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Hawaii Overview

Hawaii (Hawaiian/Hawaiian English: Hawai'i, with the 'okina) is the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii constitutes the 50th state of the United States, and as of the 2000 U.S. Census had a population of 1,211,537 people. Honolulu is the largest city and the state capital.

This state most recently admitted into the Union has many distinctions. In addition to possessing the southernmost point in the United States, it is the only state that lies completely in the tropics. As one of two states outside the contiguous United States (the other being Alaska), it is the only one without territory on the mainland of any continent and is the only state that continues to grow due to active lava flows, most notably from Kilauea. Ethnically, it is the only state that does not have a white majority (and one of only three in which non-Hispanic whites do not form a majority) and has the largest percentage of Asian Americans. Ecologically and agriculturally, it is the endangered species capital of the world and is the only industrial producer of coffee in the nation.

Hawaii is also the namesake and backdrop of a popular 1959 novel by James Michener and its 1966 movie adaptation.

Geography

The state is comprised of nineteen islands and atolls in the Central Pacific Ocean (not counting offshore islets). The inhabited islands are the seven southernmost lying between Ni'ihau and the Big Island of Hawai'i, but the island chain extends another 1000 miles (1600 kilometers) to the northwest. All of the islands were originally formed as volcanoes arising from the sea floor, although at present volcanic activity is limited to the Island of Hawai'i. The last volcanic eruption elsewhere in the archipelago was on the southwest flank of Haleakala (East Maui Volcano), near the end of the 18th Century.

Cities and towns include the largest, Honolulu on O'ahu, as well as Hilo on Hawai'i, Lihu'e on Kaua'i, and Kahului on Maui.

The main Hawaiian Islands and the counties of the state are shown on the map above. The larger islands are listed below.

* Hawai'i

* Maui

* Kaho'olawe

* Lana'i

* Moloka'i

* O'ahu

* Kaua'i

* Ni'ihau

History

Hawaiian antiquity

Anthropologists believe that Polynesians from the Marquesas and Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands approximately 1500 years ago. These first peoples preserved memories of the early migrations orally through genealogies and folk tales, like the stories of Hawai'iloa and Pa'ao. Relations with other Polynesian groups were sporadic during the early migratory periods, and Hawai'i grew from small settlements to a complex society in near isolation. Local chiefs called ali'i ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Warfare was endemic. The general trend was towards chiefdoms of increasing size, even encompassing whole islands.

Vague reports by various European explorers suggest that Hawai'i was visited by foreigners well before the 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook. Historians credited Cook with the discovery after he was the first to plot and publish the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Hawaiian kingdom

After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kaua'i in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872. That year, bachelor King Kamehameha V died without naming a formal heir. After the election and death of King Lunalilo, governance was passed on to the House of Kalakaua. However, American interests effectively rendered the monarchy powerless by enacting the Bayonet Constitution. Among other things, it stripped the king of his administrative authorities and deprived native Hawaiians of the right to vote in elections. King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Lili'uokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her dethronement in 1893, a coup d'état orchestrated by American plantation owners with the help of an armed militia and the United States Marine Corps. Governance was again passed, this time into the hands of a provisional government and then to an independent Republic of Hawaii.

Hawaiian territory

The Newlands Resolution was passed on July 7, 1898, formally annexing Hawai'i as a United States territory. In 1900, it was granted self-governance. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawai'i remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, like those that comprised the so-called Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union.

The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a United States territory, they were legal American citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands. On March 18, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Admission Act which made Hawai'i the 50th state of the Union, a law that became effective on August 21, 1959.

Hawaiian statehood

After statehood, Hawai'i quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawai'i Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Hawai'i Democratic Party dominated state politics for forty years. The state also worked toward restoring the native Hawaiian culture that was suppressed after the overthrow. The Hawai'i State Constitutional Convention of 1978 heralded what some called a Hawaiian renaissance. Its delegates created programs that sought to revive the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. In addition, they sought to promote native control over Hawaiian issues by creating the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Prevalent in post-statehood Hawai'i was an increase in combative attitudes by some native Hawaiians towards the federal government, which is seen by some as an occupying power. Regrets over the demise of the Hawaiian monarchy produced several political organizations that are collectively known as the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. The movement's most prominent success was the passage of the Apology Resolution of 1993 that made redress for American actions leading to the overthrow of the kingdom. The resolution was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.

