Hawaii (island)

Hawaiʻi is the largest island located in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the largest and the southeastern-most of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of 4028sqmi, it is larger than all of the other islands in the archipelago combined and is the largest island in the United States. However, it only has 13% of Hawaii's people. The island of Hawaii is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the two main islands of New Zealand.The island is often referred to as the Island of Hawaiʻi, the Big Island, or Hawaiʻi Island to distinguish it from the state. Administratively, the whole island is encompassed by Hawaiʻi County.As of the 2010 Census the population was 185,079. The county seat and largest city is Hilo. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaiʻi County (see List of counties in Hawaii).HistoryHawaiʻi is said to have been named after Hawaiʻiloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. Other accounts attribute the name to the legendary realm of Hawaiki, a place from which some Polynesian people are said to have originated, the place where they go in the afterlife, or the realm of the gods and goddesses. Captain James Cook, the English explorer and navigator who was the captain of the first European expedition that discovered the Hawaiian Islands, called them the "Sandwich Islands" after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich. Cook was killed on the Big Island at Kealakekua Bay on 14 February 1779, in a mêlée which followed the theft of a ship's boat.