Niʻihau: Pele’s Hawaiian Landfall ― A History

Book Synopsis: Ni‘ihau basks like a whale—or in some lights, like a jewel—across the sea from Kaua‘i. Fewer than a hundred Niihauans now live there, but it is the spiritual home to many more elsewhere in Hawai‘i. Long known as the “Forbidden Island,” it is seldom visited by outsiders. In this fully illustrated, wide-ranging study, Steven Gentry explores:

• The natural world of Ni‘ihau, and how its plants and animals have evolved and adapted to Polynesian and European arrivals
• Origins of Ni‘ihau’s inhabitants, their journey to the Hawaiian islands; Niihauan creation myths and voyaging traditions, and the development of a distinctive culture
• The mixed blessings of European arrival in the Hawaiian islands, 1778
• Ni‘ihau’s complex relationship with Kaua‘i
• Purchase of Ni‘ihau from King Kamehameha by the Sinclair family
• Early missionaries and ranching
• Aubrey Robinson’s leadership and family, 1880s to the 1920s
• Aylmer Robinson’s stewardship of the island
• State and private ownership, and preservation of the Niihauan language
• Dramatic and intriguing stories of island life, past and present

The volcanic island of Ni‘ihau arose steaming and hissing from the ocean millions of years ago, but by the time the goddess Pele’s canoe landed on a golden Niihauan beach its fires were no more. In time Ni‘ihau and the other Hawaiian islands were settled by Polynesian people. Then came missionaries and, after them, ranchers. In 1864 Ni‘ihau was sold by the king of Hawai‘i to the Sinclair family, whose descendants still own it today. Steven Gentry traces all this history and weaves it into an intimate and engrossing account of this intriguing island.