Larissa Ross, age 13, of Cumberland, Md., for her question:
HOW DID HAWAII GET ITS NAME?
First people to live in the Hawaiian islands were a group of Polynesian who sailed there in large canoes from other Pacific islands about 2,000 years ago. A second group of Polynesians moved to the islands from Tahiti about A.D. 1200.
According to legend, these early Polynesian settlers named the group of islands Hawaii in honor of their chief, whose name was Hawaii loa. This chief supposedly led the Polynesians to the tropical islands.
The name Hawaii is also a form of Hawaiki, the legendary name of the Polynesian homeland to the west.
Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean about 2,400 miles west of the United States mainland and it is the youngest state to join the union. Hawaii became the 50th state almost 30 years ago on Aug. 21, 1959.
A British navy explorer named Capt. James Cook reached Hawaii in 1778. Cook named the land the Sandwich Islands in honor of the Earl of Sandwich, the first lord of the British admiralty. The British name didn't stick for very long, however.
In the early days, Hawaii was a kingdom. Then in 1894 it became the Republic of Hawaii but it was annexed to the United States in 1898. In 1900 it was established as the Territory of Hawaii and it won statehood 59 years later.
Hawaii is made up of a chain of 132 islands that stretch out for 1,610 miles. Eight main islands are located at the southeastern end of this chain. All of the people in the state live on seven of these eight islands, with about 80 percent of the population living on Oahu, the most important island. The remaining 124 minor islands have a combined area of only three square miles, so you can see that none of them are very large.
Midway Island is in the far northwestern part of the Hawaiian group but it is not part of the state of Hawaii. This small island is controlled by the U.S. Navy.
Largest of the islands is Hawaii, often called the Big Island. It covers 4,038 square miles of land and was formed by five volcanoes.
The other populated islands include Maui, called the Valley Island: Molokai, called the Friendly Island; Lanai, called the Pineapple Island: Oahu, known as the Gathering Place; Kauai, called the Garden Island; and Niihau, known as the Forbidden Island.
Kahoolawe is the eighth island of any size. It is dry and wind swept and for these reasons, no one lives there.
Hawaii is called the Aloha State. Aloha means "greetings" in the Hawaiian language. When vacationers arrive in the island state, they often receive wreaths of flowers strung together that are called leis. The visitors are often treated with feasts, folk dancing and many special events. And they also often learn to do a hip swaying Hawaiian dance called the hula.