Adsactly Education: Hawaii: The History
Hawaii
The Aloha State
Capital: Honolulu
Largest City: Island of O'ahu
10,931 sq. mi. 28,311 sq. Km
43rd Largest State
Admitted to US: 1959 (50th)
Population: 1,427,000 (40th)
Highest Point: 13,796 ft (4,205 m)
Lowest Point: Sea Level
State Bird: Nene (Hawaiian Goose)
State Flower: Pua Aloalo (Yellow Hibiscus)
Motto: Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono
The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness
Bordered By: Pacific Ocean
Hawaii
Named for the 'big island' Hawai'i which was named for a mythical figure who was prominent in the settlement lore of the Native Islanders. There are over 1500 islands in the state which are all of volcanic origin.
Hawaiian language was added as an official language of the State in 1978 which leads to some spelling difficulty. For instance the state name in the local language is Hawai’i. I will use English where ever it is appropriate, but know that some terms may appear misspelled as Hawaiian words.
Native Hawaiians
There is much room for debate but archeology tells us that the first settlers came to Hawaii in about 300 AD from elsewhere in Polynesia. There was a second wave of migration from Bora Bora and Tahiti in around 1000 AD that greatly influenced the history of the islands. By the time of European contact there were monarchies established on the main islands that were independently ruled by Chiefs or Kings. These tribes were warriors with property, people and territory changing hands often. The original Hawaiians were caste based societies.
European Contact
Though the first recorded contact with Hawaii was Englishman Captain James Cook in 1788 it is entirely possible that Spanish explorers made contact as much as 200 years earlier. They sailed the area routinely travelling between Mexico and the Philippines. Their routes were top secret but there are Spanish maps that show a group of Islands near where Hawaii is. Official first contact belongs to Cook.
Within a very few years of Cook’s arrival (with military help from the English) the entire island chain was united under King Kamehameha I and creating the Kingdom of Hawaii. The kingdom would last until it was dissolved (mainly by American businessmen) during the reign of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893 when it officially became first a Republic and then an American Territory.
Hawaii’s native population suffered the same fate as many being decimated by Smallpox. From an estimated 300,000 population at first contact to less than 60,000 in the 1850s reaching a low of 24,000 in the 1920s.
American Influence
American missionaries started arriving in Hawaii in the 1790s. These missionaries recognized the value of the land for farming and were soon followed by American businessmen that seized huge plantations and started raising sugar and pineapples. After the run of Smallpox on the islands there were not enough native Hawaiians to service the labor intensive plantations so the Americans brought in large numbers of workers from China, Japan and the Philippines. The natives were, for the most part, disenfranchised. A great many of them took to subsistence living in the areas that were not so attractive to plantations.
Americans within the government rewrote the Kingdom’s constitution to limit the power of the Monarch and to establish property and income restrictions to voting rights which, in effect, ceded control to the Plantation owners. Queen Liliuokalani attempted to restore the rule of the Monarch in 1893 which led to her being placed under house arrest and the Republic of Hawaii being formed. That government negotiated the deal with the United States which led to Hawaii being declared a territory in 1898.
Expansionist America had recognized not only the value of Hawaii in agricultural terms but also in terms of military value as an important link between North America and Asia. The US leased Pearl Harbor from the Monarchy and American troops and Navy played a part in the overthrow of that institution.
Pearl Harbor and Ford Island would become a key military base during the Spanish American war and remains so today.
The ‘territorial period’ would be dominated by sugar production and sugar producers. The owners and companies came to completely dominate the economy of the Islands by controlling not only the agriculture but also banking and transportation.
After Puerto Rico was completely devastated by a hurricane the plantations hired and imported large numbers of experienced Puerto Rican field hands to work their plantations. At roughly the same time, two large groups of Koreans came to the islands as workers. Hawaii became a huge melting pot of incredible racial diversity and language.
World War I mostly passed Hawaii by except for Pearl Harbor which became a major refuel and refit stop for the US Navy.
World War II
For America World War II began on December 7, 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The US declared war on Japan and Germany on December 8. Though the Navy and Pearl Harbor were severely damaged by the attack (over 3000 were killed) it became a rallying cry and a matter of extreme national pride to rebuild. It was done in a stunningly short time and Hawaii became the key to the American war in the Pacific.
Literally millions of American servicemen spent at least some time in Hawaii, which would ultimately alter the Islands again. This time from post war tourism. A lot of those servicemen took their wives and families to Hawaii to experience paradise.
The end of the ‘Plantation Era’ of government came fairly rapidly after WWII. With over 50 years of people being born in Hawaii being US citizens by virtue of being a territory the plantation owners were simply outvoted.
The move toward statehood came under President Eisenhower in the mid 50s. The United States Senate and House passed a joint resolution offering Hawaii statehood that the Islanders would vote on. The measure passed in Hawaii by 95%. Hawaii was admitted to the Union as a state in 1959. The 50th star on the flag.
Though Agriculture still plays a huge part in the economy and well being of the state it was soon vastly outgunned by tourism. In the 1970s there was a huge push among Hawaiians to restore and honor the native traditions. This led to a constitutional revision and Hawaiian became one of two official languages of the state.
Hawaii had arrived. It is a state that is totally unique in many ways. We will look into those in the next installment of this series. Thank you for following along!
Dumb Laws
In Hawaii you will be fined for riding in the back of a passenger car without a seatbelt, however you can ride in the bed of a pickup truck with no safety equipment.
Billboards are outlawed.
All images in this post are properly licensed and used.
This is part of a series on the various states. We will finish up Hawaii in the next installment, I hope you will return. I do hope you have enjoyed this synpsis of Hawaii. The words and ideas are mine but I used Wikipedia Hawaii as the source for the information.
Authored by: @bigtom13
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