Chronography of Hawaii
Page last modified
16/9/2022
23/11/1993, US President Bill Clinton
apologised to the indigenous Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Kingdom of
Hawaii in the 19th century.
21/8/1959. Hawaii became the 50th
State of the USA.
7/12/1941. Japanese attack on the USA fleet in
Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Pearl Harbour was taken entirely by surprise and within 2
hours 360 Japanese warplanes had destroyed 5 battleships, 14 smaller craft, and
200 aircraft. 2,400 people, many of them civilians, were killed. However the
Japanese failed to find and destroy America�s all-important aircraft carriers,
both of which were away on manoeuvres. The Japanese force then turned west to
strike the British in the East Indies, Australia, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The
US Congress met to declare war in emergency session on 8/12/1941,
much to the relief of
Britain.
9/6/1926, Sanford Ballard Dole,
Hawaiian statesman (born 23/4/1844 in Honolulu) died in Honolulu.
US
annexation of Hawaii; last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, dies
11/11/1917, Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii, died.
14/11/1909. The US President, William Taft, announced that a
naval base would be built on Hawaii at Pearl
Harbour to protect the US from
attack from Japan.
11/3/1901, The
first of many large tourist resorts in Hawaii, the Moana Hotel, opened on
the Waikiki beach, outside of Honolulu, with an afternoon tour of the rooms and
dinner and entertainment for investors, newspaper reporters and VIPs. The first
overnight guests were registered the next day, March 12, with rooms for $1.50
per night (about US$ 47.00 in 2020 by the consumer price index). Located at what
is now 2365 Kalakaua Avenue in Honolulu, the hotel is now operated as the
Westin Moana Surfrider.
30/4/1900, Hawaii, formerly the British Sandwich
islands, formally became a US territory.
12/8/1898.
The sovereignty of Hawaii was
transferred to the USA.
7/7/1898,
The USA formally annexed Hawaii.
17/1/1893. US troops landed on Hawaii and annexed it
to the USA. The annexation was generally peaceful. The US was concerned
about the rise of Japan as a world power, the need for the US to have a Pacific
base, the anti-US attitude of the Hawaiian Queen, and demands from Hawaiian
sugar growers to sell inside the US tariff area.
20/1/1891, King David Kalalahua of Hawaii died, aged 54,
and was succeeded by his 52-year sister, Queen Lydia Liliuokalani. White settlers who
now owned 80% of the land in Hawaii, formed a Hawaiian League to oppose the
accession of Queen
Liliuokalani, and sought annexation to the USA.
20/1/1887.
A renewal of the reciprocity agreement between the USA and Hawaii contained
an amendment giving the USA exclusive rights to a coaling station in Pearl
Harbour.
9/2/1885, The first Japanese migrants
arrived in Hawaii.
18/3/1875. Hawaii
signed a treaty giving exclusive trading rights with the islands to the USA.
1853,
New diseases
brought in by Europeans had decimated the population of Hawaii. In
1778, when Captain Cook landed, there had been some 500,000 Hawaiians.
Europeans brought flu, syphilis, tuberculosis, typhoid and smallpox, and by
1853 there were just 70,000 indigenous Hawaiians.
1848,
King
Kamehameha III seized most Hawaiian land from the indigenous
inhabitants. He kept 24% for himself, a further 36% was �government land�, and
39% went to his chiefs. This left just 1% of the land for the ordinary people.
1845,
The political capital of Hawaii was moved from Maui to Honolulu.
28/11/1843, Britain and France
recognised the independence of the Hawaiiian Islands.
31/7/1843, End of a 5-month British
occupation of Honolulu, Hawaii.
2/9/1838, Queen Liliuokalani, last monarch
of Hawaii, was born.
16/11/1836, David Kalakaua, last King of
Hawaii, was born.
1825,
Accession of King
Kamehameha III.
14/7/1824, Kamehameha II, King of Hawaii and his wife died of measles during a
visit to Britain.
8/5/1819, Death
of King
Kamehameha, who united Hawaii, aged 82. He was succeeded by his
22-year old son, Kamehameha II, who welcomed Christian missionaries and allowed
the indigenous culture to be undermined.
14/2/1779. Explorer Captain
James Cook, born 27/10/1728, stabbed to death at Keelakekeua Bay by
natives of Owyhee, the modern Hawaii. See
28/4/1770, 18/1/1778.
1795. The Hawaiian Islands were now united under a single ruler.
18/1/1778. Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii, then known as the Sandwich Islands. Having
sailed from the Cape of Good Hope in 1776, Cook�s plan was to sail through the
Bering Straits and attempt to find a north-east route between Europe and the
Pacific from the eastern side. See 14/2/1779.
1440, Political
control on the Hawaiian Islands began to consolidate with a single chieftan
ruling each island where before there had been individual petty principalities.
Then, inter-island warfare intensified as island chieftains attempted to
control more resources so as to exact more tribute.
1400, After
significant population growth, especially after 900, there was now no more
unsettled agricultiural land and the level of conflict on Hawaii intensified.
Ca. 450 CE, The Hawaiian Islands were discovered by Chief Hawaii Loa,
who had sailed from Tahiti.