Oahu or
Oʻahu, known as
"The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the
Hawaiian Islands and the most populous of the islands in the
U.S. state of
Hawaii. The state capital,
Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as
Ford Island and the islands in
Kaneohe Bay and off the eastern coast, it has a total land area of 596.7 square miles, making it the
20th largest island in the United States.
In the greatest dimension, this volcanic island is 44 miles long and 30 miles across. The length of the shoreline is 227 miles. The island is the result of two separate
shield volcanoes:
Waiʻanae and
Koʻolau, with a broad "valley" or saddle between them. The highest point is
Mt. Ka'ala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet above sea level.