To this day, yet not so tight right when Hawaii was settled for the first time. Long thought to be the first Polynesians from Tahiti to the year 1000 came to Hawaii, but recent discoveries suggest that this is already in the 5th Century or even earlier happened. There are also indications that the first visitors came from the Marquises Islands in the South Pacific. Unchallenged and is admired in any case, the seamanship of Polynesians who conquered with their famous canoes of the Pacific.

Hawaii was discovered by the Western world in 1778, when British Captain James Cook first sighted Oahu and then landed on the island of Kauai. Cook named

At this time, each of these islands a hereditary kingdom that was ruled by tribal leaders. One of them, Kamehameha, only increased his power on the island Hawaii in a series of battles in 1790 and then conquered the islands of Maui and Oahu. When he died in 1819, King Kamehameha was first united the islands under his rule and founded the Kingdom of Hawaii. It lasted until 1893.

20 landed the first American missionaries from New England. They brought not only the Christian faith, but also represented the first of several waves of immigration that led to today's cosmopolitan character of the Hawaiian people.

At first King Kamehameha followed, only two sons and two grandchildren. After the death of the last direct descendants - King Kamehameha V - 1872 a dispute arose between the elected King Kealakekua and the widow of Kamehameha V, Queen Emma, which was ended only by, the government requested, American and British marines. After the death of King Kealakekua in 1891 he followed his sister Liliuokalani to the throne.

Their rule was ended by a bloodless "revolution" and the establishment of a provisional government in 1893 under the leadership of Sanford Ballard Dole, a year later in 1894 Hawaii was transformed into a republic.

The time Hawaii was a kingdom characterized by waves of immigration. The young sugar industry needed plantation workers and 1852, many  Chinese came to Hawaii. Thus began a flow of immigrants, which lasted until 1946. The first Japanese arrived in 1868, followed by Filipinos, but also Koreans, Portuguese, Puerto Ricans and others.

The growing importance of the sugar industry was reflected in the political development of Hawaii. The sugar growers favored annexation by the United States of America to secure a firm market, while the monarchists were more of a sovereign state.

Even the provisional government in 1893, the U.S. had asked for access, but by a formal annexation of the sovereignty and Oberg Abe a joint decision of the U.S. Congress took place only on 12 August 1898 instead. Hawaii became a U.S. territory, and on 14 June 1900 Dole became the first governor of Hawaii.

A referendum in 1940 brought a two-thirds majority for annexation as a state in the USA. A Constitutional Assembly in 1950 created a modern constitution for Hawaii (later added). Ultimate Hawaii on 21 50th August 1959 as and thus included in the recent State of the American Union.