Papa-hānau-moku-ākea

Last year, President Bush surprised the marine conservation community by designating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a Marine National Monument. He promised that federal officials would work with Native Hawaiian leaders to give the monument a Hawaiian name. That promise officially became reality this past weekend when First Lady Laura Bush announced the new name–Papahānaumokuākea.

In the above photo, from left to right are: Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dr. David A. Sampson, and Pualani Kanahele, a revered Hawaiian elder who was instrumental in giving the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a Hawaiian name. Apparently there was much concern that the new name be pronounced correctly. But as this was the First Lady, not The Decider, the pronunciation was flawless.

The name Papahānaumokuākea comes from an ancient Hawaiian tradition concerning the genealogy and formation of the Hawaiian Islands. The union of Papahānaumoku (who is personified in the earth) and Wākea (who is personified in the sky) resulted in the "birthing" of the entire archipelago. The monument is enormous and spans nearly 140,000 square miles. It's more than 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park and bigger than the land mass of 46 states combined.