Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands of the Hawaiian Islands. Unpopulated, it lies about seven miles (11 km) southwest of Maui. The island is 11 mi (18 km) long by 6.0 mi (9.7 km) wide, with a total land area of 44.97 sq mi (116.47 km2). Its highest point is the crater of Luamakika, at the summit of Puʻuomoaʻula Nui, about 1,477 feet (450 m) above sea level. Kahoʻolawe is relatively dry, with an average annual rainfall of less than 26 in (66 cm) resulting from a combination of being too low to generate much orographic precipitation from the northeastern trade winds and lying in the rain shadow of eastern Maui's 10,023-foot-high (3,055 m) volcano, Haleakalā. More than one quarter of Kahoʻolawe has been eroded down to saprolitic hardpan soil, largely on exposed surfaces near the summit. Historically, Kahoʻolawe was always sparsely populated, due to its lack of fresh water. During World War II and the following decades, it was used as a training ground and bombing range by the Armed Forces of the United States. After decades of protests, the U.S. Navy ended live-fire training exercises on Kahoʻolawe in 1990, and the whole island was transferred to the jurisdiction of the state of Hawaii in 1994. The Hawaii State Legislature established the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve to restore and to oversee the island and its surrounding waters. Today Kahoʻolawe can be used only for native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes, fishing, environmental restoration, historic preservation, and education. It has no permanent residents.
Geology
Kahoʻolawe is an extinct shield volcano, which formed during the Pleistocene epoch. It was once connected to the island of Maui Nui before splitting off about 300,000 years ago. Most of the island is covered by basaltic lava flows. A caldera is located in the eastern part of the island. The last confirmed volcanic activity on the island occurred about one million years ago, though eruptions could have occurred about 10,000 years ago.
Climate Kahoʻolawe experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh).
History
Settlement Sometime around the year 1000, Kahoʻolawe was settled by Polynesians, and small, temporary fishing communities were established along the coast. Some inland areas were cultivated. Puʻu Moiwi, a remnant cinder cone, is the location of the second-largest basalt quarry in Hawaiʻi, and this was mined for use in stone tools such as koʻi (adzes). Originally a dry forest environment with intermittent streams, the land changed to an open savanna of grassland and trees when inhabitants cleared vegetation for firewood and agriculture. Hawaiians built stone platforms for religious ceremonies, set rocks upright as shrines for successful fishing trips, and carved petroglyphs, or drawings, into the flat surfaces of rocks; these indicators of an earlier time can still be found on Kahoʻolawe. The island itself is venerated as a kinolau or body form of the sea god Kanaloa. While it is not known how many people inhabited Kahoʻolawe, the lack of freshwater probably limited the population to a few hundred people. As many as 120 people might have once lived at Hakioawa, the largest settlement, which was located at the northeastern end of the island—facing Maui.
Warfare Violent wars among competing aliʻi (chiefs) laid waste to the land and led to a decline in the population. During the 18th century War of Kamokuhi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruler of the Island of Hawaiʻi, raided and pillaged Kahoʻolawe in an unsuccessful attempt to take Maui from Kahekili II, the King of Maui.
Post-contact: Penal colony and ranching attempts From 1778 to the early 19th century, observers on passing ships reported that Kahoʻolawe was uninhabited and barren, destitute of both water and wood. After the arrival of missionaries from New England, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi under the rule of King Kamehameha III replaced the death penalty with exile, and Kahoʻolawe became a men's penal colony sometime around 1830. Food and water were scarce, some prisoners reportedly starved, and some of them swam across the channel to Maui to find food. The law making the island a penal colony was repealed in 1853. A survey of Kahoʻolawe in 1857 reported about 50 residents there, about 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land covered with shrubs, and a patch of sugarcane growth. Along the shore, tobacco, pineapple, gourds, pili grass, and scrub trees grew. Beginning in 1858, the Hawaiian government leased Kahoʻolawe to a series of ranching ventures. Some of these proved to be more successful than others, but the lack of freshwater was an unrelenting hindrance. Through the next 80 years, the landscape changed dramatically, with drought and uncontrolled overgrazing denuding much of the island. Strong trade winds blew away most of the topsoil, leaving behind red hardpan dirt. From 1910 to 1918, the Territory of Hawaii designated Kahoʻolawe as a forest reserve in the hope of restoring the island through a revegetation and livestock removal program. This program failed, and leases again became available. In 1918, the rancher Angus MacPhee of Wyoming, later with the help of the landowner Harry Baldwin of Maui, leased the island for 21 years, intending to build a cattle ranch there. By 1932, the ranching operation was enjoying moderate success despite accidental deaths and infrastructure failures. In 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor pushed MacPhee to sublet part of the island to the United States military. While MacPhee and Baldwin held rights to the island until 1953, the U.S. Navy retained control of the island, claiming the island was needed for military preparedness. MacPhee filed a $80,000 suit against the U.S. Navy in 1946 for reclamation of property and financial losses, but died in 1948 before it could be resolved.
Training grounds
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