Honolulu

Honolulu stretches along the southeastern shore of Oʻahu, hemmed between the Pacific and the green, fluted ridges of the Koʻolau Range. Its sheltered harbor — the name means "calm port" in Hawaiian — made it the islands' great anchorage, the hub through which trade, whaling, and later tourism flowed. It became the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom and remained the capital through annexation and statehood in 1959.

The city is the most remote major city on Earth, some 2,400 miles from the U.S. mainland, yet it concentrates most of Hawaii's population and economy. Waikīkī's beach and the volcanic cone of Diamond Head anchor the waterfront, while Pearl Harbor to the west remains a major naval base. Steep rainforested mountains rise directly behind the dense coastal city, compressing tropical wilderness and metropolis into a few miles.

• Hawaii
  A volcanic island chain in the central Pacific located in