Waimea, Kauaʻi

Waimea is a town at the mouth of the Waimea River on the south-west coast of Kauaʻi, Hawaii. It was a seat of Kauaʻi's ruling chiefs, and in January 1778 James Cook landed there, making the first recorded European contact with the Hawaiian Islands. The ruins of Fort Elizabeth, built by the Russian-American Company's agent Georg Schäffer in 1816–17, stand nearby, and the town gives its name to Waimea Canyon.