Hawaii is a Polynesian archipelago in the Pacific and the 50th state of the USA. The islands of volcanic origin are about 4 to 5 flight hours away from the major cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco) on the west coast of the USA. Hawaii is associated with a mild climate, surfing, volcanoes, the hula and a relaxed lifestyle that attracts numerous tourists every year. Hawaii is even more diverse and offers numerous opportunities for travelers with a wide range of interests.
Hawaii consists of many (approx. 1,000) volcanic islands of
different sizes. Seven islands are inhabited, only six of which
are readily accessible to tourists:
1 Niihau . is
privately owned and unfortunately not accessible to the general
public.
2 Kauai . also called Garden Island.
3 Oahu . with
the capital Honolulu. This island is home to the international
airport and the absolute main part of business activities. 80%
of all residents of Hawaii alone live in the city of Honolulu.
Among other things, Waikiki Beach and the North Shore are known
worldwide as a paradise for surfers in winter.
4 Molokai was
formed from 2 volcanoes (East Molokai and the smaller West
Molokai). The island can be reached via Molokai Airport in
Ho'olehua. The island was first settled in 650 by residents of
the Marquesas Islands. The island is also known as The friendly
island.
5 lanai . formerly one giant pineapple farm owned by
Dole Foods. Today there are some exclusive resorts for tourists.
6 Maui the surfer's paradise.
7 Kahoolawe was a former US
Navy bomb testing facility and remains largely uninhabited
despite government attempts to settle it.
8 Big Island also
called Hawaii, with the cities of Hilo and Kailua-Kona. The Iron
Man Triathlon takes place in and around Kona.
Honolulu - Oahu
Hilo - Big Island
Kailua-Kona - Big Island
Lahaina - Maui
Haleakala National Park in Hawaii is a nature reserve of endless moon landscape covers an area of 30,183 acres.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park protects large expanses of land famous for its active geologic activity and covers an area of 505.36 sq mi.
Kilauea Volcano is particularly famous for its geological activity that ironically draws thousands of tourists annually.
Nā Pali Coast State Park is located on Kauai island of Hawaii state in United States. It covers an area of 6,175 acres.
Oahu. Hanauma Bay: beautiful for snorkeling, Diamond Head:
breathtaking view of Waikiki/ Honolulu, Aloha Tower: (church)
tower in the middle of Honolulu, Aloha Stadium: flea market in
Aloha Stadium (every Saturday and Sunday), Polynesian Cultural
Center: here you can learn about Polynesian culture, Pearl
Harbour/ Arizona Memorial: Memorial to the Battle of Pearl
Harbor; Dole Plantation: see how pineapples are grown and wander
through the world's largest planted maze.
maui Haleakala:
breathtaking sunrises and sunsets on the summit of the volcano
(caution: it's bitterly cold and drafty up there in the early
morning!), Huialoha Church: small church on a promontory of
Maui; Lahaina the little fishing village, check out the Peter
Lik Gallery there!; Early in the morning to Hana in the east of
the island, a remote hippie village that can only be reached via
the Hana Road! Attention, the journey takes a long time, is
curvy and often not without danger!
Kauai. Napali Cost: great
for hiking/walking (secluded coves etc.), Waimea Canyon: the
Grand Canyon of Hawaii, Wailau River: boat or canoe trips, Fern
Grotto: densely vegetated grotto along the tour on the Wailau
River, Wailau Falls : double waterfall near the Lihue statue.
Big Island. Volcano National Park is an absolute must;
southernmost point of the USA (incl. islands): breathtaking
thundering waves and a little to the east a small bay where you
can find olivine stones like on Lanzarote (El Golfo)
Volcanism in Hawaii
The outer shell of our earth is the
lithosphere with the earth's crust and the lithospheric mantle.
However, this is not rigid, but consists of numerous plates that
move against each other. Hawaii is on the Pacific Plate.
Strictly speaking, there is a whole series of more than 80
volcanic mountains in the Pacific, the so-called Hawaii-Emperor
chain, which rise from the depths of the Pacific and by no means
all reach the water surface.
One cause is a hot spot, an
almost stationary hot spot under the lithosphere that melts
upwards and shows volcanic activity on the surface, usually
stratovolcanoes. The second cause is the movement of the plate,
which makes the volcanism appear non-stationary. The Pacific
plate is slowly moving northwest at a rate of around 10 cm per
year, the old volcanoes are dying out and new ones are emerging
relatively to the southeast. Therefore, Kauai in northwestern
Hawaii is the oldest island at over 5 million years old, while
Big Island is the youngest and still active volcanic island at
400,000 years old. Also on it are the two highest mountains in
Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Further to the south-east,
about 30 km away, is the undersea volcano Lōihi, which in the
distant future may well rise out of the water and form a new
island.
The archipelago is a work of submarine volcanic
forces. The dominant rock type is therefore basalt. Limestone
occurs only in isolated places and to a small extent. But while
volcanic activity has long since died down on the western
islands and the collapsed craters have already been covered with
lush vegetation, it is still ongoing on the easternmost island,
Big Island. The highest mountains on the Big Island exceed
14,000 feet (4,200 m) but do not reach the snow line. Even small
rivers are rare, and navigable (from very short distances) has
only Kauai.
Colonization
Plant and animal colonization
on these isolated islands was very different from that on
islands close to the mainland. In this way, independent species
could develop that had no natural enemies and were wiped out
after colonization by humans and the animals they brought with
them. This already happened with the arrival of the Polynesians,
who probably came from the Marquesas.
The archipelago was
discovered by James Cook, who first landed on Kauai in 1778 and
dubbed the archipelago the Sandwich Islands. Back then, Hawaii
was a kingdom. However, on another visit to the islands, James
Cook was killed. Due to the diseases brought in by his sailors,
the population of around 300,000 inhabitants fell by around 80%.
Initially, Hawaiians' relations with their eastern neighbor,
the United States, developed quite well. Whalers had a good
chance of stopping here en route to the North Pacific, and the
climate made it possible to grow sugar cane. When Queen
Liliuokalani tried to push back American influence, she was
overthrown in a coup by the plantation owners in 1893, the
country was declared a republic, but five years later it was
annexed by the USA.
In the meantime, the Hawaiians were a
minority in their own country: due to white immigrants and the
recruitment of workers for the farms from Asia, only about 14%
are Hawaiians today, but 24% are white and over 60% are of Asian
origin, mainly Japanese, Filipino and Chinese. In 1959, Hawaii
became the 50th state in the United States by popular vote.
Once a major trading center for sugar, pineapples and
whaling, Hawaii now depends primarily on tourism and the US
military. The main part of the tourists are clearly the
Japanese, for whom Hawaii is relatively easy to reach.
Today (unfortunately) practically nobody speaks pure Hawaiian anymore. The older people often speak 'pidgin'. This is a mix between Hawaiian and English and is very difficult if not impossible for English speakers to understand. However, most of the Hawaiian population speaks pure English.
By plane from Europe with a stopover (usually on the west coast, depending on the airline), travel time approx. 20 to 25 hours.
The easiest way to get around the islands is by rental car, which is
available at all airports. Car rentals are among the cheapest in the
United States. Insurance, on the other hand, is extremely expensive,
which is why booking from Germany is usually considerably cheaper.
Inter-island flights by local airlines (Hawaiian Airlines, Go!
Mokulele, Island Air). Connections between the larger cities several
times a day (sometimes every hour), to smaller towns two to three times
a day. Ferry services only operate between Maui and Lanai and between
Maui and Molokai.
Except for the island of Oahu, there is
practically no public transport on the islands. As a tourist, the only
way to get around is by car.
Public buses operate on Oahu, with
which the island can be circumnavigated. They connect, among other
things, Waikiki Beach, Hoholulu, Kailua Beach and other beaches,
shopping centers and attractions such as Pearl Harbour. The route leads
directly past various beaches and in parts runs in the immediate
vicinity and with a good view of the sea. Buses run from approximately
8am - 10pm. There is a $2 charge when boarding the bus. Cheap multi-day
tickets are u.A. Available at Waikiki Beach Tourist Information.
