Images of Old Hawaiʻi

  • Home
  • About
  • Categories
    • Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance
    • American Protestant Mission
    • Buildings
    • Collections
    • Economy
    • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
    • General
    • Hawaiian Traditions
    • Other Summaries
    • Mayflower Summaries
    • Mayflower Full Summaries
    • Military
    • Place Names
    • Prominent People
    • Schools
    • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
    • Voyage of the Thaddeus
  • Collections
  • Contact
  • Follow
You are here: Home / Place Names / Mokupāpapa

November 24, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokupāpapa

Hōlanikū is a verb phrase that is defined as “bringing forth heaven.” It is a variant of the word helani (heaven) and also the name of a zenith star observed by priests. (Kikiloi)

The chant of Kamahuʻalele states that Hōlani is an area attached to the Hawaiian Archipelago, perhaps alluding to the fact that it is the open horizon that meets the sky and stretches west past Hawai‘i. (Kikiloi)

It is a single name that stands alone and is located at the very end of the island sequence. It is suggested that Hölanikü corresponds with the location of Kure Atoll. (Kikiloi)

There is an account in Captain Cook’s log book that he was at Kure Island, possibly his second trip, 1779. When he encountered a Hawaiian canoe at Kure, and asking the natives… There were ten natives on the double-hulled canoe. What they were doing there? And they said they had come to “collect turtles and bird eggs.”

Mokupāpapa (literally, flat island) is the name given to Kure Atoll by officials of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the 19th century.

Under the reign of King David Kalākaua, the Hawaiian Kingdom disbursed an official envoy to Kure Atoll to take ‘formal possession’ of the atoll.

Before the mid-19th century, Kure Atoll was visited by several ships and given new names each time. Many crews were stranded on Kure Atoll after being shipwrecked on the surrounding reefs and had to survive on the local seals, turtles and birds.

Because of these incidents, King Kalākaua sent Colonel JH Boyd as his Special Commissioner to Kure. On September 20, 1886 he took possession of the island, then-called Moku Papapa, for the Hawaiian government.

The King ordered that a crude house be built on the island, with tanks for holding water and provisions for any other unfortunates who might be cast away there. But the provisions were stolen within a year, and the house soon fell into ruins.

In 1898, the archipelago, inclusive of the certain lands in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI,) was collectively ceded to the United States through a domestic resolution, called the Newlands Resolution.

Mokupāpapa is approximately 1,200 miles northwestward of Honolulu and 56 miles west of Midway Islands. The International Date Line lies approximately 100-miles to the west.

Kure Atoll is the most northwestern island in the Hawaiian chain and occupies a singular position at the “Darwin Point:” the northern extent of coral reef development, beyond which coral growth cannot keep pace with the rate of geological subsidence. Kure’s coral is still growing slightly faster than the island is subsiding.

North of Kure, where reef growth rates are even slower, the drowned Emperor Seamounts foretell the future of Kure and all of the Hawaiian Archipelago. As Kure Atoll continues its slow migration atop the Pacific Plate, it too will eventually slip below the surface.

Kure is the northern-most coral atoll in the world. It consists of a 6-mile wide nearly circular barrier reef surrounding a shallow lagoon and several sand islets. The only land of significant size is called Green Island and is habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

Largely neglected for most of its history, during World War II Kure was routinely visited by US Navy patrols from nearby Midway to insure that the Japanese were not using it to refuel submarines or flying boats from submarine-tankers, for attacks elsewhere in the Hawaiian chain.

US Navy built a tall radar reflector in 1955. Coast Guard navigation LORAN radio station operated from 1960 to 1992, after that, the Green Island runway was allowed to be overgrown and is now unusable

The Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR,) through its Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn  

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

© 2019 Hoʻokuleana LLC

NASA_KureAtoll
Aerial picture of Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Turtle-Kure_Atoll-(NOAA)
Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) on Green Island, Kure Atoll-(WC)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) sitting on marine debris. Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Hawaiian Monk Seal swimming beneath Kure Atoll (James Watt-Oceanstock-com)
Kure (Forest & Kim Starr)
Monk_Seal-Kure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure Atoll (Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - Satellite image from USGS' Landsat7 Satellite-(WC)
Output Fil
Output Fil
Kure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_Atoll-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure_Atoll-South west corner of Green Island-(NOAA)
Kure_map-(WC)
Kure_structure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-blackfoot albatross chick-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-camp-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-sooty terns-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-structure-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Kure-Wildlife_Refuge-sign-(Forest & Kim Starr)
Marine debris on the beach of Green Island, Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands-(WC)
Marine debris on the beach of Green Island, Kure Atoll
Kure-Wildlife_Sanctuary-sign-(Forest & Kim Starr)
NWHI_Map-noting Kure
Papahaønaumokuaøkea Marine National Monument

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Place Names Tagged With: Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, King Kalakaua, Mokupapapa, Kure, NWHI, DLNR, Hawaii

Leave your comment here:Cancel reply

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Connect with Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Kohala Shark Hunt
  • Pacific Bakery and Hotel
  • Halo
  • Origin of Species
  • Pan Am
  • From Ocean to Plate
  • Hawaiian Kingdom Constitution and US Governance Documents

Categories

  • General
  • Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance
  • Buildings
  • Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings
  • Hawaiian Traditions
  • Military
  • Place Names
  • Prominent People
  • Schools
  • Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks
  • Economy
  • Voyage of the Thaddeus
  • Mayflower Summaries
  • American Revolution

Tags

Albatross Al Capone Ane Keohokalole Archibald Campbell Bernice Pauahi Bishop Charles Reed Bishop Downtown Honolulu Eruption Founder's Day George Patton Great Wall of Kuakini Green Sea Turtle Hawaii Hawaii Island Hermes Hilo Holoikauaua Honolulu Isaac Davis James Robinson Kamae Kamaeokalani Kamanawa Kameeiamoku Kamehameha Schools Lalani Village Lava Flow Lelia Byrd Liliuokalani Mao Math Mauna Loa Midway Monk Seal Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Oahu Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Pearl Pualani Mossman Queen Liliuokalani Thomas Jaggar Volcano Waikiki Wake Wisdom

Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2024 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d