Hawaiian Islands
![](/Images/godic/202501/17/Hawaje-NoRedLine2242.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/17/Hawaiianislandchain_USGS2242.png")
![Hawaiian Islands from space.[3]](/Images/godic/202501/17/ISS-38_Hawaiian_Island_chain2243.jpg")
![3-D perspective view of the southeastern Hawaiian Islands, with the white summits of Mauna Loa (4,170 m or 13,680 ft high) and Mauna Kea (4,206 m or 13,799 ft high). The islands are the tops of massive volcanoes, the bulk of which lie below the sea surface. Ocean depths are colored from violet (5,750 m or 18,860 ft deep northeast of Maui) and indigo to light gray (shallowest). Historical lava flows are shown in red, erupting from the summits and rift zones of Mauna Loa, Kilauea, and Hualalai volcanoes on Hawaiʻi.](/Images/godic/202501/17/2003-3d-hawaiian-islands-usgs-i28092243.jpg")
The Hawaiian Islands (Hawaiian:Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly the group was known to Europeans and Americans as the "Sandwich Islands", a name chosen by James Cook in honor of the then First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The contemporary name is derived from the name of the main island, Hawaii Island.