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Hawaii's History

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There is no way that the first “visitors” to the Islands of Hawaii could have any idea of what all they would find when they first landed ashore this tropical paradise. It is typically believed that Hawaii’s first permanent inhabitants sailed to the islands between 300 and 800 A.D. in voyaging canoes. These visitors, the Polynesians, are thought to have come from the southern hemisphere islands of the Marquesas. These early settlers were later displaced in the 12th century by a second wave of immigrants from Tahiti.

In 1627, Spanish sailors observed Hawaii and wrote a description of volcanic eruption in their ship’s log; however, Spain never claimed the islands. On January 18, 1778, Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy was surprised to find high islands as far north in the Pacific as these islands and arrived on Kauai. Cook named the island chain the “Sandwich Islands” as a sign of honor to his patron, the Earl of Sandwich.

In 1794, Hawaii was placed under the protectorate of Great Britain. By 1820, New England sent out Christian missionaries in order to convert the native Hawaiians and build churches, houses, and schools. Missions were established in Kona, Honolulu, and Kauai. Honolulu established its first Christian church at the site of the present Kawajahao Church in 1821. Catholic missionaries arrived on the Islands a few years later in 1827.

Commercialization hit Hawaii around the 1800s. The first sugar and coffee plantations began their operation in Manoa Valley on Oahu in 1825 and, in 1835, the first commercial production of sugar cane had begun. By 1830, cowboys from California and Mexico had made their way to the Big Island to instruct ranchers on the cattle business.

The Republic of Hawaii was established on July 4, 1894 with Sanford Dole as president. When William McKinley became president, he signed the Newlands Resolution on July 7, 1898, which granted the official annexation of Hawaii. The islands officially became Hawaii Territory, a United States territory, on February 22, 1900. The United States were further intertwined with Hawaii when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in World War II, thus provoking the United States to war. Several years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign a bill which would allow for Hawaiian statehood. Finally, on August 21, 1959, Hawaii formally became the 50th state of the Union.

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