Editing Owyhee County, Idaho (section)

==Etymology==
The name "Owyhee" derives from an early [[Anglicisation|anglicization]] of the [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] term "[[Hawaii]]". When [[James Cook]] encountered what he named the [[Hawaiian Islands|Sandwich Islands]] (now the Hawaiian Islands) in 1778, he found them inhabited by [[Native Hawaiians]], whom the Anglo-Americans referred to as "Owyhees". Noted for their hardy physique and maritime skills, numerous Native Hawaiians were hired as crew members aboard European and American vessels. Many Native Hawaiians sailed to the American Northwest coast and found employment along the Columbia River, where they joined trapping expeditions or worked at some of the [[North American fur trade|fur trading]] posts.

In 1819, three Native Hawaiians joined [[Donald Mackenzie (explorer)|Donald Mackenzie]]'s Snake expedition, which went out annually into the Snake country for the [[North West Company]], a [[Montreal]]-based organization of Canadian fur traders. The three Hawaiians left the main party during the winter of 1819–1820 to explore the then unknown terrain of what since has been called the [[Owyhee River]] and mountains. They disappeared and were presumed dead; no further information regarding their whereabouts has been found. In memory of these Native Hawaiians, British fur trappers started to call the region "Owyhee" and the name stuck.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Name Owyhee|url=http://www.history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0036.pdf|publisher=Idaho State Historical Society|access-date=January 1, 2015|date=August 1964|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816231420/http://history.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/reference-series/0036.pdf|archive-date=August 16, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.3rd1000.com/history3/events/owyhee.htm|title=The Name "Owyhee"|website=www.3rd1000.com|access-date=April 4, 2018}}</ref>