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ABOUT KONA AND THE BIG ISLAND
Kona is the name of a moku or district on the Big Island of Hawai'i in the State of Hawaii. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the moku of Kona is divided into North Kona District...
more »IMAGE INFO
All photographs are available for personal and / or commercial use. Photographs are archived with keywords, which means you may also search for a topic using our powerful Search Engine located in the Image Archive main menu.
ABOUT KONA AND THE BIG ISLAND
Kona is the name of a moku or district on the Big Island of Hawai'i in the State of Hawaii. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the moku of Kona is divided into North Kona District (Kona 'Akau) and South Kona District (Kona Hema). The term "Kona" is sometimes used to refer to its largest town, Kailua-Kona. Other towns in Kona include Kealakekua, Keauhou, Holualoa, Honaunau and Honalo.
In the Hawaiian language, kona means leeward or dry side of the island, as opposed to ko'olau which means windward or the wet side of the island. In the times of Ancient Hawai'i, Kona was the name of the leeward district on each major island. In Hawai'i, the Pacific anticyclone provides moist prevailing northeasterly winds to the Hawaiian islands, resulting in rain when the winds contact the windward landmass of the islands - the winds subsequently lose their moisture and travel on to the leeward (or kona) side of the island. When this pattern reverses, it can produce a Kona storm from the West. Kona has cognates with the same meaning in other Polynesian languages. In Tongan, the equivalent cognate would be tonga; for windward, the associated cognate would be tokelau.
Kona is home to the Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park which marks the place where Captain James Cook was killed in 1779. Pu'uhonua o H'naunau National Historical Park and Honokohau Settlement and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park are in Kona.
The volcanic slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the Kona district provide an ideal microclimate for growing coffee. Kona coffee is considered one of the premium specialty coffees of the world.
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