieved May 13, 2006.
13. The Niihau Incident serves as the backdrop for Caroline Paul's 2006 novel ''East Wind, Rain'' (ISBN 0-06-078075-4) and the opening chapter of Michelle Malkin's ''In Defense of Internment''.
14. .
15. .
16. Census Tract 410, Kaua'i County United States Census Bureau
17. .
18. See also: ''The Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 21, No. 4 (Dec., 1949), pp. 317-320
19. Hawai'i 2004 election results for precinct 16-09. Hawaii.gov. Retrieved April 21, 2006.
20. .
21. Governor signs Niihau shell bill
22. .
23. .
24. http://65.61.16.97/Niihau/Safaris.asp
25. Table 1.05 - Resident Population of Islands 1950 to 2000
26. .
27. Ni'ihau - Hawaii’s "Forbidden Island"
28. .
References
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External links
★
Commercial tourism site by the owners of Niihau Island
★
Article in the ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' about Ni'ihau
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