Mokumanamana -- The Western Most Hawaiian Island
Fine example of La Perouse's map of Necker Island in the Hawaiian Islands group, published in Paris.
A large chart from La Pérouse's 'Voyage autour du Monde', depicting the island of Necker, part of the Hawaiian archipelago, discovered by la Perouse on November 4th, 1786.
Mokumanamana or Necker Island, is located several hundred miles west of Kauai.
Necker Island
French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse was the first European to visit the island, in 1786. The island is named after Jacques Necker, King Louis XIV's Finance Minister. The islands were formally annexed in 1894 by the Provisional Government of Hawaii.
Few signs of long-term human habitation have been found, but the island contains 33 stone shrines and stone artifacts much like those found in the main Hawaiian Islands. '
According to the myths and legends of the people of Kauai, which lies to the southeast, Necker Island was the last known refuge for a race of mythical "little people" called the Menehune. According to the legend, the Menehune settled on Necker after being chased off Kaua'i by the stronger Polynesians and subsequently built the various stone structures there. Visits to the island are said to have started a few hundred years after the main Hawaiian Islands were inhabited, and ended a few hundred years before European contact.