The food in Hawaii is typically American. The villages are
characterized by the numerous fast-food restaurants. In addition, you
can also eat Polynesian, Asian or European.
Tip: "Cheeseburger in
Paradise" in Honolulu and in Lahaina or grilled Hawaiian fish at Duke's
on Waikiki Beach
Cheap food: In addition to all the usual
American fast food chains - McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Quiznos, Carl
Junior, there is also a HardRock Café and the Cheesecake Factory in Oahu
in the middle of the shopping street on Waikiki Beach. In addition to
Walmart, there are other popular American discounters for self-catering.
The prices do not differ from those in the other American states.
Milk and dairy products are relatively expensive in Hawaii: the
majority of the population is of Asian origin and rarely consumes this
food. There are very few dairy cattle in Hawaii, dairy products are
mostly imported from California.
The plate lunch (Hawaiian: pā
mea ʻai) is a typical Hawaiian meal, roughly analogous to the
meat-and-threes dishes in the southern United States. However, the
Pan-Asian influence on Hawaiian cuisine and its roots in Japanese bento
make the plate lunch unique to Hawaii. The dish goes back to the
plantation workers who ate leftover rice with all sorts of side dishes.
The standard plate today consists of two scoops of white rice, macaroni
salad and an appetizer. When there is more than one starter it is often
referred to as a mixed plate.
Waikiki offers a number of Polynesian bars, which are often
frequented by Japanese people in particular. There are also several
Irish bars where you can meet Americans and visitors from all nations.
Be careful on the streets at Waikiki Beach from about 10 p.m. in the
evening, there are many hookers (prostitutes) who offer their services
to tourists. Especially in the winter months, many are drawn from the
colder Las Vegas to sunny Hawaii with the well-paying Japanese tourists.
Honolulu is reminiscent of New York. Very many Japanese tourists
populate the streets. All major brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton,
etc. can also be found here. Tourists will find a wide range of
entertainment such as bars, discos, beach promenades with local artists.
Countless shopping centers on Oahu make shopping fun for young and old, men and women. The spectrum ranges from exclusive boutiques with European designer labels to cheap discounters (Sears, Walmart) for hobby sports needs (snorkeling equipment from around $15). Prices are generally no different from mainland America.
Cell phones (triple band, GSM 1900) work in all major cities, along the inhabited coastal areas and along major roads. Roaming charges are not really cheap! It is usually worth organizing a prepaid SIM card on site for a stay of one week or more (possible from around 10 cents per minute (also for incoming calls!)). This is easy and relatively inexpensive for callers from abroad, since in the USA the caller pays the same charges for landline and mobile telephones.
Compared to the states on the so-called "Mainland", i.e. other US American states, violent crimes, so-called "violent crimes", are very low in Hawaii. However, the number of property crimes is disproportionately high. The Honolulu Police Department faces an ever-growing wave of property crimes: seven thefts and one home burglary are reported every hour on Oahu, and 20 thefts from or into cars are reported every day. It is not recommended to camp at Waimanolo Beach (Oahu) as cars are often broken into there.
The climate is generally mild and pleasant. Due to the north-east trade winds, the windward sides of the islands tend to be humid and tropical, while the leeward sides tend to be dry. The mean temperatures in summer range from 29 °C - 32 °C, those in winter from 18 °C - 21 °C.
All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by the action of volcanoes
that emerged from the bottom of the sea, from a source of magma that in
geology is called a hot spot. The Hawaii hot spot theory maintains that
the tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly
direction, while the hot spot remains stationary, gradually creating new
volcanoes. For this reason, only the volcanoes on the southern half of
the island of Hawaii remain active today.
The oldest islands have
inactive volcanoes, while the newer ones still have active volcanoes.
The island of Hawaii has five volcanoes, and one of them is one of the
most active in the world, Kīlauea. At the top of one of those volcanoes,
Mauna Kea, is one of the largest concentrations of telescopes in the
world.
The Hawaiian archipelago is made up of eighteen islands
and atolls, stretching over 2,400 km. Of all of them, eight are
considered "main islands", located in the southeastern end of the
archipelago. This name includes, in order from northwest to southeast,
the following islands: Niihau (Niʻihau), Kauai (Kauaʻi), Oahu (Oʻahu),
Molokai (Molokaʻi), Lanai (Lānaʻi), Kahoolawe (Kahoʻolawe), Maui (Maui)
, and the Hawaii (Hawaiʻi). The last one is by far the largest, which is
why it is often called the "Big Island." The use of this alternative
name often responds to the need to avoid the ambiguity that exists
between the word Hawaii to refer to the entire state (the group of
islands), versus that specific island.
Hawaii has four of the five climatic zones and eight of the thirteen
climatic subzones that exist in the entire world according to the Köppen
climate classification scheme. Each of them with a unique ecosystem and
specific climatic characteristics. Factors such as height, pressure
variations, rainfall, winds and topography combine to create the most
peculiar locations throughout the islands.
Climates that can be
found in the Hawaiian Islands include humid tropical zones (from sea
level to 137 m a.s.l.), arid and semi-arid zones (the warmest parts of
the islands), temperate zones (above 400 m a.s.l.) and alpine areas
(cold areas, at 3200 m a.s.l.).
If you are going to climb a
mountain or volcano you should make sure you are prepared for the cold
temperatures. Generally, the temperature decreases 1° for every 180 m of
altitude.
Each of the Hawaiian islands is home to the four major
biomes: desert, rainforest, tundra, and temperate zones.
The Hawaiian archipelago is located in Oceania 3,200 km southwest of
the rest of the United States. Hawaii is the southernmost American state
and the second westernmost after Alaska. Like Alaska, it does not border
any other state in the Union. It is the only state in the United States
that is not in North America and the only one completely surrounded by
water and that is an archipelago.
In addition to the eight main
islands, the state has many smaller islands and islets. Kaʻula is a
small island near Niʻihau. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a group
of nine small, ancient islands northwest of Kauaʻi extending from Nihoa
to Kure Atoll; They are remains of volcanic mountains that were once
much larger. Throughout the archipelago there are around 130 small rocks
and islets, such as Molokini, which are formed by volcanic or marine
sedimentary rock.
Hawaii's tallest mountain, Mauna Kea, stands at
4,205 m above mean sea level; it is taller than Everest when measured
from the base of the mountain, which lies at the bottom of the Pacific
Ocean and is It rises about 10,200 m.
The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanic activity initiated in an
underwater magma source called the Hawaiian hot spot. The process
continues building islands; The tectonic plate beneath much of the
Pacific Ocean continually shifts northwestward and the hot spot remains
stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. Due to the location of the
hot spot, all active terrestrial volcanoes are located in the southern
half of Hawaii Island. The most recent volcano, Kamaʻehuakanaloa
(formerly Lōʻihi), is located south of the coast of the island of
Hawaiʻi.
The last volcanic eruption outside the island of Hawaiʻi
occurred at Haleakalā, on Maui, before the end of the 18th century,
possibly hundreds of years earlier. In 1790, Kīlauea exploded; It was
the deadliest eruption known in modern times in what is now the United
States. Up to 5,405 warriors and their families marching towards Kīlauea
died from the eruption. Volcanic activity and subsequent erosion have
created impressive features geological. The island of Hawaii has the
second highest point among the world's islands.
On the flanks of
volcanoes, slope instability has generated damaging earthquakes and
related tsunamis, particularly in 1868 and 1975. Catastrophic debris
avalanches on the submerged flanks of oceanic island volcanoes have
created steep cliffs.
Kīlauea erupted in May 2018, opening 22
fissure vents in its eastern fissure zone. The Leilani Estates and
Lanipuna Gardens are located within this territory. The eruption
destroyed at least 36 buildings, which, together with lava flows and
sulfur dioxide vapors, forced more than 2,000 residents to evacuate
their neighborhoods.
The eight largest islands are (from west to east): Niʻihau, Kauaʻi,
Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui and Hawaii (Big Island).
