<strong><strong>HI</strong>LO</strong> Hilo is the largest town and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaiʻi. The population was 43,263 at the 2010 census. Hilo is the county seat of the County of Hawaii and is in the District of South Hilo. The town overlooks Hilo Bay, at the base of two shield volcanoes, Mauna Loa, an active volcano, and Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano and the site of some of the world’s most important groundbased astronomical observatories. Much of the city is at some risk from lava flows from Mauna Loa. The majority of human settlement in Hilo stretches from Hilo Bay to Waiākea-Uka, on the flanks of Mauna Loa. Hilo is home to the University of Hawaii at Hilo, ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii, as well as the Merrie Monarch Festival, a week-long celebration of ancient and modern hula that takes place annually after Easter. Hilo is also home to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation, one of the world’s leading producers of macadamia nuts. The town is served by Hilo International Airport. History Around 1100 AD, the first Hilo inhabitants arrived, bringing with them Polynesian knowledge and traditions. Although archaeological evidence is scant, oral history has many references to people living in Hilo, along the Wailuku and Wailoa rivers during the time of ancient Hawaii. Oral history also gives the meaning of Hilo as “to twist”. Originally, the name “Hilo” applied to a district encompassing much of the east coast of the island of Hawaiʻi, now divided into the District of South Hilo and the District of North Hilo. When William Ellis visited in 1823, the main settlement in the Hilo district was Waiākea on the south shore of Hilo Bay. Missionaries came to the district in the early-to-middle 19th century, founding Haili Church, in the area of modern Hilo. Hilo expanded as sugar plantations in the surrounding area created new jobs and drew in many workers from Asia, making the town a trading center. A breakwater across Hilo Bay was begun in the first decade of the 20th century and completed in 1929. On April 1, 1946, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands created a 46-foot-high (14 m) tsunami that hit Hilo 4.9 hours later, killing 160 people. In response, an early warning system, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, was established in 1949 to track these killer waves and provide warning. This tsunami also caused the end of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway, and instead the Hawaii Belt Road was built north of Hilo using some of the old railbed. On May 22, 1960, another tsunami, caused by a 9.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile that day, claimed 61 lives, allegedly due to the failure of people to heed warning sirens. Low-lying bayfront areas of the city on Waiākea peninsula and along Hilo Bay, previously populated, were rededicated as parks and memorials. Hilo expanded inland beginning in the 1960s. The downtown found a new role in the 1980s as the city’s cultural center with several galleries and museums being opened; the Palace Theater was reopened in 1998 as an arthouse cinema. Closure of the sugar plantations (including those in Hāmākua) during the 1990s led to a downturn in the local economy, coinciding with a general statewide slump.[citation needed] Hilo in recent years has seen commercial and population growth, as the neighboring District of Puna became the fastest-growing region in the state. Big Island: Essential Facts Learn these Big Island factoids and you will know more than most on your dream Hawaii vacation: • The Big Island of Hawaii is the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands, at just over one million years old. In fact, the daily lava flow keeps the island growing larger every day. • Hawaii is the name of the island as well as the state. To reduce confusion, the single island “Hawaii” is referred to as the “Big Island” (because it’s so big compared to other islands in the chain). • Earth’s most active volcano, Kilauea, is on the Big Island. • Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984, is the most massive mountain on earth, consists of 10,000 cubic miles of rock, and is 13,677 feet high. • The Big Island is 4,038 square miles (and still growing). All the other Hawaiian Islands could fit inside the Big Island with room left over. • From the southern tip to the northern tip the distance is 95 miles. From east to west it is 80 miles. • In the 1850s, John Palmer Parker and his Hawaiian princess wife amassed land to form Parker Ranch, which today sprawls 225,000 acres and is two-thirds the size of the island of Oahu. • In 1946, a 56-foot tsunami hit the east side of the island. • In 1981, the Ironman Triathlon moved from Oahu to Kona. • The Big Island has the most diverse weather of any Hawaiian Island, including tropical, monsoonal, desert, and permafrost. • Just below the summit of Mauna Kea, inside a cinder cone, is Lake Waiau, the only glacial lake in the mid-Pacific. At 13,020 feet above sea level, it is also one of the highest lakes in the world. • Hawaii Standard Time is in effect year-round. There is no daylight savings time. Hawaii is 2 hours behind Pacific Standard Time and 5 hours behind Eastern Standard Time. When daylight savings time is in effect on the mainland, Hawaii is 3 hours behind the West Coast and 6 hours behind the East Coast. 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