The cultural importance of the island is demonstrated by the some 3,000 archeological and historical sites and features that were documented through 2004.
They grew on Kaho’olawe from a small 18th-century introduction into a herd of perhaps 50,000, stripping the vegetation and hastening erosion over the landscape. Archeological evidence suggests native Hawaiians arrived on Kahoʻolawe around 400 A.D, according to the website. The cultural importance of the island is demonstrated by the some 3,000 archeological and historical sites and features that were documented through 2004. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States imposed martial law in Hawaii and began using Kahoʻolawe as a bombing range. In 1953 ownership passed to the U.S. Bush had the bombing stopped in 1990. Congress later authorized the return of Kahoʻolawe to Hawaii and appropriated $400 million for the removal of unexploded ordnance.
From an island carved by voyagers, farmers and sacred traditions comes the unlikely story of thousands of hungry goats. The story of Kahoʻolawe is one of environmental destruction, Indigenous activism and an ongoing effort to bring a sacred landscape back to life, states the Kahoʻolawe Hawaii govt website. Over the centuries the island became an important navigational center and supported fishing communities, agriculture, an adz quarry and places of religious ceremony. Kahoʻolawe, once a wahi pana and puʻuhonua, is a sacred site, a place dedicated to Kanaloa, the Hawaiian God of the ocean. The military use added to Kaho‘olawe’s environmental woes. Navy with the proviso that the island be returned in a habitable condition. Since the 1970s, Indigenous Hawaiian activists have opposed the bombing through occupations and legal actions. Their work helped raise awareness for the island’s cultural sites and environmental destruction. President George H. W.
Today, the Hawaiian island is the focus of a decades-long effort to restore its ecosystems and cultural heritage.