Encyclopedia
Hawaii became the 50th
state of the
United States on August 21, 1959. It is situated in the North
Pacific Ocean, 2,300 miles from the mainland, at . During roughly 1778–1898, Hawaii was also known as the Sandwich Islands.
In dialects of American English, "Hawaii" is pronounced at least three different ways: , , and .
In the
Hawaiian language, there is also some variation possible, but the most general pronunciation is . People sometimes use instead of , because and are in free variation in Hawaiian. Both sounds are equally correct.
Hawaii was first inhabited in roughly 1000 A.D., by foreign
Polynesians who came from islands in the South Pacific, most likely the
Marquesas. By colonizing Hawaii, these originally foreign settlers in effect became
Hawaiian people. For about 800 years, these people were sometimes at peace and sometimes at war with each other, while they expanded their colonial territory throughout the eight main islands. During this time, the Hawaiian people also developed a complex caste society governed by an extensive system of religious and social taboos called the
kapu system. When British explorer
James Cook chanced upon the Hawaiian archipelago in 1778, a Hawaiian warrior known as
Kamehameha was beginning a gradual ascent to power. Before his death in 1819, Kamehameha had succeeded in conquering all of the major Hawaiian islands.
The kingdom established by Kamehameha lasted until 1893, when the last Hawaiian monarch,
Liliuokalani, was overthrown and replaced by a
Provisional Government, and later a
Republic. During the kingdom and republic era, Hawaii's economy transitioned from that of an isolated state into that of a state integrated into the world's free market, producing and exporting more than two hundred thousand tons of sugar annually. In 1898, Hawaii was annexed to the
United States of America and attained statehood in 1959.
Geography
Location, topography, and geology
Hawaii is the
southernmost state of the United States, and would be the westernmost, if not for Alaska. It is one of the only two states that are outside the contiguous United States, and do not share a border with another U.S. state.
Hawaii is the only state that:
lies completely in the
tropics;
is without territory on the mainland of any continent;
is completely surrounded by water; and
continues to grow in area because of active extrusive lava flows, most notably from
Kilauea .
Except for
Easter Island, Hawaii is the furthest from any other body of land in the world.
The
Hawaiian Archipelago comprises eighteen islands and
atolls extending across a distance of 1,500 miles . Of these, eight high islands are considered the "main islands" and are located at the southeastern end of the archipelago. These islands are, in order from the northwest to southeast, Niihau , Kauai , Oahu , Molokai , Lanai , Kahoolawe , Maui , and Hawaii . The latter is by far the largest, and is very often called the "Big Island" or "Big Isle". The use of that alternative name is often motivated by a desire to avoid ambiguity with "Hawaii" meaning the entire state , as opposed to only that one island.
All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes arising from the sea floor through a vent described in geological theory as a hotspot. The theory maintains that as the
tectonic plate beneath much of the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly direction, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. This explains why only volcanoes on the southern half of the Big Island are presently active.
The last volcanic eruption outside the Big Island happened at
Haleakala on Maui in the late 18th century . The newest volcano to form is
Loihi Seamount , deep below the waters off the southern coast of the Big Island.
The volcanic activity and subsequent erosion created impressive geological features. The Big Island is notable as the world's fifth highest island. If the height of the island is measured from its base, deep in the ocean, to its snow-clad peak on Mauna Kea, it can be considered one of the tallest mountains in the world.
Because of the islands' volcanic formation, native life before human activity is said to have arrived by the "3 W's": wind, waves, and wings. The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the wide range of environments to be found on high islands located in and near the tropics, has resulted in a vast array of endemic
flora and
fauna. Hawaii has more endangered species per square mile than anywhere else.
