From Hawaiian Nation to an American State
With the Hawaiian lands "discovered" by the Englishman Captain James Cook in 1778, Western traders, missionaries, explorers, and whalers soon arrived with their own objectives. They drastically transformed native Hawaiian ways on the Islands. In 1959, nearly two hundred years later, Hawai'i became an American state.
Native Hawaiian Culture and Sovereignty
King Kamehameha the Great, of the Big Island of Hawai'i, established a constitutional monarchy in 1810 governing over 400,000 native Hawaiians. Hawaiian monarchs developed a national coinage and flag and encouraged aspects of native culture even as they developed a European-style monarchy.
King David Kalakaua, around 1875
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Coin of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1800s
Gift of Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A.
Hula dancers with pahu drum, 1880–1890
Courtesy of Hawaiian Historical Society Historical Photography Collection, James J. Williams Collection
Outrigger canoe on Kauai Island, early 1900s
Courtesy of Hawaiian Historical Society Historical Photography Collection
American Interests in Hawai'i
With westerners' arrival and the establishment of pineapple and sugar plantations owned mainly by white Americans, Hawaiian islanders transitioned from a subsistence lifestyle to a cash economy. Thousands of low paid Asian laborers were recruited to work the fields.
Ukulele, instrument developed in Hawai'i, 1950s
Gift of Adam Gallan
Harpoon, Hawaiian, 1800s
Gift of Luther Cole
Whaling off the Island of Hawai'i, 1833
Courtesy of © Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts/USA Bridgeman Images
Pineapple trimming knife, 1900s
Gift of Carolyn H. and Thomas T. Fujita
Hawaiian pineapple plantation, around 1915
In 1893 American business leaders overthrew Queen Liliuokalani. Despite Native Hawaiian protests, the United States annexed Hawai'i as a territory in 1898.
USS Boston landing force, 1893
Courtesy of Hawai'i State Archives
Queen Liliuokalani, 1899
Courtesy of Hawaiian Historical Society Historical Photograph Collection
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