Hawaiiloa (alt. Hawaii Loa or Ke Kowa i Hawaii) is a mythical Hawaiian fisherman and navigator who is said to have discovered the

island of Hawaii Hawaii is the List of islands of the United States by area, largest island in the United States, located in the Hawaii, state of Hawaii, the southernmost state in the union. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcani ...

Legend

Hawaiiloa was an expert fisherman and navigator who was famous for his lengthy fishing expeditions. While on a prolonged voyage, his principal navigator, Makalii, asked Hawaiiloa to steer eastward towards

Aldebaran Aldebaran () is a star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It has the Bayer designation α Tauri, which is Latinized to Alpha Tauri and abbreviated Alpha Tau or α Tau. Aldebaran varies in brightness from an apparent vis ...

(Hokuula, meaning "red star") and the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

(near the Cluster of Makalii). After sailing in this direction, he and his crew stumbled upon the island of Hawaii, which was named in Hawaiiloa's honor. Hawaiiloa returned to his homeland, ''Ka āina kai melemele a Kāne'' ("the land of the yellow sea of

Kāne In Hawaiian mythology, Kāne is considered the highest of the three major Hawaiian deities, along with Kū and Lono. He represented the god of procreation and was worshipped as ancestor of chiefs and commoners. Kāne is the creator and giv ...

"), to bring his family back with him to Hawaii. He then organized a colonizing expedition with his family and eight other skilled navigators. They settled on what is now the

Island of Hawaii Hawaii is the List of islands of the United States by area, largest island in the United States, located in the Hawaii, state of Hawaii, the southernmost state in the union. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcani ...

, named in his honor. The legend contains reference to his children:

Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...

(his eldest son),

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

(son), and

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

(daughter) who settled on the islands that bear their names.

Historical accuracy

The Hawaiiloa legend is popular amongst

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

ans as a realistic Hawaiian origin story that is consistent with modern anthropological and historical beliefs. However, there is currently little evidence to support its historical accuracy. The story is attested only by 19th-century sources such as

Abraham Fornander Abraham Fornander (November 4, 1812 – November 1, 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important journalist, judge, and ethnologist in Hawaii. Early life and education Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden on November 4, 1812, to An ...

and Thomas George Thrum, neither of whom provided their sources. Hawaiiloa is also unmentioned by earlier Hawaiian historians such as

David Malo David Malo or Davida Malo (birth name: Malo, 1795–1853) was a chiefly counselor, a Hawaiian intellectual, educator, politician and minister. He is remembered by subsequent generations of Hawaiian people and scholars primarily as a Native Hawaii ...

. Malo chronicled many Hawaiian origin stories, migration tales, and legends of indigenous origin.

Samuel Kamakau Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau (October 29, 1815 – September 5, 1876) was a Hawaiian historian and scholar. His work appeared in local newspapers and was later compiled into books, becoming an invaluable resource on the Hawaiian people, Hawaiian ...

tells of an alternate legend that the first man ( Kumu-Honua) and woman ( Lalo-Honua) were created on Oahu.

Canoe

''Hawaiiloa'' is also the name of a voyaging canoe, built between 1991 and 1994.The Building of Hawai‘iloa
''archive.hokulea.com'', accessed 2020-09-22 Named after the legendary navigator, the canoe was built for ocean navigation and has sailed internationally. The canoe ''Hawaiiloa'' is now docked at

Honolulu Harbor Honolulu Harbor, also called ''Kulolia'' and ''Ke Awa O Kou'' and the Port of Honolulu, is the principal seaport of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu and the Hawaii, State of Hawaii in the United States. From the harbor, the Honolulu County, Hawaii, City ...

. It is often sailed on long voyages throughout the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, studying voyaging techniques used in

Ancient Hawaii Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the establishment in 1795 of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporad ...

Building

To make the canoe, two Sitka spruce logs were brought to Hawaii from Southeast

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, donated by the SeAlaska Corporation (owned by the

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...

, and Tshimshian tribes). These came from 400-year-old, 200 feet high trees, a size which could not be found in modern Hawaii. The hulls of the canoe were designed by Rudy and Barry Choy and Dick Rhodes, and also used numerous woods from more local sources. The canoe was made without metal parts, and used three miles of lashing.Nainoa Thompson: Recollections of the Building of Hawai‘iloa and the 1995 Voyages
''archive.hokulea.com'', accessed 25 September 2020 ''Hawaiiloa'' is long, with a beam of . She has two sails, each of . She was initially launched in July 1993, and subsequently modified in dry dock before being re-launched a year later.

Voyages in 1995

In 1995, ''Hawaiiloa'' sailed her maiden voyage to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

, Raiatea, and

Nuku Hiva Nuku Hiva (sometimes spelled Nukahiva or Nukuhiva) is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as ''Île Marchand'' and ''Madison Island''. Herman M ...

in the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

Nainoa Thompson - Biography
''www.ifa.hawaii.edu'', accessed 25 September 2020 in company with '' Hōkūlea'' and a third canoe from Hawaii called ''Makalii'' together with two canoes from

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

: ''Te Au Tonga'' and ''Takitumu'', and the canoe ''Te Aurere'', from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Subsequently that year, ''Hawaiiloa'' was shipped to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and then sailed north to Alaska, visiting twenty native villages on the coastal journey between

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

References