Areas under the control and protection of the
National Park Service include:
Climate
The climate of Hawaii is atypical for a tropical area, and is regarded as more subtropical than the latitude would suggest, because of the moderating effect of the surrounding ocean. Temperatures and humidity tend to be less extreme, with summer high temperatures seldom reaching above the upper 80s and winter temperatures seldom dipping below the mid-60s. Snow, although not usually associated with tropics, falls at high elevations on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island in some winter months. Snow only rarely falls on Maui's Haleakala. Mount Waialeale , on the island of Kauai, is notable for rainfall, having the second highest average annual rainfall on Earth: about 460 inches .
Local climates vary considerably on each island, grossly divisible into windward and leeward areas based upon location relative to the higher mountains. Windward sides face the Northeast Trades and receive much more rainfall; leeward sides are drier, with less rain and less cloud cover. This fact is utilized by the tourist industry, which concentrates resorts on sunny leeward coasts.
Important cities and towns
The movement of the Hawaiian royal family from the island of Hawaii to Maui, and subsequently to Oahu, explains why certain population centers exist where they do today. The largest city,
Honolulu, was the one chosen by King Kamehameha III as the capital of his kingdom because of the natural harbor there, the present-day
Honolulu Harbor.
The largest city is the capital,
Honolulu, located along the southeast coast of the island of Oahu. Other populous cities include
Hilo,
Kaneohe ,
Kailua,
Pearl City,
Kahului,
Kailua-Kona,
Kihei , and
Lihue .
Notable features
The
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument was proclaimed by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006 under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The monument covers roughly 140,000 square miles of reefs, atolls and shallow and deep sea in the
Pacific Ocean — larger than all of America's
National Parks combined.
History
- Main article: History of Hawaii
Hawaiian antiquity
- Main articles: Ancient Hawaii, Hawaiian mythology, Polynesian mythology
Anthropologists believe that
Polynesians from the
Marquesas and
Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands at some time after AD 300-500, although recent evidence has pointed to an initial settlement of as late as AD 800-1000. It is not resolved whether there was only one extended or two isolated periods of settlement. The latter view of an initial Marquesan settlement, followed by isolation and
Tahitian settlers in approximately AD 1300 who conquered and eliminated the original inhabitants of the islands, is hinted at in folk tales, like the stories of
Hawaiiloa , Paao , and menehunes.
There is a theory that: there was only one extended period during which groups of immigrants repeatedly arrived; and contact with their former homelands was not lost until the early 2nd millennium AD. This theory has become more accepted among some scientists, as direct evidence for a massive conquest and a sudden replacement of cultural practices has not been found in the archaeological record.
Voyaging between Hawaii and the South Pacific apparently ceased with no explanation several centuries before the arrival of the Europeans . Local chiefs, called alii , ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Warfare was endemic. The general trend was toward chiefdoms of increasing size, even encompassing whole islands.
Vague reports by various European explorers suggest that Hawaii was visited by foreigners well before the 1778 arrival of
British explorer
Captain James Cook. Historians credited Cook with the discovery after he was the first to plot and publish the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors,
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, and reported the
native name as Owyhee. His visit is confirmed by Hawaiian legends that called for a fair-skinned man — the god Lono — to return to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiians initially believed Cook to be this legendary visitor. It is possible that Portuguese or Spanish ships could have previously visited the islands, leading to the tale that Lono had promised to return to the islands.
Hawaiian kingdom
- Main article: Kingdom of Hawaii
After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kauai in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as
King Kamehameha the Great. He established the
House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872.
The death of the bachelor
King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the popular
election of
King Lunalilo over Kalakaua. After Lunalilo's death, in a hotly contested and allegedly fraudulent election by the legislature in 1874 between Kalakaua and Emma , governance was passed on to the
House of Kalakaua.
In 1887, citing maladministration, a group of primarly American and European businessmen, including members of the Hawaiian government forced
King Kalakaua to sign the derisively nicknamed "
Bayonet Constitution" which stripped the king of administrative authority, eliminated voting rights for Asians and set minimum income and property requirements for American, European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to wealthy elite Americans, Europeans and native Hawaiians.
King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891.
