Hawaii

Hawaii today is the farthest west state in the Union. It is also the most unusual state in the United States, for it consists of 132 islands and atolls extended across some 1,600 miles of ocean. The eight major islands in the chain are what are usually referred to as Hawaii, and of these, seven are permanently inhabited--Kahoolawe is not (Kyselka & Lanterman, 1980, 1-10). As is true of many parts of the world, the Hawaiian Islands were actually "discovered" more than once. The islands were first discovered by the Polynesians who came to inhabit the region. The West discovered the islands centuries later when they were explored by Captain Cook, a rather controversial figure in Hawaiian history and in the history of exploration and discovery.

The first contact with Western ideas and technology came when Captain James Cook accidentally visited the islands with hi British expedition in 1778-1779. At that time, the population of the islands was totally Hawaiian (Tabrah, 1980, 3). The Polynesian ancestors of contemporary Hawaiians settled the islands more than a thousand years ago (Tabrah, 1980, 4). Captain Cook was surprised to find the islands where they lie because he believed there was no land in those waters. This was three thousand miles north of Tahiti, and because of the way the people reacted, Cook believed that they had never before encountered Europeans. The islands were so far from the routes usually taken by early explorers that they had remained undiscover

Related Essays

The Geography and Culture of Hawaii Hawaii today is the farthest west state in the Union. It is also the most ungual state in the United States, for it consists of .... (1681 7 )

Airline Industry & Hawaii .... due in large part to the increased capacity of today's aircraft (the 747 400 as compared to the 747-200, for example) and the need of Hawaii to transport many .... (1579 6 )

Anti-Growth Drive in Hawaii This research examines the economic and social implica tions of anti growth and development legislation proposed in the State of Hawaii. .... (4213 17 )

Anti-Growth Legislation in Hawaii This research examines the implications and potential effects of anti growth and development legislation proposed in the State of Hawaii. .... (4026 16 )

Cultural Sensibility of Japanese Workers in Hawaii Milton Murayama, in Five Years On A Rock and All I Asking For Is My Body explores the cultural sensibility of Japanese in Hawaii working on sugar plantations. .... (1770 7 )

nd of human solidarity (Kent, 1983, 13). For a thousand years, Hawaii had been isolated from the outside world (Kent, 1983, 14). This first visit by Captain Cook would be followed by a second. He had previously visited Tahiti, charted the North and South islands of New Zealand, and had been the first to explore the Antarctic Ocean and to predict the existence of Antarctica. He explored the coasts of Australia and made his way through the scattered atolls and islands of Oceania. On his third voyage he sailed north toward the Bering Sea in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. When he first sighted land, Cook assumed that he was about to make contact with a previously unknown island racial group. From the point of view of the islanders, the arrival might have been the two floating islands predicted by the god Lono. The fishermen who first saw the ship saw the masts as leafless trees, while the sails were the white tapa banners of Lono (Tabrah, 1983, 15-16). Cook's second voyage and wrote down the names of the island as best he could hear them with his European ears. There was no collective name for the islands, and Cook supplied one by calling the group the Sandwich Islands after his patron, the First Lord of the Briti

Category: History - H