Geography

Hawaii comprises eight major islands and 96 minor ones, spread over 1,500 miles in the North Pacific.  The most isolated archipelago on earth, Hawaii forms the northernmost corner of the Polynesian Triangle.

The Hawaiian Islands are the tips of massive volcanic mountains, and the southernmost Big Island, famed for its active volcanoes, is still in the birthing process.

Overall, Hawaii has great weather:  balmy and warm, with refreshing trade winds most of the year.  The environment is well preserved both above and beneath the waves, though exotic flora and fauna have taken their toll on native species.

History

The first Polynesians arrived in Hawaii between 500 and 700 AD, and in successive waves thereafter.  Around the 12th century, a powerful Tahitian kahuna (chief) arrived and shook things up, creating a royal dynasty that lasted 700 years.  Like all Polynesians, Hawaiian society was extremely hierarchical, with power in the hands of hereditary chiefs and the high priests.  There was a proliferation of gods for all occupations and natural phenomena, and social interaction was strictly regulated by the kapu (taboo) system.  Human sacrifice was among the more colorful customs.

Captain James Cook arrived in 1778, but there was a bit of a mix-up with the locals and he was clubbed to death.  Throughout the 19th century, whalers, traders and missionaries from England and America arrived in droves, introducing new diseases, goods and ideas.  The old religion was abandoned, the social order deteriorated, and Hawaiians took on western ways.  New immigrants from Europe, America and Asia came to outnumber the natives.  Finally, in 1898, the US annexed Hawaii, a sovereign nation, over the protest of the Hawaiian queen and her people.

On December 7, 1941, a wave of Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, jolting the USA into World War II.  After the war, Hawaii became the 50th US state, and remains its most militarized.

Over the past decade, a Hawaiian sovereignty movement, intent on righting some of the wrongs of the past century, has emerged as a key political force.  In 1993, the US president apologized for his country's overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, acknowledged its ramifications, and expressed a commitment to reconciliation.  But the sovereignty movement remains fragmented, with little consensus; and the native Hawaiians remain unreconciled and uncompensated.

People

The population is about 1.2 million.  There is no ethnic majority; 32% claim ‘mixed ethnicity’, Caucasians and Japanese account for 22% each, and there are large communities of Filipinos, Chinese, African Americans, Koreans, Samoans and Puerto Ricans.  At just 9,000, or less than 1% of the population, there aren’t many full-blooded Hawaiians left.

Culturally, Hawaii is much like the rest of the US, but with greater (and more harmonious) racial diversity.  It is also a notable center of New Age pseudo-spiritualism and health food freaks.

The UN ranks the US in the 98^th percentile in terms of quality of life, based on life expectancy, educational achievement and adjusted real income.  This is behind only Canada and Norway. Although the quality of life in Hawaii as a whole is comparable, Native Hawaiians have the lowest income levels and are at the bottom of most health and welfare indicators (e.g. rates for high school drop-outs, suicide, tragic death, major disease, homelessness, etc).

Economy

The US is a high-income country, with a GNP per capita of over $29,000 per year.  Compared to the US as a whole, however, Hawaiian salaries are lower, and the cost of living and unemployment higher.

With 6-7 million visitors spending $10 billion a year, tourism accounts for about one-third of the state’s income and is Hawaii’s largest industry.  The military is the second largest sector, accounting for $3 billion.  Agriculture is a distant third.

Sources:  World Bank (1998 data), Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas, UNDP Human Development Report, Lonely Planet