His sister,
Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her overthrow in 1893.
Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy
In 1893, Liliuokalani threatened to abrogate the
existing constitution to restore power to the monarchy. Local businessmen organized in response to this and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. American troops aboard the
USS Boston were landed in Honolulu under strict orders of neutrality, to protect the "lives and property of American citizens, and to assist in preserving public order", while
Sanford B. Dole and
Lorrin A. Thurston's 13 member council of businessmen organized the Honolulu Rifles to depose Queen Liliuokalani.
The monarchy ended in January 1893, and there was much controversy in the following years as the queen tried to regain her throne. After an unsuccessful attempt at armed rebellion in 1895, a weapons cache was found on the palace grounds and Queen Liliuokalani was placed under arrest, tried by a military tribunal of the
Republic of Hawaii, convicted of misprision of treason and then imprisoned in her own home. The Queen officially abdicated in 1896. In 1993, a controversial joint
resolution regarding the overthrow was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.
Republic of Hawaii
The
Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of
Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a
republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the
Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the
Newlands Resolution in
Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States and became the
Territory of Hawaii on July 7, 1898.
Hawaiian territory
- Main article: Territory of Hawaii
When
William McKinley won the presidential election in November of 1896, the question of Hawaii's annexation to the U.S. was again opened. The previous president,
Grover Cleveland, was a friend of Queen Liliuokalani. He had remained opposed to annexation until the end of his term, but McKinley was open to persuasion by U.S. expansionists and by annexationists from Hawaii. He agreed to meet with a committee of annexationists from Hawaii,
Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch and William Kinney. After negotiations, in June of 1897, McKinley agreed to a treaty of annexation with these representatives of the Republic of Hawaii. The president then submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval.
Despite some opposition in the islands, the
Newlands Resolution was passed by the House June 15, 1898, by a vote of 209 to 91, and by the Senate on July 6, 1898, by a vote of 42 to 21, formally annexing Hawaii as a U.S. territory. Although its legality was questioned by some at the time because it was a resolution, not a treaty, both houses of Congress carried the measure with two-thirds majorities, whereas a treaty would have only required two-thirds of the Senate vote .
The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a U.S. territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.
In 1900, Hawaii was granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawaii remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, such as the Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union.
Hawaiian statehood
In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the
Admission Act and U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. On June 27 of that year, a plebiscite was held asking residents of Hawaii to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was the 50th state of the Union.
After statehood, Hawaii quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The
Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the
Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years.
In recent decades, the state government has implemented programs to promote Hawaiian culture. The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 incorporated as state constitutional law specific programs such as the creation of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs to promote the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture.
Controversy has erupted within the last decade over the extent of the Hawaiian cultural programs creating a new political dialogue within the state. Pitting the strong emotions of both integrationists and separatists, high rhetoric has been employed by both groups including the use of propaganda materials of dubious provenance. A much criticized example includes the Hui Aloha Aina and Hui Kalaiaina petitions allegedly rediscovered in 1998. According to their proponents, the petitions are contemporaneous to the annexation of Hawaii with one petition purportedly containing 22,000 signatures in opposition to the annexation while a second petition purportedly contains 17,000 signatures in favor of reinstating the monarchy. The validity of the petitions has been criticized by Lorrin Thurston in an which indicates significant fraud.
Demographics
Historical populations
Census
year | Population |
|---|
| 1900 | 154,001 |
|---|
| 1910 | 191,874 |
|---|
| 1920 | 255,881 |
|---|
| 1930 | 368,300 |
|---|
| 1940 | 422,770 |
|---|
| 1950 | 499,794 |
|---|
| 1960 | 632,772 |
|---|
| 1970 | 769,913 |
|---|
| 1980 | 964,691 |
|---|
| 1990 | 1,108,229 |
|---|
| 2000 | 1,211,537 |
|---|
|
As of 2005, Hawaii has an estimated population of 1,275,194, which is an increase of 13,070, or 1.0%, from the prior year and an increase of 63,657, or 5.3%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 48,111 people and an increase due to net migration of 16,956 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 30,068 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 13,112 people.
