ca. AD 500 The first human beings to
set foot on Hawaiian shores are Polynesians,
who travel 2,000 mi in 60- to 80-ft
canoes to the islands they name Havaiki
after their legendary homeland. Researchers
today believe they were originally from
Southeast Asia, and that they discovered
the South Pacific Islands of Tahiti
and the Marquesas before ending up in
Hawaii.
ca. 1758 Kamehameha, the Hawaiian chief
who unified the Islands, is born.
1778 In January, Capt. James Cook, commander
of the HMS Resolution and the consort
vessel HMS Discovery, lands on the island
of Kauai and "discovers" it
for the Western world. He names the
archipelago the Sandwich Islands after
his patron, the Earl of Sandwich. In
November, he returns to the Islands
for the winter, anchoring at Kealakekua
Bay on the Big Island.
1779 In February, Cook is killed
in a battle with Hawaii's indigenous
people at Kealakekua.
1785 The isolation of the Islands
ends as British, American, French,
and Russian fur traders and New England
whalers come to Hawaii. Tales spread
of thousands of acres of sugarcane
growing wild, and farmers come in
droves from the United States and
Europe.
1790 Kamehameha begins his rise to
power with a series of bloody battles.
1791 Kamehameha builds Puukohola
Heiau (temple) and dedicates it by
sacrificing a rival chief he has killed.
1795 Using Western arms, Kamehameha
wins a decisive confrontation on Oahu.
Except for Kauai (which he tries to
invade in 1796 and 1804), this completes
his military conquest of the Islands.
1810 The chief of Kauai acknowledges
Kamehameha's rule, giving him suzerainty
over Kauai and Niihau. Kamehameha
becomes known as King Kamehameha I,
and he rules the unified Kingdom of
Hawaii with an iron hand.
1819 Kamehameha I dies, and his oldest
son, Liholiho, rules briefly as Kamehameha
II, with Kaahumanu, Kamehameha I's
favorite wife, as co-executive. Kaahumanu
persuades the new king to abandon
old religious taboos, including those
that forbade women to eat with men
or to hold positions of power. The
first whaling ships land at Lahaina
on Maui.
1820 By the time the first missionaries
arrive from Boston, Hawaii's social
order is beginning to break down.
First, Kaahumanu and then Kamehameha
II defy kapu (taboo) without attracting
divine retribution. Hawaiians, disillusioned
with their own gods, are receptive
to the ideas of Christianity. The
influx of Western visitors also introduces
to Hawaii Western diseases, liquor,
and what some view as moral decay.
1824 King Kamehameha II and his favorite
wife die of measles during a visit
to England. Honolulu missionaries
give both royals a Christian burial
outside Kawaiahao Church, inspiring
many Hawaiians to convert to the Protestant
faith. The king's younger brother,
Kauikeaouli, becomes King Kamehameha
III, a wise and gentle sovereign who
reigns for 30 years with Kaahumanu
as regent.
1832 Kaahumanu is baptized and dies
a few months later.
1840 The Wilkes Expedition, sponsored
by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey,
pinpoints Pearl Harbor as a potential
Naval Base.
1845 Kamehameha III and the legislature
move Hawaii's seat of government from
Lahaina, on Maui, to Honolulu, on
Oahu.
1849 Kamehameha III turns Hawaii
into a constitutional monarchy, and
the United States, France, and Great
Britain recognize Hawaii as an independent
country.
1850 The Great Mahele, a land commission,
reapportions the land to the crown,
the government, chiefs, and commoners,
introducing for the first time the
Western principle of private ownership.
Commoners are now able to buy and
sell land, but this great division
becomes the great dispossession: By
the end of the 19th century, white
men own 4 acres for every 1 owned
by a native. Some of the commission's
distributions continue to be disputed
to this day.
1852 As Western diseases depopulate
the Islands, a labor shortage occurs
in the sugarcane fields. For the next
nine decades, a steady stream of foreign
labor pours into Hawaii, beginning
with the Chinese. The Japanese begin
arriving in 1868, followed by Filipinos,
Koreans, Portuguese, and Puerto Ricans.
1872 Kamehameha V, the last descendent
of the king who unified the Islands,
dies without heirs. A power struggle
ensues between the adherents of David
Kalakaua and William Lunalilo.