Geographically, Hawaii is not assigned to the American continent,
but as part of Polynesia, to the island world of Oceania, which is equal
to the continents.
The largest islands are assigned to five
counties: Hawai'i (Big Island) and O'ahu each represent their own
county; Kauaʻi and Niʻihau together form a county; also grouped together
are Maui, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe. A special feature is Kalawao
County, which is limited to the Kalaupapa Peninsula on Molokaʻi. In
terms of population, this is one of the smallest counties in the United
States. Midway Atoll (Hawaiian: Pihemanu) in the northern Hawaiian ridge
is the only area that is geographically part of Hawaii but not part of
the US state of Hawaii.
Since the Hawaiian volcanoes are not located on a fault line, but in
the middle of the Pacific Plate, and therefore thousands of kilometers
from any plate boundary, an additional theory is needed that was
proposed by geoscientist John Tuzo Wilson (1908-1993). ) was formulated:
According to him, the so-called hot spots act as immobile fire spots in
certain places on the Earth's crust. Its intense heat burns holes in the
Pacific plate so that magma can move upward, which first flows to the
sea floor and then rises to sea level to eventually form new islands.
Wilson's hot spot theory also explains why only the southeastern
Hawaiian islands are still affected by volcanism: they currently lie
directly above one of the hot spots, while the other islands have long
moved away from it. . Geoscientists can now also explain the specific
characteristics of Big Island lava: It is more fluid and contains fewer
gases than other types of lava. It comes from a part of the Earth's
crust that is characterized by very high temperatures.
Based on
the age of the Hawaiian island chain and its length, scientists have
made calculations about how fast the Pacific plate is moving to test
Wilson's hypothesis. The calculations agreed with other measurements and
confirmed that the Pacific Plate is moving northwest at a speed of about
three inches per year.
In 1972, American geophysicist James
Morgan took the original hotspot theory as a starting point to also
investigate the movement of the underwater Emperor Seamounts mountain
range. According to Morgan, the mountain range, which extends from the
northwesternmost tip of the Hawaiian island chain to near the Aleutian
Islands, was created by a hotspot like Hawaii and changed its direction
of movement about 34 million years ago. years. Morgan's hypothesis
explains why the range makes a turn and also predicts that the
northernmost mountain peak of the Emperor Seamounts, Meiji, which arose
70 million years ago, will sink into a deep marine depression off the
Aleutians within of a few million years.
Further proof of the
correctness of Wilson's findings are young volcanic rocks on the seabed
about 30 kilometers southeast of the Big Island: the Loihi Seamount,
discovered by geologists in 1978, was identified as an active volcano
two years later. Its mountain peak still rises only 950 meters below sea
level and in a few thousand years it will rise with sources of water
vapor from the Pacific Ocean to gradually form a new island.
The drinking water on the islands is obtained from artesian wells, among other things. The longest river is the Kaukonahua on the island of Oahu. The largest natural lake is Lake Halulu on Niʻihau with an area of 3.48 km². The islands of Maui and Kauaʻi in particular have numerous waterfalls. The ʻOloʻupena Falls (900 m) and Puʻukaʻōkū Falls (840 m) on Molokaʻi and the Waihīlau Falls (792 m) on Hawaii are the highest waterfalls in the United States.
Hawaii's natural heritage is rich, both on land and at sea. Hawaii is
cited as a biodiversity hotspot within a biogeographic complex that
includes most of Polynesia and Micronesia. Initially, the terrestrial
fauna of the archipelago was dominated by birds. In fact, only two
native mammals are found on these islands, namely the Hawaiian monk seal
(Monachus schauinslandi) and the ʻōpeʻapeʻa (Aeorestes semotus), a
species of bat sometimes considered a subspecies. On the other hand,
there are 338 species of birds, of which 130 are migratory or occasional
and 53 were introduced by man. Not to mention the 64 endemic species,
half of which disappeared with the arrival of the first Europeans.
Indeed, island species are very vulnerable due to anthropogenic
pressure, the ecological insularization of relict natural environments
and the introduction of numerous species that have become or may become
invasive. Cats, dogs, rats and Mongooses are especially devastating
predators in fragile island environments.
Hawaii is the only US
state with a rainforest. The Hawaiian flora is also very rich. There are
approximately 1,400 species of vascular plants, 90% of which are
endemic. A 2016 update to the IUCN Red List confirmed a growing risk of
extinction for native species. Since the beginning of the 20th century,
79 plant species have become extinct in Hawaii, primarily due to
deforestation. Added to this is the pressure from imported herbivores
such as goats, pigs and deer that cause havoc by consuming native
species.
In June 2006, after watching Jean-Michel Cousteau's film
Journey to Kure, President George W. Bush declared the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands a national monument. These islands will be the largest
marine protected area in the world, protected from commercial fishing.
With an area of more than 350,000 km2, this new national monument
extends over almost 2,300 km, includes a dozen uninhabited islands and a
hundred atolls, and is home to numerous endangered species.
In
recent years, Hawaii has experienced the effects of climate change with
a proliferation of extreme natural events. The Sustainable Hawaii
program aims to formulate goals and actions to achieve 100% clean,
renewable energy by 2045, as well as actions to protect watersheds. The
program is also important in the fight against invasive species to
protect and preserve the unique ecosystem of the archipelago. On June
15, 2006, the United States created the largest and most extensive
marine protected area off the northwestern islands of Hawaii.
The
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument encompasses
approximately 36 million hectares of ocean, including 1.16 million
hectares of coral reefs that are home to more than 7,000 marine species
(about 25% endemic). 1,400 Hawaiian seals, the last of this endangered
species, and about 90% of Hawaii's green turtles (also endangered).
Presence of the Hawaiian palm tree, endemic and in danger of extinction.
Unauthorized vessel trafficking, marine material extraction, waste
dumping and even commercial fishing are expected to disappear within
five years, along with commercial and tourism activities, according to
the White House.
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Hawaii was
considered among the first inhabited and remote land areas of Japan
potentially affected by radioactive fallout from the March 2011
accident. US authorities and the press rushed to reassure the population
not to to rush to stockpile iodine pills, although some experts
suggested that the public should nevertheless remain alert. The EPA's
national RadNet network detected radionuclides in milk; cesium 134 (24
picocuries per liter) and cesium 137 (19 picocuries per liter), as well
as iodine 131 (18 picocuries per liter) in local milk sampled on April
4, 2011. On that date, radioactivity was well below of EPA action
levels. Bioaccumulation by fungi or filter-feeding mollusks (oysters,
mussels, cockles, etc.) is locally possible in the coming months or
years. In June 2011, the NILU (Norwegian Institute for Atmospheric
Research) FLEXPART project stopped modeling its northern hemisphere
cloud path modeling due to lack of access to emission sources.
For decades, Hawaii has hosted more US military space than any other
territory or state. This history of military activity has severely
affected the environmental health of the Hawaiian archipelago, degrading
its beaches and soil, and making some places completely unsafe due to to
unexploded ordnance. According to academic Winona LaDuke: "Hawaii's
vast militarization has deeply damaged the land. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, there are more federal hazardous waste
landfills in Hawaii - 31 - than in any other state in Hawaii State
Representative Roy Takumi writes in "Challenging U.S. Militarism in
Hawai'i and Okinawa" that these military bases and hazardous waste dumps
have involved "the confiscation of large tracts of land from native
peoples." " and quotes the late Hawaiian activist George Helm as asking:
"What is national defense when what is destroyed is precisely what the
military is meant to defend, the sacred land of Hawaii?" Contemporary
Native Hawaiians continue to protest the occupation of their lands and
environmental degradation due to increased militarization after 9/11.
After the rise of sugar cane plantations in the mid-19th century,
the ecology of the island changed radically. Plantations require large
amounts of water, and European and American landowners transformed the
land to access it, primarily by building tunnels to divert water from
the mountains to plantations, reservoirs, and wells. These changes have
had a lasting impact on the land and continue to contribute to resource
scarcity for Native Hawaiians.
