Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the

Ironman World Championship The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culminat ...

Triathlon. In the administration of Hawaii County, the ''moku'' of Kona is divided into North Kona District (''Kona Akau'') and South Kona District (''Kona Hema''). "Kona" sometimes refers to its largest town,

Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is most commonly referred to simply as Kona (a name it shares with the district to which it belongs), but also as Kona To ...

. Other towns in Kona include Kealakekua, Keauhou, Holualoa, Hōnaunau and Honalo.

Description

In the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...

, ''kona'' means

leeward In geography and seamanship, windward () and leeward () are directions relative to the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point o ...

or dry side of the island, as opposed to ''ko‘olau'' which means

windward In geography and seamanship, windward () and leeward () are directions relative to the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point ...

or the wet side of the island. In the times of Ancient Hawaiʻi, ''Kona'' was the name of the leeward district on each major island. In Hawai‘i, the Pacific

anticyclone A high-pressure area, high, or anticyclone, is an area near the surface of a planet where the atmospheric pressure is greater than the pressure in the surrounding regions. Highs are middle-scale meteorological features that result from interpl ...

provides moist prevailing northeasterly winds to the Hawaiian islands, resulting in

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

when the winds contact the windward landmass of the islands – the winds subsequently lose their moisture and travel on to the leeward (or ''kona'') side of the island. When this pattern reverses, it can produce a Kona storm from the west. ''Kona'' has

cognates In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the soun ...

with the same meaning in other

Polynesian languages The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family. There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austr ...

. In Tongan, the equivalent cognate would be ''

tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

''; for windward, the associated cognate would be ''

tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, an ...

''. Kona is the home of the

Triathlon, which is held each year in October in

. The Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park marks the place where Captain James Cook was killed in 1779. Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Honokohau Settlement and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park are in Kona. The volcanic slopes of Hualālai and

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa (, ; ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest ...

in the Kona district provide an ideal

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

for growing

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. Kona coffee is considered one of the premium specialty coffees of the world. Kona is the home of one of the main bases of the international Christian mission organization YWAM, and the University of the Nations, first founded there.

In popular culture

* The region served as the basis of the

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

' song "Kona Coast" from their 1978 album ''

M.I.U. Album ''M.I.U. Album'' is the 22nd studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 25, 1978. Characterized for its easy-listening sound, the album was produced by Al Jardine and touring member Ron Altbach during one of th ...

''. * Asteroid 284891 Kona, discovered by astronomers at the ESA Optical Ground Station in 2009, was named after the Hawaiian district. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

on 16 January 2014 ().

Gallery

File:KealakekuaBay.JPG, Kealakekua Bay File:Sunset in Kona or a real sunset over sea.jpg, Sunset in Kona File:HonaunauBoatHouse.JPG, Canoe Hale at Honaunau Bay File:Plymouth Rock Kailua Kona Big island, Hawaii (45553296344).jpg, Plymouth Rock, Kailua Kona, Big island, Hawaii File:Kona Dog Beach Big island Hawaii (45553363314).jpg, Kona Dog Beach, Big island, Hawaii

References

External links

Kona Historical Society web site

Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce web site

North Kona shoreline access map at Hawaii County web site

South Kona shoreline access map at Hawaii County web site
{{Hawaii County, Hawaii Districts of Hawaii County, Hawaii

Kona District Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the administration of Hawaii County, the ''moku'' of Kona is divided into North Kon ...

Description

In popular culture

Gallery

Further reading

References

External links