Kona is a ''moku'' or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii, known for its Kona coffee and the location of the Ironman World Championship Triathlon. In the current system of administration of

Hawaii County Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, the ''moku'' of Kona is divided into North Kona District (''Kona ‘Akau'') and South Kona District (''Kona Hema''). The term "Kona" is sometimes used to refer to its largest town,

Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it share ...

. Other towns in Kona include Kealakekua,

Keauhou Keauhou (also spelled Keauhoa or Keauhua) is an unincorporated community on the island of Hawaii in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. Its elevation is 13 feet (4 m). Because the community has borne multiple names, the Board on Geo ...

, Holualoa, Hōnaunau and Honalo.

Description

In the Hawaiian language, ''kona'' means leeward or dry side of the island, as opposed to ''ko‘olau'' which means

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

or the wet side of the island. In the times of Ancient Hawaiʻi, ''Kona'' was the name of the leeward district on each major island. In Hawai‘i, the Pacific

anticyclone An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from ...

provides moist prevailing northeasterly winds to the Hawaiian islands, resulting in

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

when the winds contact the windward landmass of the islands – the winds subsequently lose their moisture and travel on to the leeward (or ''kona'') side of the island. When this pattern reverses, it can produce a

Kona storm Kona storms (also called Kona lows) are a type of seasonal cyclone in the Hawaiian Islands, usually formed in the winter from winds coming from the westerly "kona" (normally leeward) direction. They are mainly cold core cyclones, which places the ...

from the west. ''Kona'' has

cognates In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical eff ...

with the same meaning in other

Polynesian languages The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family. There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austro ...

. In Tongan, the equivalent cognate would be '' tonga''; for windward, the associated cognate would be ''

tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...

''. Kona is the home of the Ironman World Championship Triathlon, which is held each year in October in

. The Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park marks the place where

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

was killed in 1779. Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Honokohau Settlement and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park are in Kona. The volcanic slopes of Hualālai and

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...

in the Kona district provide an ideal microclimate for growing

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

. Kona coffee is considered one of the premium specialty coffees of the world. Kona is the home of one of the main bases of the international Christian mission organization YWAM, and the University of the Nations, first founded there.

In popular culture

* The region served as the basis of the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

' song "Kona Coast" from their 1978 album '' M.I.U. Album''. * Asteroid 284891 Kona, discovered by astronomers at the ESA Optical Ground Station in 2009, was named after the Hawaiian district. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 16 January 2014 ().

Gallery

File:KealakekuaBay.JPG, Kealakekua Bay File:Sunset in Kona or a real sunset over sea.jpg, Sunset in Kona File:HonaunauBoatHouse.JPG, Canoe Hale at Honaunau Bay File:Plymouth Rock Kailua Kona Big island, Hawaii (45553296344).jpg, Plymouth Rock, Kailua Kona, Big island, Hawaii File:Kona Dog Beach Big island Hawaii (45553363314).jpg, Kona Dog Beach, Big island, Hawaii

References

External links

Kona Historical Society web site

Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce web site

North Kona shoreline access map at Hawaii County web site

South Kona shoreline access map at Hawaii County web site
{{Hawaii County, Hawaii Districts of Hawaii County, Hawaii Kona District

Description

In popular culture

Gallery

Further reading

References

External links