According to Stanford scientist
and academic Sibyl Diver, indigenous Hawaiians maintain a reciprocal
relationship with the land, "based on principles of mutual care,
reciprocity, and sharing." This relationship guarantees longevity,
sustainability, and natural cycles of growth and decline, as well as
cultivating a sense of respect for the land and humility toward one's
place in an ecosystem.
The continued expansion of the tourism
industry and its pressure on local ecology, cultural tradition and
infrastructure systems is creating a conflict between economic and
environmental health. In 2020, the Center for Biological Diversity
reported on plastic pollution from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii, citing "huge
piles of plastic waste." Invasive species are spreading, and runoff of
chemicals and pathogens is contaminating groundwater and coastal waters.
The second major geological cycle, affecting the Hawaiian island
chain, takes place in contrast to volcanism in a shorter time span of
only a few million years. Weathering and erosion transform volcanic
landscapes into rainforests, fertile farmlands and pebble beaches. While
waves have ground the lava flow on Kaimu Beach (Big Island), which
flowed and solidified here more than 250 years ago, into black granules,
beaches on northwestern islands such as O'ahu have already They are
white.
The westernmost islands have reduced volcanic mountains to
rock cups as a result of erosion processes, such as Tanager Peak on the
island of Nihoa and Miller's Peak. Nihoa today looks like an iceberg in
the ocean, as most of its shield volcano, which once rose several
thousand meters above sea level like Mauna Kea, is now underwater.
Pebbles and sand have accumulated here from the slopes of volcanic
mountains, and a coral reef is currently slowly being built. Hawaii's
western tip has eroded into atolls with blue lagoons and circular sand
islands like Laysan and Midway.
It was probably Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands who arrived in
Hawaii between the second and sixth centuries (some say around AD 800).
A second wave of Polynesians settled from Tahiti around the 11th
century. The seafarers were able to overcome the enormous distance of
about 5500 kilometers from the Marquesas with large outrigger canoes
thanks to sophisticated navigation technology. They navigated according
to the stars, currents and swell, cloud formation and movement, but also
flocks of birds, schools of fish, driftwood and other parts of plants.
All these sources of information and their collective preservation over
several generations enabled them to rediscover known islands over
thousands of kilometers and to search for new islands in a targeted
manner. Their double hull boats consisted of hollowed out tree trunks
sealed with resin as floating bodies. These were held together by beams
crossing midway between them. On the opposite end of the beams from the
floats sat a partially covered, lightweight platform with a carrying
capacity of up to 100 people. The whole construction was held together
with ropes braided from the fibers of the thick outer shell of the
coconut and which had a durability of up to five years in salt water.
The sail of the Polynesian double hull boat was also a special feature.
Mast and sail area formed a unit, similar to an oversized palm leaf fan
with two points pointing upwards, between which was a semi-circular
recess, the lowest point of which was the (built-in) mast tip. At each
end of the two floating bodies, a wooden construction was attached
between them, into which the sail could be stuck as needed. Therefore,
the Polynesian travel boat in the "western sense" had neither bow nor
stern, but bow could also be stern and vice versa, depending on the
direction of travel. The sail area itself consisted of plaited leaves of
the screw tree (Lauhala).
At the top of New Hawaiian society were
the nobles (Aliʻi), who traced their mythical descent to gods and based
their power on the principle of the kapu. The Kapu allows and prohibits
certain actions or access to certain places (taboo). The priests
followed the nobles in the social hierarchy, after them came the common
people. At times there were wars between different tribes; each clan was
led by an Ali'i, a chief believed to be descended from the gods, often a
woman.
It is believed that the Spaniard Juan Gaetano landed in
Hawaii in 1527.
On January 20, 1778, James Cook landed on his third Pacific voyage on
the southwest coast of the island of Kauaʻi, which had already been
sighted on January 18. The real purpose of this venture was to find the
Northwest Passage, a sea route from the Northeast Pacific to the
Northwest Atlantic around North America. He named the islands, on which
several kingdoms still existed, "Sandwich Islands" in honor of Lord
Sandwich. Cook bartered with the locals and left behind various seeds
along with pigs and goats. However, Cook's crew also brought venereal
diseases to the island, causing the population to dwindle from 300,000
to 60,000 over the next 80 years.
On January 17, 1779, Cook
anchored his ships in Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaii, where at
that time of year local people celebrated Makahiki, a festival honoring
the god Lono. Cook was very well received and probably even worshiped as
that deity. Cook left the islands in February 1779, but returned to
Kealakekua Bay a few days later to repair one of his storm-damaged
ships. This time the reception was not so friendly, and after some
misunderstandings with the locals, he and part of his crew were killed
on February 14, 1779.
The islands were also called Owhyhee or
Owyhee ("Hawaii - the Owhyhee of Cook and Vancouver") in the 18th and
19th centuries.
Hawaii's economic relations with the outside world began as a way
station for merchant ships to supply provisions and spare parts. The
export of sandalwood from Hawaii to China became a commercial focus in
the early 19th century before Lāhainā and Honolulu became important
ports for North Pacific whalers in the 1820s to 1860s. From the middle
of the 19th century, the immigration of contract workers from China,
various South Sea islands, Japan and Portugal, among others, was
promoted for the cultivation of sugar cane, which then also took place
in the 20th century for the cultivation of pineapples.
Kamehameha
I forcibly unified the Hawaiian Islands. From 1810 he was the sole ruler
and thus the first king of Hawaii. His Kamehameha dynasty ruled until
1872, after which three more elected kings followed. Hawaii is the only
current state in the USA that used to be an independent country with a
monarchical system of government.
See also: List of Kings of
Hawaii
Hawaii's independence was threatened again and again. After
1815-1817 the German Georg Anton Schäffer, who was in Russian service,
had tried in vain to gain control of the northern islands of Kauaʻi and
Niʻihau, the five-month annexation of Hawaii by the British Lord George
Paulet in 1843 and the occupation of Honolulu by the Frenchman Louis
also failed Goarant de Tromelin 1849.
Hawaii's relations with the
United States were initially very good. Thus, from 1820, US missionaries
(Congregationalists) settled in Honolulu and the kingdom's sovereignty,
declared in 1840, was formally recognized in 1842 by the United States
and in 1843 by the United Kingdom and France. The influence of the
United States, however, grew steadily from about the 1850s, most notably
through the 1875 Treaty on Duty-Free Sugar Exports to the United States
and its accompaniment in 1887 with the takeover of the naval base at
Pearl Harbor.
Under external pressure and also to secure
rulership, there were a number of important reforms, including the
enactment of constitutions by the kings (1840, 1852, 1864) after the
symbolic break in the Kapu system in 1819 and the land distribution of
1848. belonged.
Republic of Hawaii
After Queen Liliʻuokalani
was overthrown by a coup in 1893, a committee was formed on February 15,
1894, which in March was officially commissioned to draft a constitution
for the Republic of Hawaii to be founded, since efforts to quickly annex
it by the USA were unsuccessful had. This constitution was ratified by a
constitutional convention on July 3, 1894, and came into force the
following day. The American Sanford Dole was installed as president. The
republic founded in this way was recognized by the USA shortly
thereafter, but was primarily intended to serve the goal of annexation.
The republic was short-lived. Because of its great strategic
importance, Hawaii was annexed by the United States during the
Spanish-American War by a joint resolution of the Senate and House of
Representatives on July 7, 1898. The formal act took place on August 12,
1898. The US Territory of Hawaii received a corresponding administration
with the Hawaiian Organic Act of April 30, 1900 (effective June 14,
1900). The takeover met with opposition from many locals, as the
Hawaiian language, hula, and other aspects of Hawaiian culture were
pushed back under heavy US cultural influence.
After World War I,
Pearl Harbor became the most important US naval base in the Pacific. As
a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the
United States entered World War II. They deposed civilian government and
imposed martial law on Hawaii for eight years, suspending fundamental
rights. Around 500,000 US soldiers were stationed at this time. This
number corresponded approximately to the population at that time.
