 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ] Next Last |
Main article: Hawaiian Islands
The state is comprised of nineteen major islands and atolls in the Central Pacific Ocean. The government also includes within its territoriality minor offshore islands and individual islets found in each atoll in its official count of 137 islands. The inhabited islands are those that lie between Ni‘ihau and the Big Island of Hawai‘i, but the island chain extends another 1000 miles (1600 kilometers) to the northwest.
The most important cities and towns Hilo, Lihu‘e, and Wailuku, as well as the largest city and state capital, Honolulu.
All of the islands were formed by volcanic activity; current volcanic activity is limited to the Island of Hawai‘i (see: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Loihi). The last volcanic eruption elsewhere in the archipelago was on the southwest flank of East Maui Volcano, near the end of the 18th Century.
The main Hawaiian Islands and the counties of the state are shown on the map to the right. The larger islands are listed below.
Main article: History of Hawai‘i
Hawaiian history can be divided into the following episodes: ancient Hawai‘i under the rule of local chiefdoms; consolidation and establishment of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i; overthrow of the monarchy by the Provisional Government of Hawai‘i, followed by governance as the Republic of Hawai‘i; from 1898 to 1959, governance as the Territory of Hawai‘i; Hawai‘i becomes the State of Hawaii of the United States in 1959.
Main article: Ancient Hawai‘i, Hawaiian mythology, Polynesian mythology
Anthropologists believe that the Hawaiian Islands were first populated by Polynesians from the Marquesas and Society Islands approximately 1500 years ago. Memories of the early migrations were preserved orally through genealogies and folk tales, like the stories of Hawai‘iloa and Pa‘ao . Relations with other Polynesian groups were sporadic during the early migratory periods and Hawai‘i grew from small settlements to a complex society in near isolation. Local chiefs called ali‘i ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Warfare was endemic. The general trend was towards chiefdoms of increasing size, even encompassing whole islands.Vague reports by various European explorers suggest that Hawai‘i was visited by foreigners well before the 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook. Cook was credited for the discovery after having been 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.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|