Languages

The state of Hawai'i has two official languages as prescribed by the Constitution of Hawai'i adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention: Hawaiian and English. Article XV, Section 4 requires the use of Hawaiian in official state business such as public acts, documents, laws and transactions. Standard Hawaiian English, a subset of American English, is also commonly used for other formal business.

Origins

Before the arrival of Captain James Cook, the Hawaiian language was purely a spoken language. The first written form of Hawaiian was developed by American Protestant missionaries in Hawai'i during the early 19th century. The missionaries assigned letters from the English alphabet that roughly correspond to the Hawaiian sounds. Later, additional characters were added to clarify pronunciation. The 'okina indicates a glottal stop while the macron called kahako signifies a long vowel sound. When a Hawaiian word is spelled without any necessary 'okina and kahako, it is impossible for someone who does not already know the word to guess at the proper pronunciation. Omission of the 'okina and kahako in printed texts can even obscure the meaning of the word. For example, the word lanai means stiff-necked. However, when spelled as lanai it means veranda while Lana'i refers to an island. This can be a problem in interpreting 19th century Hawaiian texts recorded in the older orthography. For these reasons, careful writers use the modern Hawaiian orthography.

Revival

As a result of the constitutional provision, interest in the Hawaiian language was revived in the late 20th century. Public and independent schools throughout the state began teaching Hawaiian language standards as part of the regular curricula beginning with preschool. With the help of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, also created by the 1978 constitutional convention, specially designated Hawaiian language immersion schools were established where students would be taught in all subjects using Hawaiian. Also, the University of Hawai'i System developed the only Hawaiian language graduate studies program in the world. Municipal codes were altered in favor of Hawaiian place and street names for new civic developments.

Pidgin

Over the course of Hawaiian history, a third language was developed that is in common use throughout the state today. Originally considered a mere dialect of Hawaiian English, cultural anthropologists have recently reached consensus that Hawaiian Pidgin is a distinct language on its own. Hawaiian Pidgin finds its origins in the sugarcane and pineapple plantations as laborers from different cultures were forced to find their own ways of communicating and understanding each other. Laborer emigrants from different countries -- China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Portugal -- began composing their own words and phrases based on their own language traditions merged with Hawaiian and Hawaiian English.

Debates

A somewhat divisive political issue that has arisen since the Constitution of Hawai'i adopted Hawaiian as an official state language is the exact spelling of the state's name. As prescribed in the Admission Act of 1959 that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognizes Hawaii to be the official state name. However, many state and municipal entities and officials have recognized Hawai'i to be the correct state name. Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling. Private entities, including local mass media, also have shown a preference for the use of the 'okina. While in local Hawaiian society the spelling and pronunciation of Hawai'i is preferred in nearly all cases, even by standard English speakers, the federal spelling is used for purposes of interpolitical relations between other states and foreign governments.

The nuances in the Hawaiian language debate are often not obvious or well-appreciated outside Hawai'i. The issue has often been a source of friction in situations where correct naming conventions are mandated, as people frequently disagree over which spelling is correct or incorrect, and where it is correctly or incorrectly applied.

Culture

The aboriginal culture of Hawai'i is Polynesian. Hawai'i represents the northernmost extension of the vast Polynesian triangle of the south and central Pacific Ocean. While traditional Hawaiian culture remains only as vestiges influencing modern Hawaiian society, there are reënactments of ancient ceremonies and traditions throughout the islands. Some of these cultural influences are strong enough to have impacted the culture of the United States at large, including the popularity (in greatly modified form) of luaus and hula.

The Constitution of Hawaii and various other measures of the Hawaii State Legislature established official state symbols. Such symbols are meant to embody the distinctive culture and heritage of Hawaii:

* The state languages are Hawaiian and Hawaiian English. Hawaiian Pidgin is considered an unofficial state language.

* The state motto is Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono, meaning "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." It was the motto of Kamehameha III and the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

* The state flag is called Ka Hae Hawai'i, influenced by the Union Jack and features eight horizontal stripes, each representing one of the eight major islands.

* The state song is Hawai'i pono'i written by David Kalakaua and composed by Henri Berger. Hawai'i Aloha is considered an unofficial state song and is used often in formal events.

* The state bird is the Hawaiian Goose (nene)

* The state fish is the Reef Triggerfish (humuhumunukunukuapua'a)

* The state flower is the endemic yellow hibiscus (Hawaiian ma'o hau hele, scientific name Hibiscus brackenridgei).