The immigration of Asians and Americans had made the Hawaiians a
minority in their own country. The loss of linguistic and cultural
identity favored the spread of the western lifestyle. This was shown by
the result of a referendum in which the majority voted to join the
United States. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state and
William F. Quinn became the first Hawaiian governor.
The United
States passed the Apology Resolution (formally United States Public Law
103-150) in 1993, declaring the 1893 coup against the monarchy illegal
and apologizing for it. However, the law, passed by both houses of
Congress on November 23, 1993 and signed into law by President Bill
Clinton on the same day, did not revoke the annexation. Therefore, today
the Polynesian natives are again demanding more independence, rights and
land for the Hawaiians and secession from the United States. Around
350,000 descendants of the indigenous people currently live in Hawaii
(as of 2019).
Reducing the independence movement and tensions
between the ethnic groups are a focus of the Matsunaga Institute for
Peace, which is working towards a non-violent settlement of the
conflicts. According to David Keanu Sai, professor of political science
at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Hawaii never became part of the
United States, but was only militarily occupied. The recognition of this
circumstance must precede any attempt at independence. He also argues
that race should not play a role in the issue of sovereignty, since the
Kingdom of Hawaii was already a multi-ethnic society before the
annexation.
Since the US annexation, there has remained an active – albeit fragmented – independence movement in Hawaii, particularly among the indigenous minority. In 2005 they successfully resisted the granting of the status "Native Americans", which would have equated them with the Indians of the mainland, which would have been tantamount to the denial of freedom aspirations. The sovereignty movement received particular publicity in 2008, when a group of activists occupied the former royal palace in Honolulu and proclaimed independence. In the same year, Russian UN official Alexei Avotomonov advocated the decolonization of Hawaii. In 2009, the Hawaiian political scientist Noenoe K. Silva documented the explosive nature of the issue in international law with his review of the island's history (Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism). US President Obama (himself born in Hawaii) was in principle open to efforts for more independence. On May 11, 2015, Pakistan proposed at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to follow the suggestion of Alfred de Zayas (UN expert on promoting a democratic and just world order), who proposed in 2013 to put Hawaii and Alaska back on the list of non- self-governing territories (Non-Self-Governing Territories) from which they were illegally removed in 1959. Hawaii's indigenous people are represented before the council by Leon Kaulahao Siu, envoy of the Alliance for Alaska-Hawai'i Self-Determination. Siu is also the "shadow secretary of state" for the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, a group that sees itself as "the surviving successors of the Hawaiian Kingdom." He refers to the indigenous population, the majority of whom spoke out in favor of independence efforts in 2014. However, the majority of Indigenous Hawaiians already live in mainland America. The high cost of living in Hawaii leads to a continuous migration.
Hawaii's state government is modeled after the American federal
government with adaptations originating from the era of the defunct
Hawaiian Kingdom. The Hawaiian Constitution establishes three branches:
executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is headed by
the Governor of Hawaii, who is assisted by the Lieutenant Governor of
Hawaii, both elected on the same ticket. The governor is the only
elected public office in the entire state; all others are appointed by
the governor. The lieutenant governor acts as Secretary of State. The
governor and lieutenant governor oversee twenty agencies and departments
from their offices in the State Capitol. The governor's official
residence is Washington Place.
The legislative branch is made up
of the bicameral Hawaii State Legislature, consisting of the 51-member
Hawaii House of Representatives, led by the Speaker of the House, and
the 25-member Hawaii Senate, led by the president. of the Senate. The
Legislature meets at the State Capitol. The unified judicial branch of
Hawaii is the Judicial Branch of the State of Hawaii. The highest court
in the state is the Supreme Court of Hawaii, which uses Aliʻiōlani Hale
as its chambers.
Hawaii is represented in the United States Congress by two senators
and two representatives. As of 2023, all four seats are held by
Democrats. Former Rep. Ed Case was elected in 2018 to the 1st
Congressional District. Jill Tokuda represents the 2nd Congressional
District, which represents the rest of the largely rural and semi-rural
state.
Brian Schatz is the senior United States senator from
Hawaii. He was appointed to the position on December 26, 2012 by
Governor Neil Abercrombie, following the death of former Senator Daniel
Inouye. The state's lowest-ranking senator is Mazie Hirono, former
representative of the 2nd Congressional District. Hirono is the first
Asian American senator and the first Buddhist senator. Hawaii underwent
the largest change in seniority between the 112th and 113th Congresses.
The state passed from a delegation made up of senators holding the first
and twenty-first positions in seniority to their respective
replacements, relative newcomers Schatz and Hirono.
Federal
officials in Hawaii are based at the Prince Kūhiō Federal Building, near
the Aloha Tower and the Port of Honolulu. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Secret Service
maintain their offices there; The building is also the headquarters of
the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and the
United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii.
Since gaining statehood and participating in its first elections in
1960, Hawaii has supported Democrats in all but two presidential
elections: 1972 and 1984, in which Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald
Reagan won landslide victories. In the time that Hawaii has been a
state, only Minnesota has supported Republican candidates in
presidential elections fewer times. The 2016 Cook Partisan Voting Index
ranks Hawaii as the most Democratic state in the country.
Hawaii
has not elected a Republican to represent the state in the U.S. Senate
since Hiram Fong in 1970; Since 1977, the state's two U.S. senators have
been Democrats.
In 2004, John Kerry won the state's four
electoral votes by a margin of nine percentage points, with 54% of the
vote. All counties supported the Democratic candidate. In 1964, favorite
son candidate, Hawaiian Senator Hiram Fong, sought the Republican
presidential nomination, while Patsy Mink ran in the Oregon primary in
1972.
Honolulu-born Barack Obama, then a senator from Illinois,
was elected the 44th president of the United States on November 4, 2008,
and re-elected to a second term on November 6, 2012. Obama had won the
Hawaii Democratic caucus on the 19th. February 2008, with 76% of the
votes. He was the third Hawaiian-born candidate to seek a major party
nomination, the first presidential candidate, and the first president of
Hawaii.
In a 2020 study, Hawaii was ranked as the sixth easiest
state for citizens to vote.
Hawaii has a state sheriff's department under its Department of
Public Safety that provides police protection to government buildings
and the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, as well as correctional
services to all state-owned correctional facilities.
The counties
have their respective police departments with their own jurisdictions:
Kauai County Police Department for the Island of Kauai
Honolulu
Police Department for Oahu
Maui County Police Department for Molokai,
Maui and Lanai
Hawaii County Police Department for the Big Island
Forensic services for all state agencies are provided by the
Honolulu Police Department.
In January 2022, state officials
proposed legislation that would split the sheriff's department from the
Department of Public Safety and consolidate it with the criminal
investigation division of the Attorney General's Department to create a
new Department of Law Enforcement that would create an agency state
police with the capacity to investigate crimes.
Hawaii is made up of 8 main islands, gathered into 5 counties:
Hawaii County
City and County of Honolulu
Kalawao County
Kauai
County
Maui County
The transfer of the Hawaiian royal family from the island of Hawaii
to Maui and later to Oahu explains why certain population centers are
where they are today. The main city, Honolulu, was chosen by King
Kamehameha III as the capital of his kingdom, thanks to its natural
port. Currently, this is the port of Honolulu.
Thus, the largest
city is the capital, Honolulu, located on the southeast coast of the
island of Oahu. Other notable population centers are Hilo, Kaneohe
(Kāneʻohe), Kailua, Pearl City, Kahului, Kailua-Kona, Kihei (Kīhei), and
Lihue (Līhuʻe).
While Hawaii is internationally recognized as a state of the United States, while being widely accepted as such in general understanding, the legality of this status has been raised in the US District Court, United Nations. Nations and other international forums. At the national level, the debate is a topic addressed in the curriculum of Kamehameha Schools, at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, on September 29, 2015 the Department of the Interior announced a procedure to recognize a government of native Hawaiians.