Hawaii has a de facto population of over 1.3 million due to military presence and tourists.
Oahu, which is aptly nicknamed "The Gathering Place", is the most populous island , with a resident population of just under one million in 597 square miles, about 1,650 people per square mile. New Jersey with 8,717,925 people in 7,417 square miles is considered the most-densely populated state with 1,134.4 people per square mile. Hawaii's 1,275,194 people, spread over 6,423 square miles results in an average population density of 188.6 persons per square mile, which makes Hawaii less densely populated than rural states like Ohio and Illinois.
On the other hand, Hawaii may be an especially healthy place to live. Hawaiians born in the year 2000 can expect to live 79.8 years , longer than the residents of any other state. Mississippi came in 50th, living 73.6 years , but the District of Columbia was dead last, living 72.6 years .
Ethnicities
Ethnically, Hawaii is one of only four states in which non-
Hispanic whites do not form a majority, and has the largest percentage of
Asian Americans. Hawaii was the first
majority-minority state in the United States since the early 20th century.
The third group of foreigners to arrive upon Hawaii's shores, after the Polynesians and Europeans, were the
Chinese. Chinese employees serving on Western trading ships disembarked and settled starting in 1789. In 1820 the first American missionaries arrived in Hawaii to preach Christianity and teach the Hawaiians what the missionaries considered "civilized" ways. A large proportion of Hawaii's population has become a people of Asian ancestry or latin , many of whom are descendants from those waves of early foreign immigrants brought to the islands in the nineteenth century, beginning in the 1850's, to work on the sugar plantations. The first 153
Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii on June 19, 1868. They were not "legally" approved by the Japanese government established after the Meiji Restoration because the contract was between a broker and the by then terminated
Tokugawa shogunate. The first Japanese government-approved immigrants arrived in Hawaii on February 9, 1885 after Kalakaua's petition to
Emperor Meiji when Kalakaua visited Japan in 1881.
Religions
- Christian = 68%
- Protestant = 42%
- Catholic = 24%
- LDS
...
= 2%
- Agnostic/non-religious = 18%
- Buddhist = 9%
- Other = 5%
See also: Richest Places in Hawaii
Languages
The State of Hawaii has two official languages recognized in its constitution adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention:
English and
Hawaiian. Article XV, Section 4, specifies that "Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions
only as provided by law" [italic added]. Hawaiian Creole English is the first language of many born-and-raised residents, and is a second language for many other residents. After English, the second- and third-most spoken individual languages are
Tagalog and
Japanese, respectively.
As of 2000, 73.4% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak only English at home, and 7.9% speak Pacific Island languages. Tagalog speakers make up 5.4%, followed by Japanese at 5.0%, and
Chinese at 2.6%.
Origin of Hawaiian
Hawaiian is a member of the
Polynesian branch of the
Austronesian family. It began to develop around 1000 A.D., when foreign Marquesans or Tahitians of that era colonized Hawaii. Those
originally foreign Polynesians remained in the islands, thereby becoming the Hawaiian people. Consequently, their originally foreign language developed into the Hawaiian language.
Before the arrival of
Captain James Cook, the Hawaiian language was never written. The present written form of Hawaiian was developed mainly by American Protestant missionaries during 1820–1826. They assigned letters from the Latin alphabet that corresponded to the Hawaiian sounds.
Hawaiian distinguishes between long and short vowels. In writing, vowel length can be indicated with a macron . Hawaiian also uses the glottal stop as a consonant. In writing, it can be indicated with the apostrophe, or with the opening single quote .
