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A 5-1/2 hour flight by jet from the West Coast of the United States lie the eight islands of Hawaii: Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, and Hawaii (the Big Island). Hawaii's nearest neighbor is the Christmas Island chain, a few rocks protruding from the sea 2,000 miles to the south. This remoteness and isolation caused the Islands to remain undisturbed until the 6th century. Hawaii's islands are the youngest in a chain of 132 volcanic mountains that have been pushed up from the ocean floor over the past 25 to 40 million years when one of the earth's tectonic plates (the Pacific Plate), shifted minutely to the northwest.
One theory suggests that hot magma from multiple stationary vents pushed through fissures in shifting plates in a manner that new volcanoes are created just south of the preceding ones. Another theory asserts that only one "hot spot" did all the work. However for Hawaiians, the explanation is that Pele, the fire goddess, after creating volcanoes on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii, is still searching for the perfect home to live in harmony with her lover, high chief Lohiau.
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