Kauai

Kauaʻi

Nickname: The Garden Island
August 1989 satellite photo.
Geography
Location	22°05′N 159°30′W / 22.083°N 159.500°W / 22.083; -159.500
Area	562.3 sq mi (1,456 km2)
Area rank	4th largest Hawaiian Island
Highest elevation	5,243 ft (1,598.1 m)
Highest point	Mt. Waialeale
Administration
United States
Symbols
Color	Poni (purple)
Demographics
Population	65,689 (2008)
Pop. density	106 /sq mi (40.9 /km2)

Kauaʻi or Kauai (/kə.ˈwaɪ.iː/; Hawaiʻian: [kɐˈwɐʔi]) is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km²), it is the fourth largest of these islands and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle", Kauaʻi lies 105 miles (169 km) across the Kauaʻi Channel, northwest of Oʻahu. This island is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park.

The United States Census Bureau defines Kauaʻi as census tracts 401 through 409 of Kauaʻi County, Hawaiʻi, which comprises all of the county except for the islands of Kaʻula, Lehua and Niʻihau. The 2010 United States Census population of the island was 67,091. The most populous town was Kapaʻa.

Hawaiian narrative locates the name's origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiʻian Islands. The story relates how he named the island of Kauaʻi after a favorite son; a possible translation of Kauaʻi is "place around the neck", describing how a father would carry a favorite child. Another possible translation is "food season".