A Brief History of the Hawaiian Islands

Polynesian voyagers from what are currently known as the Marquesas Islands arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. They become the first human settlers in the archipelago.

The exact date is still a matter of debate. Estimates range from as early as 400 CE to as late as ~1200 CE, with a recent study suggesting a high probability of around 1000-1100 CE. The settlers arrived in double-hulled sailing canoes, guided by the ancient art of wayfinding, which involved navigating by the stars, swells, wind patterns, and bird movements.

The society the settlers establish is ruled by a strict social hierarchy with a rigorous set of rules for behavior for each group, as well as different rules for men and women. The culture and history of the people was documented and celebrated through moʻolelo (stories), mele (song), oli (chant), and hula (dance).

Things begin to change dramatically for the Native Hawaiians as the first Europeans arrive in Hawaiʻi. Captain James Cook lands on Kauaʻi and names Hawaiʻi “the Sandwich Islands” after his supporter, the Earl of Sandwich.

Historians project that there were anywhere from 200,000 to a million Native Hawaiians in the islands at the time of Cook’s arrival. A recent model from Professor David Swanson of the University of California, Riverside puts the number at 683,000. From there, Swanson estimates that 1 in 17 Native Hawaiians died within two years of Cook’s landing, many from infectious diseases such as measles and tuberculosis.

After several years of bloody battles, Kamehameha the Great conquers the islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lānaʻi, uniting them with the Big Island under a single government: the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Kō Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina).

The first Christian missionaries arrive at Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island.

As with other arrivals, these brought even more changes to the Hawaiian Islands and its residents. Missionaries traveled to Hawaiʻi with the intention of converting the Native Hawaiians to Christianity and “civilizing” them, a word that occurs frequently in missionary accounts and documents. During those efforts, Native Hawaiian cultural practices, including the hula, were often discouraged.

However, the missionaries did help preserve one aspect of Native Hawaiian culture: its language. ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was exclusively an oral tradition prior to European arrival. A collaboration between missionaries and Hawaiian scholars—supported by King Kamehameha II and Queen Kaʻahumanu—led to a translation of the Bible into Hawaiian. Through that project, the first orthography of the Hawaiian language was established, and Hawaiian officially became a written language.

The first successful, permanent plantation is established in Kōloa, Kauaʻi by Ladd & Company. The main crop is sugarcane, soon to become a staple crop with significant impact on the economy—and the direction of Hawaiʻi’s future.

As the plantation system took hold in Hawaiʻi, waves of immigrants from China, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and Portugal arrive in the islands to work the fields.

Today, Hawaiʻi remains the most diverse state in the U.S., as ranked by the Census Bureau. The state’s largest ethnic group identifies as Asian (36.8%), and 25% of Hawaii residents identify as two or more races.

The legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi elects David Kalākaua king—the last king of Hawaiʻi.

King Kalākaua ushered in what many consider a renewed era of interest and attention in Native Hawaiian culture and arts.

King Kalākaua is famously quoted as having said, “Hula is the language of the heart and, therefore, the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” During his reign, he was credited with bringing the hula back to prominence. King Kalākaua also commissioned a printing of the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, and captured many Hawaiian stories in an English book, the Legends and Myths of Hawaiʻi.

King Kalākaua passes away during a trip to San Francisco, California. His sister, Queen Liliʻuokalani ascends to the throne.

The queen would become the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

A coup d’état led by the “Committee of Safety,” a group hoping to force the annexation of Hawaiʻi by the United States, overthrows the monarchy.

Several members of the Committee of Safety were businessmen—several in the sugar industry—who believed their interests were better served if Hawaiʻi were to come under U.S. power. As a result of the coup, Queen Liliʻuokalani was deposed. A provisional government was established, with Sanford B. Dole, a committee member, at its head.

After a failed rebellion, Queen Liliʻuokalani is placed under house arrest in ʻIolani Palace.

Hawaiʻi is officially annexed by the U.S. via the Newlands Resolution.

The Hawaiian Organic Act officially establishes the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

On December 5, 1941—”a date which will live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it—Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese.

The attack sunk the U.S.S. Arizona with 1,100 men aboard—and propelled the United States into direct involvement with World War II.

Congress passes the Hawaii Admission Act of 1959, establishing the state of Hawaii, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs it into law.

The citizens of Hawaii voted to accept the statehood bill in June and, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii officially became the 50th U.S. state.

That same year, Hiram Leong Fong becomes the first Chinese-American and first Asian-American U.S. senator.

Fong would go on to serve for nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate.

Patsy Mink becomes the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as well as the first Japanese-American woman member of Congress.

Mink would go on to co-author the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

The Hōkūleʻa, a traditional double-hulled sailing canoe, travels from Honolua Bay, Maui to Papeʻete, Tahiti, without the use of western instruments, proving the effectiveness of the ancient art of wayfinding.

Prior to the voyage of the Hōkūleʻa, doubts circulated about the effectiveness of wayfinding. Rather than believing the Polynesians were skilled seafarers and navigators, some believed the voyagers stumbled on the Hawaiian Islands by pure accident. The first voyage of the Hōkūleʻa put those doubts to rest.

Hawaiʻi becomes the only U.S. state with an official language other than English, as the Hawaiʻi State Constitutional Convention declares Hawaiian the state’s official language.

Congress passes the Apology Resolution.

This Join Resolution apologized “to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination.” The bill was sponsored by Daniel Akaka and co-sponsored Daniel Inouye, both senators from Hawaii.

Senator Barack Obama, the first U.S. president born in Hawaiʻi, is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

The Hawaiʻi Commercial & Sugar Company’s Puʻunēnē sugar mill on Maui—Hawaii’s last sugar mill—closes after 115 years of operation.

Sugar, once a dominant crop in Hawaiʻi, sees the end of its reign. As tariff protections eroded, labor costs rose, and competition increased, sugar was no longer the lucrative crop it had once been for Hawaiʻi’s business owners.

Hawaiʻi becomes the first U.S. state to take action against sunscreen chemicals that threaten the health of coral reefs.

The state banned the sale of sunscreens with the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate starting January 1, 2021.