<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>'O Kou ka inoa kahiko no HonoluluThe ancient name for the Honolulu area was Kou<<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>Honolulu/Kou in 1816, watercolor by Louis ChorisNOTE: Two prolific artists visited Hawai'i during a critical period in the Island's history—Louis Choris and Jacques Arago. Ukrainian-born Choris, the artist onboard the Russian vessel Rurick, under the command of Otto von Kotzebue, illustrated his observations of Hawai'i in 1816, prior to the death of Kamehameha I and the fall of the kapu system. The French artist, Arago, served on the Uranie, commanded by Louis Claude de Saulses Freycinet, and recorded his observations of the islands in August of 1819, just three months after the passing of Kamehameha I.He kumu la'au maoli ke kou, ke ulu pono i na papa malo'o o ka pae'aina.Kou is an indigenous tree that grows well in semi-arid lowlands of the archipelago.
Kou (Cordia subcordata) is indigenous, being found naturally in Hawai'ibut also elsewhere in the Pacific.Here is what the City and County of Honolulu website had to say:
"Honolulu Harbor, known also as Kulolia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794. He named the harbor "Fair Haven." Other foreign captains then referred to it as "Brown's Harbor." The name Honolulu (with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use. In the 1800s, the City of Honolulu was the area near the harbor which is now referred to as downtown Honolulu."I further note that the harbor was also called "Ke Awa o Kou" (The Harbor of Kou), and the ocean around that was Mamala. I will search for the use of the name "Honolulu" in pre-contact chants and stories. One that I can think of immediately is Ka Ipu Makani o La'amaomao (The Wind Gourd of La'amaomao), an account of the adventures of Kuapaka'a, a clever child, and his father living in the time of the great Hawai`i Island chief Keawenuiaumi, that lists the winds of the different islands. Among the winds of O'ahu, Kuapaka'a chanted:He Kukalahale ko Honolulu, He Aoaoa ko Mamala...(Honolulu has the Kukalahale wind, Mamala has the Aoaoa wind).So is this an indication that the name Honolulu was in use at the time of Keawenuiaumi? This is well before Kamehameha's time! However, this version of the story was written in 1902 by Moses K. Nakuina (who lived in Honolulu), and it may be that the name Honolulu was by that time used in replacement of Kou by all.
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