Revival of Hawaiian
As a result of the constitutional provision, interest in the Hawaiian language was revived in the late 20th century. Public and independent schools throughout the state began teaching Hawaiian language standards as part of the regular curricula, beginning with preschool. With the help of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, also created by the 1978 constitutional convention, specially designated Hawaiian language immersion schools were established where students would be taught in all subjects using Hawaiian. Also, the
University of Hawaii System developed the only Hawaiian language graduate studies program in the world. Municipal codes were altered in favor of Hawaiian place and street names for new civic developments.
Note on Hawaiian language and okina usage
In Hawaiian-language newspapers published from 1834–1948, the spelling "Hawaii" was used. However, in texts written mainly for Hawaiian-language pedagogy, especially since 1950, the modern Hawaiian-language spelling used is
Hawaii, with an apostrophe or other similar character, such as an opening single quote, written between the final two vowels. The character represents a consonant, the glottal stop, in the Hawaiian language. Although not used and not needed by native speakers of Hawaiian for over 100 years, its use is appropriate in modern written Hawaiian. Therefore, when actual Hawaiian-language forms are cited in this article, they will appear in italic, and will mark the glottal stop, and/or vowel length, if they are a part of the particular word. These citations will be given within parentheses, immediately following the English-language spellings of the particular words, but only at the initial use of the words in the article. English-language spellings of Hawaiian words do not use the modern Hawaiian marks for the glottal stop or vowel length. In that respect, English spellings of Hawaiian words are in harmony with the traditional native spellings. In summary: "Hawaii" is the authentic, traditional spelling of native writers of Hawaiian; "Hawaii" is the modern, post-1950 Hawaiian-language spelling; "Hawaii" is the English-language spelling.
"Pidgin"
Many born-and-raised residents speak Hawaiian Creole English , often called "pidgin". During the 19th century, there was a great increase in immigration from foreign countries, and a pidgin English developed. By the early 20th century, a creole English developed. A creole language is created when pidgin speakers have children who acquire the pidgin as their own native language.
One trait of the HCE is that it retains some vocabulary from Hawaiian. HCE speakers can use some Hawaiian words without those words being considered archaic. Most placenames are retained from Hawaiian, as are some names for plants or animals. For example, tuna fish are often called "ahi" . Also, some Hawaiian words are loanwords in the mainstream American English lexicon. HCE speakers have modified the meanings of certain English words. For example, the terms "auntie" and "uncle" can be used to refer to any adult who is a friend, or a friend to the family. Throughout the surfing boom in Hawaii, HCE has influenced surfing slang. Some HCE expressions, such as
brah and
da kine, have found their way to other places.
HCE has its own grammar. Certain words can be dropped if their meaning is understood. For example, instead of saying "It is hot today, isn't it?", an HCE speaker is likely to say simply "Hot, yeah?"
Debates
A somewhat divisive political issue that has arisen since The Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as a second official state language is the exact spelling of the state's name. As prescribed in the
Admission of Hawaii Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognizes "Hawaii" to be the official state name. However, many state and municipal entities and officials have recognized "Hawaii" to be the correct state name .
Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling, that is, with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length. In contrast, some private entities, including a local newspaper, are using such symbols.
The title of the state constitution is "The Constitution of the State of Hawaii". In Article XV therein, Section 1 uses "The State of Hawaii", Section 2 "the island of Oahu", Section 3 "The Hawaiian flag", and Section 5 specifies the state motto as "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono". Note that English spellings, not Hawaiian spellings, are used in all of those cases. No okinas nor kahakos are used.
The nuances in the Hawaiian language debate are often not obvious or well-appreciated outside Hawaii. The issue has often been a source of friction in situations where correct naming conventions are mandated, as people frequently disagree over which spelling is correct or incorrect, and where it is correctly or incorrectly applied.
Education
Hawaii is currently the only state in the union with a unified school system statewide. It is also the oldest public education system west of the Mississippi River. Policy decisions are made by the fourteen-member state Board of Education, with thirteen members elected for four-year terms and one non-voting student member. The Board of Education sets statewide educational policy and hires the state superintendent of schools, who oversees the operations of the state Department of Education. The Department of Education is also divided into seven districts, four on Oahu and one for each of the other counties.