* The state gem is black coral ('ekaha ku moana).

* The state tree is the candlenut (Hawaiian kuku'i, scientific name Aleurites moluccana) introduced by early Polynesians.

* The state statues are of Kamehameha the Great and Father Damien.

* The state mammal is the Humpback Whale, which migrate to Hawai'i in the winter to breed.

Demographics

The population of Hawaii (Hawai'i) is approximately 1.2 million, while the de facto population is over 1.3 million due to military presence and tourists. O'ahu is the most populous island, with a population of just under one million.

According to the 2000 Census, 6.6% of Hawaii's population identified themselves as Native Hawaiian, 24.3% were White or Caucasian, including Portuguese and 41.6% were Asian, including 0.1% Asian Indian, 4.7% Chinese, 14.1% Filipino, 16.7% Japanese, Okinawan, 1.9% Korean and 0.6% Vietnamese. 1.3% were other Pacific Islander which includes Tongan, Tahitian, Maori and Micronesian, and 21.4% described themselves as mixed (two or more races/ethnic groups). 1.8% were Black or African American and 0.3% were American Indian and Alaska Native.

The second group of foreigners to arrive upon Hawaii's shores, after the Europeans, were the Chinese. Chinese employees serving on Western trading ships disembarked and settled starting in 1789. In 1820 the first American missionaries arrived in Hawaii to preach Christianity and teach the Hawaiians what the missionaries considered "civilized" ways. A large proportion of Hawaii's population has become a people of Asian ancestry (especially Chinese, Japanese and Filipino), many of whom are descendants from those waves of early foreign immigrants brought to the islands in the nineteenth century, beginning in the 1850's, to work on the sugar plantations. The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii on February 9, 1885.

The largest city is the capital, Honolulu, located along the southeast coast of the island of O'ahu. Other populous cities include Hilo, Kane'ohe, Kailua, Pearl City, Kahului, and Kailua-Kona.

Famous people from Hawai'i

The list of famous people from Hawaii is a comprehensive, alphabetized list of persons who have achieved fame that presently or at one time claimed Hawai'i as their home. Separate registers of members of the Hawaiian royal family and Hawaii politicians are also available.

Trivia

* Hawaii, being one of the United States, is included in the North American Numbering Plan; its area code within that plan is 808. It is also one of only three U.S. states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time (and Indiana is expected to begin observing DST in 2006 [1] (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050429/NEWS02/504290510)), and the only one of those three that does not use DST anywhere in its territory.

* 'Iolani Palace, the only royal residence in the United States, was once the home of King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarchs of Hawai'i. It is open to visitors.

* Hawai'i is the only U.S. state without a state police force.

* Hawai'i is the only state which has no state DMV. Vehicle registration and driver licensing in Hawaii have been delegated to county governments.

* Hawai'i is home to two of the largest independent schools in the United States: Punahou School and the Kamehameha Schools.

* Pele is the well-known goddess of Hawaiian volcanoes. Local legends and ghost stories often revolve around her visits, as well as sightings of Menehune and Nightmarchers.

* Local directions in Hawai'i are not normally expressed in terms of compass points (i.e., north-south-east-west) but by a radial system that uses local landmarks. For example, mauka means inland (literally, "towards the mountain"), while makai means the opposite ("towards the sea"). In Honolulu, "Diamond Head" or "Koko Head" are equivalent to "east," because those are the main landmarks on the coast east of downtown Honolulu, and "'Ewa" is equivalent to "west," because that place is on the coast west of Honolulu. So instead of saying something was on the north-west corner of an intersection in Honolulu, it might be described as the "mauka and 'ewa" corner of that intersection.

* Hawai'i is home to a number of endemic plant and animal species that are vulnerable to outside threats. Among the rarest is the Po'ouli, a Hawaiian honeycreeper with only two known surviving members, both on the island of Maui.

* Hawai'i is known for its many people of multiracial and multiethnic heritage, or hapa ancestry.

* Mount Wai'ale'ale on Kaua'i is one of the wettest spots on earth, averaging 460 inches (11.7 m) of rain a year.

* Hawai'i has an array of colorful beaches, with sand colors of white, black, red, grey, brown-black and green.

* Famous Crimes and superstitions Diane Suzuki, Morgan's Corner, Seven Bridges of Manoa, The Kahala Graveyard

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