science

Hawaiʻiloa

Hawaiʻiloa is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hawaiʻiloa rather than just read about it. In short: Hawaiʻiloa (alt. Hawaiʻi Loa or Ke Kowa i Hawaiʻi) is a mythical Hawaiian fisherman and navigator who is said to have discovered the island of Hawaiʻi.

Key takeaways

Hawaiʻiloa belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hawaiʻiloa to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hawaiʻiloa from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hawaiʻiloa (alt. Hawaiʻi Loa or Ke Kowa i Hawaiʻi) is a mythical Hawaiian fisherman and navigator who is said to have discovered the island of Hawaiʻi.

Legend

Hawaiʻiloa was an expert fisherman and navigator who was famous for his lengthy fishing expeditions. While on a prolonged voyage, his principal navigator, Makaliʻi, asked Hawaiʻiloa to steer eastward towards Aldebaran (Hokuʻula, meaning "red star") and the Pleiades (near the Cluster of Makaliʻi). After sailing in this direction, he and his crew stumbled upon the island of Hawaiʻi, which was named in Hawaiʻiloa's honor. Hawaiʻiloa returned to his homeland, Ka ʻāina kai melemele a Kāne ("the land of the yellow sea of Kāne"), to bring his family back with him to Hawaiʻi. He then organized a colonizing expedition with his family and eight other skilled navigators. They settled on what is now the Island of Hawaiʻi, named in his honor. The legend contains reference to his children: Māui (his eldest son), Kauaʻi (son), and Oʻahu (daughter) who settled on the islands that bear their names.

Historical accuracy The Hawaiʻiloa legend is popular amongst Hawaiians 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 and Thomas George Thrum, neither of whom provided their sources. Hawaiʻiloa is also unmentioned by earlier Hawaiian historians such as David Malo. Malo chronicled many Hawaiian origin stories, migration tales, and legends of indigenous origin. Samuel Kamakau tells of an alternate legend that the first man (Kumu-Honua) and woman (Lalo-Honua) were created on Oʻahu.

Canoe Hawaiʻiloa is also the name of a voyaging canoe, built between 1991 and 1994. Named after the legendary navigator, the canoe was built for ocean navigation and has sailed internationally. The canoe Hawaiʻiloa is now docked at Honolulu Harbor. It is often sailed on long voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, studying voyaging techniques used in Ancient Hawaii.

Building To make the canoe, two Sitka spruce logs were brought to Hawaiʻi from Southeast Alaska, donated by the SeAlaska Corporation (owned by the Tlingit, Haida, and Tshimshian tribes). These came from 400-year-old, 200 feet high trees, a size which could not be found in modern Hawaiʻi. 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. Hawaiʻiloa is 57 feet (17 m) long, with a beam of 19 feet (5.8 m). She has two sails, each of 240–420 square feet (22–39 m2). 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, Hawaiʻiloa sailed her maiden voyage to Tahiti, Raʻiatea, and Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands in company with Hōkūleʻa and a third canoe from Hawaiʻi called Makaliʻi together with two canoes from Rarotonga: Te ʻAu Tonga and Takitumu, and the canoe Te ʻAurere, from New Zealand. Subsequently that year, Hawaiʻiloa was shipped to Seattle and then sailed north to Alaska, visiting twenty native villages on the coastal journey between Vancouver and Juneau.

See also Hawaiki Hawaiian religion Hōkūleʻa Polynesian navigation Polynesian Voyaging Society

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hawaiʻiloa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hawaiʻiloa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hawaiʻiloa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hawaiʻiloa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hawaiʻiloa

In research: Hawaiʻiloa appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hawaiʻiloa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hawaiʻiloa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ancient Hawaiian royalty, Culture of Hawaii, Hōkūleʻa, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hawaiʻiloa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hawaiʻiloa in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hawaiʻiloa means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hawaiʻiloa out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hawaiʻiloa in simple terms?

Hawaiʻiloa (alt. Hawaiʻi Loa or Ke Kowa i Hawaiʻi) is a mythical Hawaiian fisherman and navigator who is said to have discovered the island of Hawaiʻi.

Why does Hawaiʻiloa matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hawaiʻiloa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hawaiʻiloa.