Talk:Niihau
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[edit] Age and geology of Niihau
In this article, Ni'ihau is claimed to be the "oldest of the eight main islands". In the article on Kaua'i, that island is claimed to be the "oldest and fourth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands". Which is true? -- Kimiko 21:01, 2 Dec 2003 (UTC)
- It is possible that the writers of the article didn't count Niihau as a "main Hawaiian island" since it is relatively small. As far as I know, the northern islands are older than the southern ones. Alensha 21:45, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
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- NIIHAU AND KAUAI ARE ABOUT THE SAME AGE
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- 1. There is literally "a hole in the bottom of the sea" a bit southeast of Hawaii. This hole is a major place where liquid rock comes out from Earth's mantle. The Hawaiian Islands are located on a large section of Earth's crust, called a tectonic plate, which is slowly moving northwest towards Asia. Each one of the Hawaiian Islands originated at a time in the past when the tectonic plate was further southeast, such that the island location was over the hole. The liquid rock, i.e., magma or lava, does not come out constantly. But when it comes out a lot, and for a long time (million years), it can be enough to build up a volcano which eventually becomes so high that it sticks out of the ocean surface, forming a Hawaiian island. By the time the island/volcano is around 2 or 3 miles high (like Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea now), the tectonic plate has moved far enough away from the hole that the greatest phase of volcanic eruptions for that island is over. The hole becomes less active for awhile. The island can still have some future eruptions from residual pockets of magma in its base, or perhaps from other minor holes in the ocean bottom, but as time goes by, and the plate moves farther and farther away from the major hole, the island gradually becomes less and less active in terms of eruptions. That's how the Hawaiian chain of islands has been formed, and that's why the island chain runs from southeast to northwest. This explains why Hawaii is the youngest or newest island, and each island is relatively older as you move northwest along the chain.
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- 2. The major hole in the ocean bottom is actually a double hole. That's why the main masses of the island chain are in pairs, like Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. After being "born" at the major double hole, each Hawaiian island gets gradually worn down by erosion from rain, wind, and waves. This explains why Hawaii is the biggest island, Maui is the second biggest, and the islands get gradually smaller and smaller as you go farther northwest along the chain.
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- 3. Now as to whether Niihau or Kauai is older, they are about the same age. When they were born, they were located in the area where Hawaii is now. Niihau was where Mauna Loa is now, and Kauai was where Mauna Kea is now. One hole of the major double hole made Niihau (and Mauna Loa), and the other hole of the major double hole made Kauai (and Mauna Kea). In fact, on a map of the Hawaiian chain, you can draw a line that connects the island masses created by the one hole of the double hole, and a parallel line connecting the island masses created by the other hole of the double hole.
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- 4. The truth of this explanation is verified by studies of iron particles in lava samples from the different Hawaiian islands. When lava is molten, iron particles in the liquid rock align with the pattern of Earth's magnetic field which is specific to a certain latitude and longitude. When the lava has hardened, the location-specific pattern of iron particles is "locked in", and cannot be changed. The pattern of iron particles in Niihau lava does NOT match the current latitude and longitude of Niihau. Rather, it matches the location of the major double hole, a bit southeast of Hawaii. The iron-particle pattern is the same for every island in the Hawaiian chain, proving that every Hawaiian island was born in the same place. Agent X 17:33, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Check facts
This article needs a number of its facts checked. First of all, I believe her name was Eliza, not Elizabeth Sinclair. The rest of it, without whipping out a bunch of books, sounds like someone something wrote of the top of their head. I only took a few Hawaiian Studies classes, but I lived in the Islands long enough to know that people like to remember these things in convenient ways. For example, someone managed to imply that the ESA was in competition with Native Hawaiian rights. Let's remember this is Wikipedia--you're not talking to a tourist trying to tell them stories to scare them for sport.--Stormj 17:53, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
- FYI...I just started fact checking this article. In the process, I've added three reference books, and plan on adding more. —Viriditas | Talk 02:46, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Missing Information
The article states that Niihau is "generally off-limits", but does not mention that Hawaii law declares all property up to the high water mark as "public property". So does it have a special legal status, or is it legal for private boats to land on the beach, and for passengers to stroll the beach as they can elsewhere in the state?
No mention is made of the fact that in almost all cases once a Native Hawaiian volluntarily leaves Niihau, he is not allowed to return. SonsOfNiihau 07:24, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
- All good points that should be addressed. Can you help? —Viriditas | Talk 00:32, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Unsourced claim
Added below. —Viriditas | Talk 00:32, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
It has been said that Sinclair bought the island in preference to other real estate parcels such as Waikīkī, Pearl Harbor, or the island of Lānaʻi.
[edit] Population figures
I'm running into some strange population figures over and over again. For example, Whitney reports that in 1896, the population of Niihau was 164. Bird suggests that there were around 350 people living on the island in 1875, while Joesting reports 300 around 1864. Gay writes (according to oral history) that 5,000 people were living on Niihau prior to 1864, but he doesn't specify an exact date. Two decades earlier, Wilkes reports that were around 1,000 people living on the island sometime between 1838-1842, so I'm assuming that Gay is referring to the late 18th, possibly early 19th century. If anyone has any insight on what these figures mean (epidemics, seasonal drought, migration to Kauai, etc.) please chime in with your comments. —Viriditas | Talk 06:33, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Okina separators
I realize the okina separator is important to Hawaiians (as in "Hawai'i"), but it's a bugger for linking since there's no standard okina and everybody has their own idea of how to do it. Then none of the links work properly. In this one article ʻ,',`, and {[okina]} were all mixed up and nothing linking in to the article would link properly, so I removed them all. It's only a pronunciation aid, so I hope others can live with it in the name of linkability. If anyone wants to put them back for any reason, can you check that the okina you use doesn't break everyone else's links? BomberJoe 04:51, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
