King Kamehameha IV sold it for $10,000 in 1863 to Elizabeth Sinclair of Scotland. Her descendants, the Kamaaina (meaning “Old-Timer”) Robinson family, continue to live on the island and have attempted to preserve Hawaiian culture there.
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When the Sinclairs purchased the island in 1864, they committed to maintaining Niihau's Hawaiian culture. Brothers Bruce and Keith Robinson, descendants of the Sinclairs, own the island today, and they have continued to protect the island from the pressures of the outside world.
Currently there is approximately 100-250 residents on Niihau, all thought to be full-blooded Hawaiians, and it is the last place in Hawaii where Hawaiian is still spoken fluently as the predominant language. The Robinson family provides residents with basic domestic and health needs.
Ni'ihau High & Elementary School or Niihau Island School is a public K-12 school in Niihau, Hawaii, United States. It is operated by the Hawaii Department of Education.
How You Can Visit Niihau. Although there isn't an island in the state that encompasses Hawaiian culture more than Niihau, it is not a place to vacation. There are no cars, no stores, no paved roads, no indoor plumbing, and no internet.
No one is allowed to visit Hawaii's Forbidden Isle—the 70-square-mile island, which on a clear day can be spied from Kauai's west coast—unless they are invited by Niihau owners the Robinson family, or by one of its 70 full-time Native Hawaiian residents.
'mother tongue') is a dialect of the Hawaiian language spoken on the island of Ni?ihau, more specifically in its only settlement Pu?uwai, and on the island of Kaua?i, specifically near Kekaha, where descendants of families from Ni?ihau now live. Today, the Ni?ihau dialect is taught in Ke Kula Niihau O Kekaha.