Aloha! Welcome to Hawai'i!

Greetings Pacific History Guide fans, today I'm happy to unveil our newest location, the beautiful state of Hawai'i. The Hawaiian Islands are comprised of 137 volcanic islands stretching across 1,520 miles of ocean in two separate groups, the Windward Islands in the southeast and the Leeward in the northwest. The state of Hawaii includes both island groups, but for the sake of simplicity, nearly all state maps (and this guide) capture the Windward Islands only; these include the islands of Hawai'i, Maui, Molokai, Kahoʻolawe, Lana'i, Molokaʻi, Oahu, Kaua'i, and Ni'ihau.

The Leeward Islands (also known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) are sparsely inhabited and comprise the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. In the future, we may add these to the Hawai'i page. Also planned for a future page is Midway Atoll, a historically significant location which is geographically part of the Hawaiian Islands but technically listed as one of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands. These will also be added later as a separate page, as PHG grows.

Hawai'i is the youngest and westernmost state in the U.S., in addition to being the only archipelagic state and only one of the 50 not in North America. The capital, Honolulu, is on the most densely populated island of Oahu; fully 1/3 of the state's population lives here, roughly one million people. Hawai'i is the most ethnically diverse U.S. state, with native Hawaiians, people of East Asian and North American descent creating a melting pot of culture, tradition, and food.

The Hawaiian Islands have a rich history reaching back to their settlement by the Polynesians sometime around 900 CE. Among the last to be discovered by the seafarers, Polynesia technically includes a broad swath of the Pacific on both sides of the Equator from New Zealand in the south to Easter Island in the east, and Hawai'i in the north. The emergence of Europeans in the Pacific and subsequent contact from the British under Captain James Cook in 1778 heralded an opening of Hawai'i to outsiders that led to the decimation of the native population from diseases; some estimates reflect a population of approximately one million people pre-contact to as low as 40,000 by the late 19th century.

The islands were quickly turned into a plantation economy by business interests, and although the native population had coalesced around an internationally recognized monarchy in 1810, this was overthrown by American and European businessmen in 1893. The United States formally annexed Hawai'i as a territory in 1898, completing a strategic line of defense across the Pacific from the U.S. mainland to the Philippines. 

In 1940, the the U.S. Pacific Fleet was moved to Pearl Harbor on Oahu from San Diego, with the process formally codified in February 1941. The unpopular decision to bring the fleet closer to the expected action proved to be prescient as the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked on December 7th 1941, sinking a number of U.S. ships, destroying aircraft and facilities, and killing 2,403 people, many of them on just one ship, the USS Arizona.

Post-war, Hawai'i was accepted as a state in August 1959, and in 1993 the United States Government formally apologized for its role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy. Hawai'i is known today for its tourism, with the fourth longest coastline in the United States as well as several unique ecosystems not to be found anywhere else in the world.

There are several important museums, monuments, and memorials throughout the islands as well, such as the Bishop Museum on Oahu, where you can learn much of Hawai'i's history, particularly those of the aforementioned Hawaiian Kingdom and its tragic ending. Oahu also hosts The Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum on Ford Island, which helped inspire Pacific History Guide's logo. The USS Arizona and USS Missouri, where you could say the Second World War began and ended, are next to each other at Pearl Harbor, alongside memorials to USS Oklahoma and USS Utah. USS Bowfin, which sank the Tsushima Maru in 1944, is also nearby. The Pacific Tsunami Museum on the Big Island memorializes the victims of tsunamis in Hawai'i and elsewhere, the Kaua'i Ocean Discovery Center connects you with the National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Maui Historical Society proudly displays its rich history and challenges you to look a little closer at Hawaiian history.

The Bishop Museum - Honolulu, Oahu

Business end of the USS Missouri (BB-63)

One of my favorite NASA astronauts, Ellison Onizuka, was born in Kona on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Onizuka was the grandson of Japanese immigrants and the first Asian-American in space. He flew in Discovery, and was one of the seven astronauts killed in the Challenger disaster in January 1986. He's buried at the Punch Bowl cemetary, and the Bishop Museum has an exhibit dedicated to his life and times.

Ellison Onizuka exhibit - Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Oahu.

The U.S. military retains a strong presence in Hawai'i; Oahu is still home to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as well as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and theater-level commands for the other four service branches (U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force) in addition to the U.S. Coast Guard. There are small installations through the islands, and the population of military personnel in the state is estimated at 44,000. Their impact is among the highest of Hawai'i's economic output. A list of U.S. military installations in Hawaii can be found here. 

If you've been stationed on Hawai'i or have visited, please check out the page and send me an email letting me know what you think! The purpose of Pacific History Guide is to connect you with history, where you are. I look forward from hearing from you, and until we meet again, Aloha!