Political organizations seeking some form of sovereignty for Hawaii
have been active since the 1880s. They generally focus on
self-determination and self-government, either for Hawaii as an
independent nation (in many proposals, for "Hawaiian nationals" » who
are descendants of the subjects of the Kingdom of Hawaii or declaring
themselves as such by choice), or for people of all or part of the
Native Hawaiian ancestry in an indigenous "nation-to-nation"
relationship similar to tribal sovereignty, but with federal recognition
of Native Hawaiians. A 2005 Grassroot Institute poll found that a
majority of Hawaiian residents opposed Akaka's bill.
Some groups
also advocate for some form of reparation from the United States for the
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and Queen Lili'uokalani in 1893, and
for what is described as a prolonged military occupation that began with
the annexation of 1898. The movement overthrow and annexation are
generally considered illegal, with the Apology Resolution (United States
Public Law 103-150) passed by the US Congress in 1993 cited as a major
impetus by the movement for Hawaiian sovereignty . The sovereignty
movement considers Hawaii an illegally occupied nation.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the only coins that circulated
throughout the territory were the Spanish ones carried by navigators and
conquistadors who traveled the Pacific Ocean. Then, at the beginning of
the 19th century, trade opened to these distant islands, and American
whaling ships and preachers were not lacking on their shores. The large
influx of these new visitors quickly multiplied the number of commercial
transactions, a change that the region's weak economy could not cope
with due to the lack of coins in circulation. It was then that the use
of foreign coins was allowed to pay for goods, which were countermarked
with a circular punch that had the letter “K” (referring to King
Kamehameha) and the word “DALA” (dollar) inside. a laurel wreath. This
mark was stamped on Spanish and Republican eight reales of the Mexican
mint before 1883. The type of laurel used in this countermark is
reminiscent of the old American cents (1840-1860). The San Francisco
Mint minted custom pieces in 1883, from 10 cents to $1 in
900-thousandths sterling silver, which circulated in Hawaii until 1900,
when these coins were removed from circulation and melted down.
Currently, Hawaii's economy is based mainly on tourism, having an
important hotel infrastructure. Previously the economy was focused on
military activities. Over time this has changed and it is now a
recognized tourist centre. Other industries also play a small role in
Hawaii's economy, due to shipping distance to viable markets, such as
the West Coast of the United States. The state's food exports include
coffee, macadamia, pineapple, livestock, sugar cane, and honey.56 As in
every American state, the legal tender is the dollar.
Tourism is an important part of the Hawaiian economy, accounting for
¼ of the economy. According to the Hawaii Tourism: 2019 Annual Visitor
Research Report, a total of 10,386,673 visitors arrived in 2019, an
increase of 5% compared to the previous year, with expenses of almost
$18 billion. In 2019, Tourism provided more than 216,000 jobs statewide
and contributed more than $2 billion in tax revenue.58 Due to the
year-round mild climate, tourist trips are popular year-round. Tourists
from around the world visited Hawaii in 2019, with more than 1 million
tourists from the Eastern United States, nearly 2 million Japanese
tourists, and nearly 500,000 Canadian tourists.
It was with
statehood in 1959 that the Hawaiian tourism industry began to grow.
According to Hawaiian scholar Haunani-Kay Trask, tourism in Hawaii
has led to the commodification and exploitation of Hawaiian culture,
giving rise to insidious forms of "cultural prostitution." Hawaii has
been used to fuel ideas of escape, but tourism in Hawaii ignores the
harm suffered by Kanakas and locals. Cultural traditions such as hula
have become "ornamental... a form of exoticism" for tourists, as a way
for large businesses and landowners to make profits off the exploitation
of Hawaiian people and culture.
Tourism in Hawaiʻi has been seen
as an escape from reality which has resulted in ignoring the violence
faced by Native Hawaiians and local people living on the land. According
to scholar Winona LaDuke, native Hawaiians have been forced to collect
"shrimp and fish from ponds located on resort properties." Tourism has
also had detrimental effects on the environment, such as water scarcity,
overpopulation, rising sea levels, increased sea surface temperatures
and the presence of microplastics on beaches.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, tourism in Hawaiʻi came to a halt, allowing the land,
water, and animals to begin to heal. Fish like the baby akule and the
great ulua have returned after years of not being in the bay. Coral
reefs, fish, water growth and limu (algae) have been able to flourish
without the heavy burden of tourism.
Native Hawaiians have
opposed tourism and urged people not to visit the islands. A Hawaii
Tourism Authority survey indicated that more than ⅔ of Hawaiians did not
want tourists to return to Hawaii. Tourism had "become extractive and
harmful, with tourists coming here and taking, and taking without any
reciprocity with the locals."
Hawaii hosts numerous cultural
events. The annual Merrie Monarch Festival is an international hula
competition. The Hawaii International Film Festival is the Pacific
Coast's premier film festival. Honolulu hosts the state's LGBT film
festival, the Rainbow Film Festival.
With the arrival of the whites and the subsequent colonization of the
islands, the native population was greatly reduced due to smallpox and
cholera.
1778: It is estimated that there were between 300,000 to
400,000 natives.
1878: It is estimated that 40,000 to 50,000
remained.
2000: 275,000 were counted (but only 6,000 are of purely
native blood); it is estimated that with those living on the continent,
plus their descendants, there would be up to one million Polynesian
Hawaiians in the US.
According to the 2020 United States Census, Hawaii had a population
of 1,455,271. The state's population identified as 37.2% Far Eastern
Asian; 25.3% multiracial; 22.9% white, that is, of European origin or
American with European ancestry (the United States census groups them as
Caucasian); 10.8% Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; 9.5% of
Hispanic American origin (Hispanics and/or Latinos according to census
categories, among whom Mexicans and Puerto Ricans predominate); 1.6%
African Americans; 1.8% from some other race; and 0.3% Native American
and Alaska Native.
Hawaii is the state with the highest
percentage of Asians in the entire United States. The five largest
groups in Hawaii by ancestry are Japanese (16.7%), Filipinos (14.1%),
Chinese (6.2%), Germans (7.2%), Kamaʻainas or Native Hawaiians (6. 6%),
and Portuguese (5.2%).
Hawaii has the highest percentage of Asian
Americans and multiracials and the lowest percentage of whites of any
state. It is the only state in which people who identify as Asian
Americans are the largest ethnic group. In 2012, 14.5% of the resident
population under 1 year of age was non-Hispanic white. Hawaii's Asian
population consists primarily of 198,000 (14.6%) Filipino Americans,
185,000 (13.6%) Japanese Americans, approximately 55,000 (4.0%) Chinese
Americans and 24,000 (1. There are more than 80,000 indigenous
Hawaiians, 5.9% of the population. Including those of partial ancestry,
Samoans make up 2.8% of the population of Hawaii, and the Tongans, 0.6%.
More than 120,000 (8.8%) Hispanics and Latinos live in Hawaii.
Mexican Americans number more than 35,000 (2.6%); Puerto Ricans exceed
44,000 (3.2%). Multiracial Americans make up nearly 25% of Hawaii's
population, exceeding 320,000 people. Hawaii is the only state that has
a triracial group as its largest multiracial group, one that includes
whites, Asians, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (22% of the
entire multiracial population). The non-Hispanic white population is
around 310,000, or slightly more. of 20% of the population. The
multiracial population exceeds the non-Hispanic white population by
about 10,000 people. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported that Hawaii's
population was 38.8% white and 57.7% Asian and Pacific Islanders.
The five largest European ancestries in Hawaii are German (7.4%),
Irish (5.2%), English (4.6%), Portuguese (4.3%), and Italian (2.7 %).
About 82.2% of the state's residents were born in the United States.
Approximately 75% of foreign-born residents are originally from Asia.
Hawaii is a majority minority state. It was expected to be one of three
states that did not have a non-Hispanic white plurality in 2014; the
other two are California and New Mexico.