1873 Lunalilo is elected Hawaii's
sixth king in January. The bachelor
rules only 13 months before dying
of tuberculosis.
1874 Kalakaua vies for the throne
with the Dowager Queen Emma, the half-Caucasian
widow of Kamehameha IV. Kalakaua is
elected by the Hawaii Legislature,
against protests by supporters of
Queen Emma. American and British marines
are called in to restore order, and
Kalakaua begins his reign as the "Merrie
Monarch."
1875 The United States and Hawaii
sign a treaty of reciprocity, assuring
Hawaii a duty-free market for sugar
in the United States.
1882 King Kalakaua builds Iolani
Palace, an Italian Renaissance-style
structure, on the site of the previous
royal palace.
1887 The reciprocity treaty of 1875
is renewed, giving the United States
exclusive use of Pearl Harbor as a
coaling station. Coincidentally, successful
importation of Japanese laborers begins
in earnest (after a false start in
1868).
1891 King Kalakaua dies and is succeeded
by his sister, Queen Liliuokalani,
the last Hawaiian monarch.
1893 After a brief two-year reign,
Liliuokalani is removed from the throne
by American business interests led
by Lorrin A. Thurston (grandson of
the missionary and newspaper founder
Asa Thurston). Liliuokalani is imprisoned
in Iolani Palace for nearly eight
months.
1894 The provisional government converts
Hawaii into a republic and proclaims
Sanford Dole president.
1898 With the outbreak of the Spanish-American
War, president William McKinley recognizes
Hawaii's strategic importance in the
Pacific and moves to secure the Islands
for the United States. On August 12,
Hawaii is officially annexed by a
joint resolution of Congress.
1901 Sanford Dole is appointed first
governor of the territory of Hawaii.
The first major tourist hotel, the
Moana (now called the Sheraton Moana
Surfrider), is built on Waikiki Beach.
1903 James Dole (a cousin of Sanford
Dole) produces nearly 2,000 cases
of pineapple, marking the beginning
of Hawaii's pineapple industry. Pineapple
eventually surpasses sugarcane as
Hawaii's number one crop.
1907 Fort Shafter Base, headquarters
for the U.S. Army, becomes the first
permanent military post in the Islands.
1908 Dredging of the channel at Pearl
Harbor begins.
1919 Pearl Harbor is formally dedicated
by the U.S. Navy. Representing the
Territory of Hawaii in the U.S. House
of Representatives, Prince Jonah Kuhio
Kalanianaole, the adopted son of Kapiolani,
the wife of Kalakaua, and with his
brother one of the designated heirs
to the throne of the childless Liliuokalani,
introduces the first bill proposing
statehood for Hawaii.
1927 Army lieutenants Lester Maitland
and Albert Hegenberger make the first
successful nonstop flight from the
mainland to the Islands. Hawaii begins
to increase efforts to promote tourism,
the industry that eventually dominates
development of the Islands. The Matson
Navigation Company builds the Royal
Hawaiian Hotel as a destination for
its cruise ships.
1929 Hawaii's commercial interisland
air service begins.
1936 Pan American World Airways introduces
regular commercial passenger flights
to Hawaii from the mainland.
1941 At Pearl Harbor the U.S. Pacific
Fleet is bombed by the Japanese, forcing
U.S. entry into World War II. Nearly
4,000 men are killed in the surprise
attack.
1942 James Jones, with thousands
of others, trains at Schofield Barracks
on Oahu. He later writes about his
experience in From Here to Eternity.
1959 Congress passes legislation granting
Hawaii statehood. In special elections
the new state sends to the U.S. House
of Representatives its first American
of Japanese ancestry, Daniel Inouye,
and to the U.S. Senate its first American
of Chinese ancestry, Hiram Fong. Later
in the year, the first Boeing 707 jets
make the flight from San Francisco in
a record five hours. By year's end 243,216
tourists visit Hawaii, and tourism becomes
Hawaii's major industry. 1986 Hawaii
elects its first native Hawaiian governor,
John Waihee.
1992 Hurricane Iniki, the most devastating
hurricane to hit Hawaii, tears through
Kauai on September 11. The island's
people, infrastructure, gardens, and
tourism industry have happily all
since recovered.
1993 After Native Hawaiians commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the overthrow
of Queen Liliuokalani with a call
for sovereignty, Congress issues an
apology to the Hawaiian people for
the annexation of the Islands.
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