|
The largest of the five national parks in Hawaii is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It covers 84,861 hectares (209,695 acres) on the island of Hawaii. It contains the active volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Haleakala National Park, on the island of Maui, includes Haleakala, a volcano that last erupted around 1790 and has a huge summit depression, sometimes incorrectly referred to as a volcanic crater. Geologists refer to this massive basin as an eroded coalescence of two valley systems. Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park on the island of Hawaii is the site of an ancient Hawaiian sacred place of refuge for islanders who broke taboos and for defeated warriors in time of war. Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, also on Hawaii, preserves native culture at the site of a Hawaiian settlement important before the arrival of Europeans. The famous leper colony on Molokai is the site of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, on Hawaii Island, contains the ruins of the “temple on the hill of the whale” (a translation of the park’s name), built by King Kamehameha I. The USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu straddles the remains of the battleship sunk during the December 7, 1941, attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor and which became a symbol of United States resolve during the ensuing war.
|