The third group of
foreigners to arrive in Hawaii came from China. Chinese workers on
Western trading ships settled in Hawaii beginning in 1789. In 1820, the
first American missionaries arrived to preach Christianity and teach
Hawaiians Western customs. As of 2015, a large portion of Hawaii's
population He is of Asian ancestry, especially Filipino, Japanese and
Chinese. Many are descendants of immigrants brought to work on sugar
cane plantations in the mid- and late 19th century. The first 153
Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii on June 19, 1868. They were not
approved by the Japanese government at the time because the contract was
between an intermediary and the Tokugawa shogunate, then replaced by the
Meiji Restoration. The first Japanese immigrants approved by the current
government arrived on February 9, 1885, following Kalākaua's request to
Emperor Meiji when he visited Japan in 1881.
In 1899, almost
13,000 Portuguese had arrived, who also worked on the sugar cane
plantations. In 1901, more than 5,000 Puerto Ricans lived in Hawaii.
Hawaii is currently the only state in the Union that has a unified
education system for the entire state. A Board of Education composed of
fourteen members – of which thirteen are elected for a four-year term
and the last is a student representative without the right to vote – is
responsible for making policy decisions. This Board is responsible for
establishing educational policy for the entire state and for appointing
a statewide school superintendent, who oversees the operation of the
state Department of Education. This department is divided into seven
districts, of which four correspond to Oahu and one for each remaining
county.
Hawaii can boast more students in independent secondary
schools than any other state in the United States. Independent and
private schools (charter schools) can choose their students, while
public schools must admit everyone in their district. The Hawaii State
Department of Education operates public schools.
The traditional culture transmitted a system of wisdom called Huna or
Aloha, however after the arrival of Europeans and Americans, most of the
population converted to Christianity. According to the Pew Research
Center, the religious distribution is as follows:
Christians: 63%
Protestants: 38%
Various Evangelicals: 25%
Traditional
Protestantism: 11%
Black Church: 2%
Catholics: 20%
Mormons: 3%
Jehovah's Witnesses 1%
Other religions: 10%
Buddhists: 8%
No
religion: 26%
According to 2019 data, 51% are Christians: 48%
Protestant; 15% Catholics; 8% Mormons; 27%, Lutherans; and 2%, other
Christians; However, 30% reported being non-religious, making it the
third least religious state in the United States.
The ethnic
religion of the indigenous population - the Hawaiian religion - belonged
to the relatively uniform traditional Polynesian religions, which were
mainly characterized by an ancestor cult, a polytheistic world of gods
with a hierarchical order of rank - which reflected the socio-political
structures of pre-state chieftaincy - and by the two central and linked
concepts of mana (transcendent power transferable through achievements
and deeds) and tapu (sacred or consecrated sacrosanct, in Hawaiian kapu,
see also taboo).
Traditional religion did not survive 50 years
after the discovery of the Hawaiian archipelago by Europeans in 1778.
Already a few years after the first contacts, many taboos were shaken by
contact with Europeans. In 1819, the important taboo against women and
men not eating together was abolished. This decisively weakened
traditional Hawaiian religion. In 1820, evangelical Christian
missionaries arrived in the country with the support of part of the
aristocratic class. Catholic missionaries followed in 1827, then Mormons
and Methodists. In 1862, King Kamehameha IV also invited Anglicans to
proselytize religiously in Hawaii. During the 1850s, all three Chinese
religions (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism) arrived on the islands,
as did Shintoism and other Buddhist schools with Japanese immigrants in
the late 19th century.
During this period, most native Hawaiians
converted to Christianity and their own government enacted prohibitions
against the ancient religion. As a counterpart, in 1868 the so-called
Kaoni movement emerged, which attempted to syncretically fuse Christian
elements and traditional faith. According to surveys being carried out
by the fundamentalist evangelical conversion network Joshua Project, 74%
of indigenous Hawaiians are Christians, 16% are not religious and 10%
profess traditional beliefs. This is roughly consistent with data from
the Pew Research Center, which places indigenous Hawaiian religions at
less than 1% (relative to the total population).
Information on
the Internet about the indigenous Hawaiian independence movement, the
resurgence of the Hoʻoponopono spiritual ritual culture, or the fact
that descendants of the Hawaiian ruling and priestly class once again
publicly profess their direct ancestry from Ku, the god of war, They
demonstrate that a revitalization of traditional religion is currently
taking place. (However, it is not clear to what extent these are
traditional, syncretic, or esoterically modified ideas.)
In Hawaii, there are two official languages: English and Hawaiian.
However, the majority of the Hawaiian population does not speak the
latter: there are around 2,000 native speakers, which represent 0.1% of
the total population.86 But thanks to the initiatives of the government
and the native peoples of Hawaii, schools have started teaching students
in the Hawaiian language. Since these programs have begun in the last
thirty years, the number of Hawaiian speakers has grown from
approximately 2,000 to more than 26,000.
The language mixing of
the 19th century gave birth to another creole language known as Hawaiian
pidgin, which influences the speech of many citizens of Hawaii, with
words such as "da kine" (indefinite shorthand, literally "the kind", or
"the guy") and "to stay" (in this case it means "estar", not "stay").
For example, you can hear "Eh, you know da kine?" (“Hey! Do you know?”)
or “Eh brah, where you stay?” ("Hey, man, where are you?"). One theory
of the origin of the use of "to stay" in this context is that in
Portuguese there is the verb "ficar", which means both "stay" (to stay)
and "estar" (to be). In the end, it was incorrectly translated as
"estar" instead of "stay."
In 2009, the Hawaiian health system insured 92% of residents. Under
the state plan, companies are required to provide insurance to employees
who work more than twenty hours a week. Strong regulation of insurance
companies helps reduce the cost for business owners. Due in part to a
heavy emphasis on preventive care, Hawaiians require hospital treatment
less frequently than the rest of the United States, while total
healthcare expenditures, measured as a percentage of state GDP, are
substantially lower. Universal healthcare advocates elsewhere in the US
sometimes use Hawaii as a model for proposed federal and state
healthcare plans.
The Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act (PHCA) is
state legislation (Chapter 393 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes)88
enacted on June 12, 1974 in the State of Hawaii to improve
employer-mandated health coverage. Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act
established a minimum level of health benefits for workers. Upon its
passage in 1974, Hawaii became the first US state to mandate a minimum
level of health benefits by law. Hawaii State Representative Yoshito
Takamine, longtime chairman of the House Labor Committee, was one of the
law's main architects and proponents.
Among other things,
Hawaiian law requires companies to offer coverage to employees who work
at least 20 hours a week for four or more consecutive weeks. Instead,
the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires
companies to offer coverage to employees who work at least 30 hours a
week starting January 1, 2014. Both laws also establish different
penalties for companies that do not offer coverage.
Before the
passage of the Prepaid Health Care Act, Hawaii had an uninsured rate of
30%. In 2013, Hawaii's uninsured rate of 6.7% was the second lowest
uninsured rate in the country, trailing only Massachusetts, which had an
uninsured rate of 3.7%.
Each major island is surrounded by a system of state highways. Only
Oʻahu has federal highways, and it is the only area outside the
contiguous 48 states that has signed interstate highways. Narrow,
winding roads and traffic jams in populated areas can slow down traffic.
All major islands have a public bus system.
Honolulu
International Airport (IATA: HNL), which shares runways with adjacent
Hickam Field (IATA: HIK), is Hawaii's primary commercial aviation hub.
This commercial aviation airport offers intercontinental flights to
North America, Asia, Australia and Oceania. Hawaiian Airlines and
Mokulele Airlines use jets to provide service between the large airports
of Honolulu, Līhuʻe, Kahului, Kona and Hilo. These airlines also provide
air cargo services between the islands.
On May 30, 2017, the
airport was officially renamed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport
(HNL), in honor of United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye.
Until
passenger air services began in the 1920s, private ships were the only
means of traveling between the islands. In the mid-1970s, Seaflite
operated hydrofoils between the main islands.
The Hawaii
Superferry operated between Oʻahu and Maui between December 2007 and
March 2009, with additional routes planned for other islands. Protests
and legal issues over environmental impact statements ended the service,
although the company that operates the Superferry has expressed a desire
to resume ferry services in the future.
