The
Polynesians (many from the
Marquesas Islands) were the first to inhabit the
islands of Hawaii, arriving by canoe around 500 AD. They were
farmers and fishermen. Each settlement had its own chief called the
ali'i, who ruled with strict laws called kapu. One such rule was that the shadow of a working class person could not touch the shadow of the upper class.
The first European to
visit Hawaii was British explorer Captain James Cook, in 1778.
The
locals thought he was a god and lavished him with gifts. They thought his ships were floating islands.
Even
though they thought he was a god, he was killed during a later visit
to the islands in 1779. When the natives stole a long boat, he made
the fatal mistake of attempting to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu,
the ruling chief of the island of Hawaii. Rumours of cannibalism
came from the fact that they cooked part of his body so they could
remove the bones more easily, believing that the bones held the power
of a man.
imagecredit:https://animationreview.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/cannibal-capers-c2a9-walt-disney.jpg
By 1810, Chief
Kamehameha had risen to power and now ruled all the islands, becoming
Hawaii's first king.
imagecredit:https://steemit.com/history/@beauknows/king-kamehameha-the-great-of-hawaii-a-short-biography-pt-1
Missionaries
arrived around 1820. The taught english and created an alphabet in
the Hawaiian language. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters.
Whalers
also arrived during the same time frame. They brought money and new
ideas, but also brought diseases that many Hawaiians died from.
imagecredit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Walfang_zwischen_1856_und_1907.jpg
By the mid-1800s, the main industry had become sugarcane farming. Many Chinese and Japanese people moved to Japan to work the sugarcane fields. Ties were formed with the United States who became involved in the sugarcane business.
In 1893, the old Kingdom
of Hawaii was set aside for the Republic of Hawaii. Hawaii became a
territory of the United States in 1898. They built several military
bases, including Pearl Harbor.
In 1935, Amelia Earhart
became the first pilot to fly solo from Hawaii to mainland USA.
During WWII, the United
States had planned to stay out of the war. That changed when the
Japanese attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941. About 2500 people were killed, and the ships that were sunk
included the USS Arizona, which still lies with its crew members
where it was sunk.
After several years,
Hawaii became the 50th
state on August 21, 1959.
imagecredit:https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii_today/2008/3/12/Hawaii_became_state_49_years_ago_today
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