The history of Hawaii is the story of human settlements in the Hawaiian Islands.
Polynesians arrived sometime between 1000 and 1200 AD.[1] Kamehameha I, the ruler of the island of Hawaii, conquered and unified the islands for the first time, establishing the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1795.[2] The kingdom became prosperous and important for its agriculture and strategic location in the Pacific. Kamehameha was aided by European military technology that became available once an expedition led by British explorer James Cook reached the islands in 1778, the first sustained contact with Europeans.
American immigration, led by Protestant missionaries, and Native Hawaiian emigration, mostly on whaling ships, began almost immediately after Cook's arrival.[3] Americans established plantations to grow crops for export. Their farming methods required substantial labor. Waves of permanent immigrants came from Japan, China, and the Philippines to work in the cane and pineapple fields. The government of Japan organized and gave special protection to its people, who comprised about 25 percent of the Hawaiian population by 1896.[4] The Hawaiian monarchy encouraged this multi-ethnic society, initially establishing a constitutional monarchy in 1840 that promised equal voting rights regardless of race, gender, or wealth.[5][6][7]
The population of Native Hawaiians declined precipitously from an unknown number prior to 1778 (estimated to be around 300,000). It fell to around 142,000 in the 1820s based on a census conducted by American missionaries, 82,203 in the 1850 Hawaiian Kingdom census, 40,622 in the final Hawaiian Kingdom census of 1890, 39,504 in the sole census by the Republic of Hawaii in 1896, and 37,656 in the first census conducted by the United States in 1900. Thereafter the Native Hawaiian population in Hawaii increased with every census, reaching 680,442 in 2020 (including people of mixed heritage).[8][3][9]
In 1893 Queen Liliʻuokalani was deposed and placed under house arrest by businessmen with help from the United States military. The Republic of Hawaii governed for a short time until Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898 as the Territory of Hawaii. In 1959, the islands became the 50th American state.
^Smith, Philippa Mein (2012). A Concise History of New Zealand. Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-107-40217-1.
^"Kamehameha: The Founding of the Hawaiian Kingdom". Hawai'i Free Press. June 12, 2023. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
^ abOffice of Hawaiian Affairs (May 2017). "Native Hawaiian Population Enumerations in Hawai'i" (PDF). p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
^Bailey, Thomas A. (1931). "Japan's Protest against the Annexation of Hawaii". Journal of Modern History: 46–61. doi:10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim080190107. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
^"Kingdom of Hawaii Constitution of 1840". www.hawaii-nation.org. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
^Hanifin, Patrick (2001). "To Dwell on the Earth in Unity: Rice, Arakaki, and the Growth of Citizenship and Voting Rights in Hawaii" (PDF). Hawaii Bar Journal. V (13): 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 26, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
^"The Historical Context for Sacredness, Title, and Decision Making in Hawai'i: Implications for TMT on Maunakea" (PDF). July 29, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
^"Chuukese and Papua New Guinean Populations Fastest Growing Pacific Islander Groups in 2020". Census.gov. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
^Cumings, Bruce (2009). Dominion from Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power. Yale University Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-300-15497-9. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
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Hawaii (/həˈwaɪ.i/ hə-WY-ee; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi [həˈvɐjʔi, həˈwɐjʔi]) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles (3...
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In Hawaii, the LGBT laws have been evolving for the past hundred years. In the pre-19th century, the influence of Polynesian culture led to a more open-minded...
Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, pronounced [ʔoːˈlɛlo həˈvɐjʔi]) is a Polynesian language and critically endangered language of the Austronesian language family...
System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state ofHawaii, instructing citizens to seek shelter due to an incoming ballistic missile...
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The flag ofHawaii (Hawaiian: Ka Hae Hawaiʻi) was first adopted in the early 19th century by the Hawaiian Kingdom and continued to be used after its overthrow...
A Hawaii overprint note is one of a series of banknotes (one silver certificate and three Federal Reserve Notes) issued during World War II as an emergency...
Church ofHawaiʻi, originally called the Hawaiian Reformed Catholic Church, was the state church and national church of the Kingdom ofHawaiʻi from 1862...
kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island ofHawaii, after the native Hawaiians had stolen a longboat from Cook's expedition. As...
styles, unique Hawaiian traits make Hawaiian architecture stand alone against other styles. Hawaiian architecture reflects the historyof the islands from...
Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a legal document prepared by anti-monarchists to strip the absolute Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority...
(/ˌhɒnəˈluːluː/ HON-ə-LOO-loo; Hawaiian: [honoˈlulu]) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state ofHawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean...
Provisional Government ofHawaii (abbr.: P.G.; Hawaiian: Aupuni Kūikawā o Hawaiʻi) was proclaimed after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17...
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