There is currently
passenger ferry service in Maui County between Lanaʻi and Maui, which
does not accept vehicles; A passenger ferry to Molokai was completed in
2016. Norwegian Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises currently offer
passenger cruise services between the larger islands.
In the
past, Hawaii had a network of railroads on each of the major islands
that transported agricultural products and passengers. Most were 914 mm
(3 ft) narrow gauge systems, but there were some 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) on
some of the smaller islands. The standard gauge in the US is 1,435 mm (4
ft 8+1⁄2 in). The largest railroad by far was that of the Oahu Railway
and Land Company (OR&L), which ran lines from Honolulu through western
and northern Oahu.
The OR&L was important for the transfer of
troops and goods during World War II. Traffic on this line was heavy
enough that signals were used to facilitate the movement of trains and
to require wigwag signals at some railroad crossings for the protection
of motorists.
The main line was officially abandoned in 1947,
although part of it was purchased by the US Navy and operated until
1970. 21 km of track remain; Conservationists occasionally run trains on
a portion of this line. The Honolulu High Capacity Transit Corridor
project aims to add an elevated passenger railroad on Oahu to relieve
highway congestion.
Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of
Polynesia, a grouping of island archipelagos in the central and southern
Pacific Oceans in the Polynesian triangle, along with the scattered
cultures known as the Polynesian outliers. Polynesians speak languages
that descend from a language reconstructed as Proto-Polynesian that was
probably spoken around Tonga and Samoa around 1000 BC.
Before
the 15th century, Polynesians migrated eastward to the Cook Islands, and
from there to other island groups such as Tahiti and the Marquesas.
Their descendants later discovered the islands of Tahiti, Rapa Nui and,
later, the Hawaiian Islands and New Zealand.
Polynesian languages
are part of the Austronesian language family. Many of them are close
enough in vocabulary and grammar to be mutually intelligible. There are
also substantial cultural similarities between different groups,
especially in social organization, child rearing, horticulture,
construction, and textile technologies. Their mythologies, in
particular, show local reworkings of common tales. Each of the
Polynesian cultures has distinct but related oral traditions; Legends or
myths are traditionally considered to narrate ancient history (the time
of "pō") and the adventures of gods ("atua") and deified ancestors.
Hawaiian mythology includes the legends, historical accounts, and
sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a
more general Polynesian mythology that developed a unique character for
several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian
religion, which was officially suppressed in the 19th century but which
some practitioners kept alive to this day. Among the most prominent
figures and terms are Aumakua, the spirit of an ancestor or family god,
and Kāne, the most altar of the four main Hawaiian deities.
Hula is a form of dance accompanied by chants or songs. It has its
origin in the Hawaiian Islands, where it was developed by Polynesian
aborigines who settled there. The chants or songs are called mele. The
hula dramatizes or comments on the mele.
There are two styles:
The most traditional or ancient Hawaiian dance is called kahiko, through
which various aspects of nature and the gods of Hawaiian culture are
represented. It is accompanied with songs and traditional instruments.
The other style of dance is called auana, and although it has evolved
from kahiko, it is not restricted to representing the sacred aspects
(kapu) that are represented in kahiko. In that sense it can be
considered a contemporary dance that evolved during the 19th and 20th
centuries, with roots in local folklore, which departs to a certain
extent from the orthodoxy of kahiko. Hula is accompanied by songs and
musical instruments of Western influence such as the guitar, ukulele and
double bass.
The dances practiced in Hawaii are an important part
of the local culture. Through dances, stories are told, which include
the future of characters and situations typical of Hawaii. In
particular, the movement of the dancers' hands stands out, which
contribute to the representation of the stories and legends.
The
song Aloha Oe is considered the unofficial anthem of Hawaii.
Hawaiian music includes traditional and popular styles, from native
Hawaiian folk to modern rock and hip hop. Hawaii's musical contributions
to American music are disproportionate to the state's small size.
Styles such as slack-key guitar are well known around the world,
while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks.
Hawaii also contributed greatly to country music with the introduction
of the steel guitar.
Traditional Hawaiian folk music is an
important part of the state's musical heritage. The Hawaiian people have
inhabited the islands for centuries and have preserved much of their
traditional musical knowledge. Their music is, to a large extent,
religious in nature and includes songs and dances.
Hawaiian music
has had a huge impact on the music of other Polynesian islands;
According to Peter Manuel, the influence of Hawaiian music is a
"unifying factor in the development of modern Pacific musics". Native
Hawaiian musician and Hawaiian sovereignty activist Israel
Kamakawiwoʻole, famous for his medley of "Somewhere Over the
Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", was named "The Voice of Hawaii" by NPR
in 2010 in its 50 Great Voices series.
Hawaiian cuisine is a fusion of many foods brought by immigrants to
the Hawaiian Islands, including early Polynesian and Native Hawaiian
cuisine, and of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean,
Polynesian, Puerto Rican, and Portuguese origin. Plant and animal foods
are imported from around the world for agricultural use in Hawaii. Poi,
a starch made by pounding taro, is one of the islands' traditional
foods.
Many local restaurants serve the ubiquitous platter, which
includes two tablespoons of rice, a simplified version of American
macaroni salad, and a variety of toppings, including burgers, a fried
egg, and the sauce of a loco moco, Japanese-style tonkatsu. or
traditional lūʻau dishes, such as kālua pork and laulau.
Spam
musubi is an example of the fusion of ethnic cuisines that developed on
the islands among the mix of immigrant groups and military personnel. In
the 1990s, a group of chefs developed regional Hawaiian cuisine as
contemporary fusion cuisine.
Surfing was practiced in Ancient Hawaii, where it had spiritual
significance. In the early 20th century, lifeguard George Freeth and
Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku held surfing exhibitions outside the
archipelago.
Waikiki's beaches are a favorite for amateur and
professional surfers, while the North Shore attracts big wave
specialists.
Several massive races are held in Honolulu:
The
Great Aloha Run is an 8-mile (13 km) running race held annually on
President's Day since 1985.
The Honolulu Marathon has been held
annually on the second Sunday in December since 1973. It attracts more
than 20,000 participants each year, half to two-thirds of them from
Japan.
The Honolulu Triathlon has been held annually in May since
2004.
The Hawaii Ironman has been held since 1978, being the first
triathon in history at that distance.
Spectator sports fans in
Honolulu generally support American football, volleyball, basketball,
rugby, Rugby League, and University of Hawaii baseball. Honolulu
currently has no professional sports teams although in the past it was
home to the Hawaii Islanders (Pacific Coast League, 1961-87), Team
Hawaii (North American Soccer League, 1977), and the Hawaiian Islanders
(AF2 2002-2004).
The Hawaii Bowl competition belonging to the
National Collegiate Athletic Association is played in Honolulu. Honolulu
has also hosted the National Football League's Pro Bowl in February each
year since 1980, although the 2010 edition was played in Miami.[citation
needed] Between 1993 and 2008, a winter baseball league was played in
Honolulu, with minor league players from the MLB, Japanese Professional
Baseball League, Korean Baseball Organization, and independent leagues.
Surfing is a traditional Hawaiian sport that has experienced a
popular revival since the mid-20th century. Since then, this sport has
spread throughout the world, but is still widely practiced in the
archipelago.
In Peahi, on the island of Maui, in the north of the
island, the Jaws wave occurs in case of strong waves. This giant wave,
one of the largest in the world, sometimes reaches 25 meters high. It
has been popularized by, among others, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama,
Darrick Doerner, Gerry López and Basile Commarieu.
In January
1998, Laird Hamilton surfed the highest wave ever surfed (at the time),
26 meters high, breaking at an impressive speed and forming a gigantic
wall of water, then turning into a gigantic whirlpool of foam and foam.
. Jack Johnson, now known for his songs, is from the island of Oahu and
began his career in the world of surfing. He has won several awards for
his films, such as Thicker Than Water and A Brokedawn Melody.