History Fact Finder | Exploration and Settlement - Who Was Hawaii Loa?

Who was Hawaii Loa?

Hawaii Loa was a Polynesian chief who sailed more than 2,400 miles (3,862 kilometers) on open water from the Marquesas Islands, in the South Pacific near Tahiti, to discover the Hawaiian Islands in the A.D. 400s. Europeans did not discover these islands until 1778, when British navigator Captain James Cook (1729–1779) came ashore on Kauai. Cook named the islands the Sandwich Islands after his patron, John Montagu (c. 1718–1792), the fourth earl of Sandwich.

Further Information: Discovery's School A to Z Geography. Hawaii. http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozgeography/h/248660.html, October 22, 2000; Go Pacific. About Hawaii. [Online] Available

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