Portal:Hawaii/Selected article/17

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[edit] Oahu

Oʻahu, the "Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in Hawaiʻi. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as Ford Island and the islands in Kaneohe Bay and off the eastern 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. 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 Mt. Kaʻala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet (1,220 m) above sea level.

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. _{For the full article, click here.}