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(#8) The Island Is Host To Navy Special Ops Training And R&D For Military Defense
While the island's economy once relied on ranching, the business hasn't been profitable in recent years. The Robinsons have tried making honey and charcoal, but neither proved lucrative.
Niihau makes its money today through military contracts. The island is home to a US Navy radar facility. Niihau additionally hosts Navy exercises. Keith Robinson is proud of the military contracts because they've kept the island and its inhabitants afloat without having to open the island to Hawaii's tourism industry:
Without that money, frankly, your community, your jobs would not have survived. It's just that simple. For the time being, US Navy is your source of income that keeps all of you going here and which keeps us going and allows us to pay the taxes on this place.
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(#7) It Was Dubbed 'The Forbidden Island' Because You Needed A Doctor’s Note To Visit, A Protective Measure Against The Spread Of Disease
The Robinsons, who own Niihau, began limiting visitation in the 1930s after a measles outbreak took the lives of 11 children. Additionally, water supplies were scarce.
During a 1952 polio outbreak in the Hawaiian Islands, the island of Niihau instituted a two-week quarantine and required a doctor's note for anyone who stepped foot on the island. It was then that Niihau became known as the "Forbidden Island."
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(#3) Niihau Rejected The 1893 Colonization Of Hawaii, And Its Residents Still Speak The Banned Native Tongue
In January 1893, a group of businessmen and sugar plantation owners made Hawaiian Queen Lili'uokalani step down from the throne. Two years later, the Kingdom of Hawaii officially dissolved as American influence grew.
Eliza Hutchinson and her family remained close with royals after her purchase of Niihau from King Kamehameha IV in 1864. She opposed the American takeover and preserved Hawaiian language and culture on the island. The provisional government banned all native Hawaiian languages. To this day, Niihau is one of the few places where Hawaiian remains a commonly spoken language.
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(#2) The Island Has Consistently Resisted American Assimilation And Influence
On Niihau, the primary language is Hawaiian. Students learn some English in school, but its use is otherwise limited. Niihau's children attend school through the eighth grade, but none have ever passed an armed services literary test.
Post-war, Niihau modernized minimally. Some homes installed gas-powered refrigerators, and a number of residents got radios. The Robinsons also installed a phone line that reached Makaweli, which - in addition to carrier pigeons and signal flares - they use to contact the outside world.
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(#12) Government Officials Have Long Tried To Force Niihau To 'Modernize,' With Little Success
After WWII, a territorial legislature and then a US Senate committee visited Niihau. They deemed the residents' way of life untenable and told them they had to modernize. The committee viewed the island residents as subservient to the Robinsons.
When the island's leaders refused to change their ways, the Senate committee took issue. One member said, "[As] kindly and paternal as the dominion of their landlords is, it is still irreconcilable with the principles of liberty and the freedom of individuals upon which our Nation was founded." A number of Hawaiian leaders supported the Robinsons, however, and the government never fully succeeded in forcing the island to modernize.
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(#4) During The Pearl Harbor Air Raid, A Crash Landing Led To A Fatal Confrontation Now Known As 'The Niihau Incident'
Following the air raid on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Japanese pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi was escorting another aircraft to carry out a strike on nearby US Army airbase Bellows Field, but an American aircraft struck his plane. He crash landed on Niihau; the island had yet to receive news of the air raid and Japan's declaration of joining WWII.
Polynesian native Hawila Kaleohano confiscated the pilot's papers with important codes and military plans. He called over Yoshio and Irene Harada to speak to the pilot in Japanese. He told them the news of Pearl Harbor, and they kept it a secret from their fellow islanders.
Yoshi attempted to help Nishikaichi retrieve the papers Kaleohano had taken from him upon his landing. Kaleohano fled and hid the papers at his mother-in-law's house. Yoshi and Nishikaichi set fire to Kaleohano's home and took several townspeople hostage, including Benehakaka and Ella Kanahele. During an altercation, Nishikaichi shot Benehakaka, which enraged the captor. Benehakaka threw Nishikaichi against a wall, then cut his neck while Ella fatally beat the pilot with a rock.
Yoshi also perished in the fight after accidentally shooting himself in the gut. Authorities imprisoned Irene for three years in Honolulu. Benehakaka received the Medal for Merit and a Purple Heart, and Kaleohano was awarded a Medal of Freedom and a sum of money to repair his property affected by the crash.
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About This Tool
We all know that Hawaii is the only archipelago state in the United States, consisting of 132 islands in the central Pacific, but only a few important islands. Among them, Niihau island is a completely private island, even Hawaiians from other islands cannot enter. Niihau became a forbidden island in 1864 when Scotsman Elizabeth McHutchison Sinclair bought the island and closed the coastline. The island still belongs to the family.
Not only it has a unique culture, but Niihau is also home to many endangered species. An isolated and rigorous lifestyle has both advantages and disadvantages, in recent years, more people have gradually left the island. The generator shows more information about the privately owned island.
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