About Hawai'i

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In order to appreciate the current state of Hawai'i, it is important to learn about its history. Hawai'i is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean made up of 137 islands located southwest of the United States mainland. Though it is now one of the 50 states of the United States, Hawai'i was once its own independent nation that was initially settled by Polynesians. In 2011, through the use of radiocarbon dating, archaeologist Patrick Kirch estimated that the initial discovery of the Hawaiian islands occurred sometime between 1000 and 1200 AD by settlers from Polynesia (the islands within the Polynesian Triangle). Though the exact reasons for why early Polynesian settlers migrated to the islands are still unknown, it can be assumed that their reasons were similar to the migration patterns of other primitive people all over the world. Whether it was an escape from violence or in search of food, early Polynesian settlers made Hawai'i their home. 

 The unique Hawaiian identity and culture had been built and remained relatively untouched by the outside world for hundreds of years. The first exposure to non-Polynesian people occurred in 1778. Captain James Cook was an explorer commissioned by Great Britain to voyage the Pacific Ocean, which brought him to a village near Waimea, on the island of Kauai. Cook’s arrival had an impact in two major ways. Firstly, his discovery of Hawaii ushered in waves of European contact onto the islands, especially through the presence of missionaries. Secondly, his arrival spurred Hawaiian unification under one rule. 

In an article featured in the International History Review, Historian Barry Rigby detailed how a group of businessmen and congressmen led by Henry Peirce, a founder of one of the leading sugar firms and former U.S. minister to Hawai'i, was able to further U.S. expansion into Hawai'i. Pierce and his group crafted a treaty between Hawai'i and the U.S. that would promote both local sugar interests and U.S. primacy in Hawai'i which, after its passing, successfully raised the value of Hawai'i’s exports to the U.S. from $1.3 million in 1876 to $8.9 million in 1885 (Rigby, 1988). 

In a news article released during the time of the coup d’etat, reporter Wayne K. Westlake described how in retaliation for the proposed re-writing of the Constitution, an organization called the Committee of Safety was formed and worked with the U.S. Minister at the time, John L. Stevens, to overthrow Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893). The Committee of Safety was composed of American and European sugar plantation owners, lawyers, ministers, and businessmen who advocated for the annexation of Hawai'i in order to maintain their political and economic endeavors on the archipelago. 

On January 17, 1893, members of the Committee of Safety gathered at the official royal residence of Queen Liliʻuokalani where they proclaimed the disposition of the Queen and established the provisional government that named a prominent Protestant missionary leader, who also helped conduct the plans to annex Hawai'i, Sanford B. Dole as president of the archipelago. Martial law was declared on the island as Dole asked the U.S. for military assistance in regaining order as part of his campaign for Hawai'i's annexation to the U.S., which eventually happened in 1898 (Rigby, 1988).