Pahoa, Hawaii

Pāhoa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawai‘i County, Hawai‘i, United States located in the District of Puna. The population was 962 at the 2000 census. The population dropped by 1.8% to 945 at the 2010 census.

Geography and environment

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²), all of it land. Soils underlying the Pāhoa area are volcanic in origin, deriving from the currently active Kilauea Volcano. (Earth Metrics Inc., 1986) Kilauea is one of the Earth's most active volcanoes, with the January, 2006 eruption being the longest rift zone eruption in Kilauea's 200 year recorded history. (Volcanology, 2007) The volcanic soils underlying Pāhoa are considered to have been generated by lava flows within the last 125 to 500 years. For example, the eruption of 1840 is known to have deposited a lava flow within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of Pāhoa.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 945 people in 321 households residing in the CDP. The population density was 410.9 people per square mile (160.2/km²). There were 356 housing units at an average density of 154.8 per square mile (60.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 14.92% White, 0.42% African American, 1.48% American Indian & Alaska Native, 43.49% Asian, 12.59% Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, 0.95% from other races, and 26.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.56% of the population.

Hawaii (island)

Hawaiʻi (/həˈwaɪ.i/ or /həˈwɑːiː/; Hawaiian: [həˈvɐjʔi]), 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 4,028 square miles (10,430 km²), it is larger than all of the other islands in the archipelago combined and is the largest island in the United States. 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 between the island and the state. It is coterminous with Hawaiʻi County and includes the Hilo Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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 Hawaii Counties).

History

Hawaiʻi is said to have been named for Hawaiʻiloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. Other accounts attribute the name to the legendary realm of Hawaiki, a place from which the Polynesian people are said to have originated (see also Manua), the place where they go in the afterlife, the realm of the gods and goddesses. The name is cognate with Savaii, the name of the largest island of Samoa. 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 February 14, 1779, in a mêlée which followed the theft of a ship's boat.

Big Island

Big Island may refer to:

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