Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly called the Sandwich Islands by Europeans, the present name for the archipelago is derived from the name of its largest island, Hawaiʻi. The archipelago sits on the Pacific Plate. The islands are exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcanic activity over a hotspot in the Earth's mantle. The islands are about 1,860 miles (3,000 km) from the nearest continent and are part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. The U.S. state of Hawaii occupies the archipelago almost in its entirety, with the sole exception of Midway Atoll. Hawaii is the only U.S. state that is situated entirely on an archipelago, and the only state not geographically connected with North America. The Northwestern islands and surrounding seas are protected as a National Monument and World Heritage Site.
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