The island of Kauai formed from gradual volcanic overflow approximately 5.1 million years ago, making it the oldest Hawaiian island.

Native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the island's name in the legend of Hawai'iloa, the navigator and fisherman credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. According to this account, Hawai'iloa named the island after a favorite son. One possible translation of Kauai is "place around the neck," describing how a father would carry a favorite child.

Kauai is known as the "Garden Isle" because of its lush and vibrant landscape. 97% of its land is composed of undeveloped mountain ranges and rainforests. It also has 43 miles of beaches, the most per coastal mile of any of the island chain.

The Royal Coconut Coast is aptly named, not just because of the stands of large coconut trees that dominate the landscape, but also because much of the area was originally reserved only for the ali'i or royalty of the island.

Polynesian inhabitants settled on the island hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans, as shown by excavations dating back to as early as 600 A.D. These first inhabitants, originally from the Marquesas Islands, lived undisturbed for around five centuries until a second wave of seafarers arrived by sea-canoe from Tahiti.

Sleeping Giant earned its nickname from a Native Hawaiian legend about a giant who feasted so much at a party in his honor that he lay down to rest and is yet to awaken, and when you see the mountain's resemblance to a sleeping giant from the nearby town of Kapaa you can see why the legend persists. Hiking trails lead to the highest point of the ridge, allowing tourists to climb the face of the fabled giant--but pray you don't wake him!

Kapaa, also spelled Kapa'a, means "solid" in Hawaiian. Travelers will find this small town, nestled at the base of Nounou (the Sleeping Giant) Mountain, tourist friendly with its diverse array of hotels, shopping centers, and restaurants. Kappa also offers water sports, including water skiing and kayaking.

Kaumuali'i (1778-1824) was the last independent ali'i nui (supreme ruler of the island) of Kauai and Niihau before becoming a vassal of Kamehameha I within the unified Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810. He resisted Kamehameha for years, and King Kamehameha twice prepared a huge armada of ships and canoes to take the islands by force, but twice failed--once due to a storm, and once due to an epidemic. Facing the threat of a third invasion, Kaumuali'i decided to join the kingdom without bloodshed. He became Kamehameha's vassal in 1810 and ceded the island to the Kingdom of Hawaii upon his death in 1824.

The island is home to thousands of moa, or wild chickens, who have few natural predators as the mongoose was never introduced on Kauai as it was on other Hawaiian islands. Kauai's chickens originated from the original Polynesian settlers, who brought them as a food source.

Lilo & Stitch tells the story of a young Hawaiian girl named Lilo, who lives on the island of Kauai, and a blue extraterrestrial koala-like creature, who is adopted by Lilo as her "dog" and renamed "Stitch". At first, Stitch uses Lilo to avoid being captured by an intergalactic federation, but he develops a close bond with Lilo through the Hawaiian concept of ohana, or extended family.