Hawai

Hawaii (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi: Hawaiʻi) became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is situated in the North Pacific Ocean, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) from the mainland, at 21°18′41″N, 157°47′47″W. 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: (IPA pronunciation: [hə.ˈwaɪ.ji], [hə.ˈwaɪ.i], [hə.ˈwaɪ.ʔi]). In the Hawaiian language, there is also some variation possible, but the most general pronunciation is [hə.ˈwəi.ʔi].

Hawaii was first inhabited in roughly AD 1000, by Polynesian settlers who came from islands in the South Pacific, most likely the Marquesas. For nearly 800 years, the people of Hawaii lived in a complex caste society governed by various warring chiefdoms and an extensive system of religious and social taboos called the kapu system. British explorer James Cook chanced upon the Hawaiian archipelago in 1778. With the help of foreign advisors and weapons, a Hawaiian warrior known as Kamehameha began a gradual ascent to power. Before his death in 1819, Kamehameha had succeeded in conquering (through military force, or in the case of Kauai and Niihau, by other political means) all of the major Hawaiian islands, a feat never before accomplished in the history of the islands.

The kingdom established by Kamehameha lasted until 1893, when the last Hawaiian monarch, Liliuokalani, was overthrown in a coup led by supporters of the Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom 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^[2]. In 1898, Hawaii was annexed to the United States of America and attained statehood in 1959.