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Place Name
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Honolulu
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Pronunciation
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HO-no-LOO-loo
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Place Status (Type)
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city
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Population
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365,272 (1990)
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Location
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Honolulu County, Hawaii (HI), United States, North America
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Latitude
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21°19'N
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Longitude
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157°48'W
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Honolulu
(HO-no-LOO-loo), city (1990 pop. 365,272),  the
state of Hawaii and Honolulu co., on the S coast of the isl. of
Oahu; 21°19'N 157°48'W. With cruise ship and air
connections to the U.S. mainland, Asia, Australia, and N.Z., Honolulu
is the crossroads of the Pacific, as well as the economic center and
principal port of the Hawaiian Isls. The city is famous for its beauty
and the variety of its ethnic groups. It lies on a narrow plain bet.
the sea and the Koolau Range and climbs the slopes of Punchbowl.
Bypassed by Capt. James Cook when he explored the isls. in 1778,
Honolulu's harbor was entered and praised in 1794 by William Brown, an
Eng. captain. Honolulu's history from 1820, when missionaries arrived
on the isls, is much the same as that of Hawaii. Growing from a
settlement of thatched grass huts into the main residence of Hawaiian
royalty and later of foreign consuls, Honolulu became the permanent
capital of the kingdom of Hawaii in 1845. In the 19th cent., Amer. and
Eur. whalers and sandalwood traders visited its port. It remained
Hawaii's capital when the isls. were annexed by the U.S. in 1898 and
achieved statehood in 1959. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the naval
base W of Honolulu, on Dec. 7, 1941, and during World War II the port
became a strategic naval base and a staging area for U.S. forces in the
Pacific. Since the war, a rise in tourism, diversification of industry,
and construction of luxury hotels and housing developments have made
Honolulu the business and pop. center of Hawaii. Sugar processing and
pineapple canning are no longer Honolulu's major industries. Increased
peacetime defense activity at the many military installations in the
area (Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter,
Camp H. M. Smith, Hickam Field), expansion of harbor facilities, and
the completion of an internatl. airport further aided the city's
growth. Honolulu Harbor near downtown; Pearl Harbor
5 mi/8 km NW of downtown. Mfg. (jewelry,
printing and publishing, apparel, food and beverages, rubber prods.,
construction materials, consumer goods, electronics and computer
equip., machinery, metal prods.). The largest of Honolulu's parks is
Kapiolani, containing a zoo, an aquarium, and Waikiki Shell, where the
Honolulu Symphony gives concerts. Also in Honolulu is the Arizona
Memorial for the 1,100 who died during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Notable institutions are the Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa; Kapiolani
Community Col.; Honolulu Community Col.; Chaminade Univ.; Hawaii
Pacific Univ.; Hawaiian Baptitst Acad.; the Bishop Mus., noted for its
studies of Polynesia; the Honolulu Acad. of Arts; and Kawaiahao Church
(1841), where funerals for Hawaiian monarchs and nobility were held.
Iolani Palace, the former home of Hawaii's kings, is the only royal
palace in the U.S. Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall and Convention Center;
Foreign Trade Zone; Quarantine Station at Honolulu Harbor; Ala Moana
Center, one of the largest shopping centers in the U.S.; Waikiki Beach,
especially noted for bathing and surfing, and famous Diamond Head
crater are both in E part of the city; Natl. Cemetery of the Pacific
(at Punchbowl Crater) N of Downtown; Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve
to NE; Kewalo Basin State Park on waterfront;
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