Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument

In Native Hawaiian belief, life begins in these waters and spirits return to them after death. Papahānaumokuākea strings tiny islands and atolls across some 1,900 kilometres of the Pacific northwest of the main Hawaiian islands, sheltering coral reefs, seamounts and deep-sea habitats in one of the largest marine protected areas on the planet. Archaeological shrine sites survive on Nihoa and Makumanamana. UNESCO inscribed this Mixed site in 2010.