The structure of the state Department of Education has been a subject of discussion and controversy in recent years. The main rationale for the current centralized model is equity in school funding and distribution of resources: leveling out inequalities that would exist between highly populated Oahu and the more rural Neighbor Islands, and between lower-income and more affluent areas of the state. This system of school funding differs from many localities in the United States where schools are funded from local property taxes.
Policy initiatives have been made in recent years toward decentralization. Current Governor Linda Lingle is a proponent of replacing the current statewide board with seven elected district boards. The Democrat-controlled state legislature opposed her proposal, instead favoring expansion of decision-making power to the schools and giving schools more discretion over budgeting. Political debate of structural reform is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Schools and academies
As stated above, the Hawaii State Department of Education operates all of the public schools in the State of Hawaii.
Hawaii has the distinction of educating more students in independent institutions of secondary education than any other state in the United States. It also has four of the largest independent schools:
Mid-Pacific Institute,
Iolani School,
Kamehameha Schools, and
Punahou School. The second Buddhist high school in the United States, and first Buddhist high school in Hawaii, Pacific Buddhist Academy, was founded in 2003.
Other popular independent schools include
Hawaii Baptist Academy, Hawaii Preparatory Academy,
Maryknoll School, St. Andrew's Priory, and
Saint Louis School.
Both independent and charter schools can select their students, while the regular public schools must take all students in their district. For a comprehensive list of independent schools, see the . For a comprehensive list of public schools, see the .
Colleges and universities
Graduates of institutions of secondary learning in Hawaii often either enter directly into the work force or attend colleges and universities. While many choose to attend colleges and universities on the mainland or elsewhere, most choose to attend one of many institutions of higher learning in Hawaii.
The largest of these institutions is the
University of Hawaii System. It consists of: the flagship research university at
Manoa ; two comprehensive campuses
Hilo and
West Oahu; and seven Community Colleges. Students choosing private education attend
Brigham Young University Hawaii,
Chaminade University of Honolulu,
Hawaii Pacific University, or
University of the Nations.
The Saint Stephen Diocesan Center is a seminary of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. For a comprehensive list of colleges and universities, see the .
Problems
Public schools in Hawaii have to deal with large populations of children of non-native English speaking immigrants and a culture that is different in many ways from the mainland U.S., from whence most of the course materials come, and where most of the standards for schools are set.
The public elementary, middle, and high school scores in Hawaii tend to be below average on national tests as mandated under the
No Child Left Behind Act. Some of this can be attributed to the Hawaii State Board of Education requiring all eligible students to take these tests and reporting all student test scores unlike, for example, Texas and Michigan. Results reported in August 2005 indicate that two-thirds of Hawaii's schools failed to reach federal minimum performance standards in math and reading .
On the other hand, results of the ACT college placement tests show that Hawaii class of 2005 seniors scored slightly above the national average . It should be noted that fewer students take the ACT examination than take the more widely accepted
SAT examination. On the SAT, Hawaii's college bound seniors tend to score below the national average in all categories except math.
Hawaii, like all other states in the United States, is struggling to provide educational services in its public schools with shrinking budgets.
Economy
The history of Hawaii can be traced through a succession of dominating
industries:
sandalwood,
whaling,
sugarcane,
pineapple,
military,
tourism, and
education. Since statehood was achieved in 1959, tourism has been the largest industry in Hawaii, contributing 24.3% of the Gross State Product in 1997. New efforts are underway to diversify the economy. The total gross output for the state in 2003 was US$47 billion; per capita income for Hawaii residents was US$30,441.
Industrial exports from Hawaii include food processing and apparel. These industries play a small role in the Hawaii economy, however, due to the considerable shipping distance to markets on the west coast of the United States and ports of
Japan. The main agricultural exports are nursery stock and
flower 
