Capital and largest city in Hawaii, US
About Honolulu
Honolulu is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island of Oʻahu. The population of Honolulu was 350,964 at the 2020 census, dropping to an estimated 344,967 by 2024. The Urban Honolulu metropolitan area had an estimated population of just under 1 million residents in 2024 and is the 56th-largest metropolitan area in the nation.
Etymology
Honolulu is Hawaiian for 'sheltered harbor' or 'calm port'; this former meaning is also reflected in the related Māori cognate toponym Whangaruru in the tip of New Zealand's North Island. Its old name, Kou, roughly encompasses the area from Nuʻuanu Avenue to Alakea Street and from Hotel Street to Queen Street, which is the heart of the present downtown district.
History
Evidence of the first settlement of Honolulu by the original Polynesian migrants to the archipelago comes from oral histories and artifacts. These indicate that there was a settlement where Honolulu now stands in the 11th century. After Kamehameha I conquered Oʻahu in the Battle of Nuʻuanu at Nuʻuanu Pali, he moved his royal court from the Island of Hawaiʻi to Waikiki in 1804. His court relocated in 1809 to what is now downtown Honolulu. The capital was moved back to Kailua-Kona in 1812. In November 1794, Captain William Brown of Great Britain was the first foreigner to sail into what is now Honolulu Harbor. More foreign ships followed, making the port of Honolulu a focal point for merchant ships traveling between North America and Asia. …
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Urban Honolulu CDP has an area of 68.4 square miles (177.2 km2), of which 7.9 square miles (20.5 km2), or 11.56%, is water. Honolulu is the most remote major U.S. city and one of the most isolated major cities in the world. The closest location in mainland U.S. is the Point Arena Lighthouse in northern California, at 2,045 nautical miles (2,353 mi; 3,787 km). (Nautical vessels require some additional distance to circumnavigate Makapuʻu Point.) The closest major city is San Francisco, California, at 2,397 miles (3,858 km). Some islands off the Mexican coast and part of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska are slightly closer to Honolulu than the mainland. The volcanic field of the Honolulu Volcanics is partially inside the city. The antipode of Honolulu is in Botswana, Southern Africa. …
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