WAIMEA

town, Kauai county, on Waimea Bay, southwestern Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies at the mouth of the Waimea River. The canyon valleys of the Waimea (Hawaiian: "Reddish Water") River and its tributary, the Makaweli River, were once heavily populated, and the town was an early centre of native government. It was there that Captain James Cook, the English navigator-explorer, made his first landing in the Hawaiian Islands on Jan. 20, 1778. Waimea developed as a provisioning port for whalers and sandalwood traders. A ruined Russian fort, built (1815) in a futile attempt to seize the isle, occupies a coastal bluff above the Waimea River. A rich sugar-plantation region extends 9 miles (15 km) northwest of Waimea through Kekaha to Mana. Barking Sands Military Reservation is on the coast near Mana. Pop. (1990) 1,840.