Honolulu
Historical Background

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Prehistoric Hawai'i

Hawai'i began 60 million years ago as what geologists call a hot spot: a bulge of hot, molten rock about 250 miles wide running down 1900 miles to our planet's iron core. It rose to the Pacific Ocean plate, where it melted the rock and turned to magma, breaking out of the Earth's crust as lava, and eventually turning to land. Today on Honolulu's home island, O'ahu, there are the remnants of two huge volcanoes, Waianae and Ko'olau.

The World Discovers Hawai'i

The earliest inhabitants of these islands were likely royal navigators from the Marquesa Islands. They found their way to Hawai'i sometime around 900CE. Later came seafarers from New Zealand, Tahiti and other Pacific islands. When the navigators reached these islands, the Big Island's southern points were the first areas settled. British Captain James Cook started the "modern era" of Hawai'i on January 18, 1778. During the next 20 years, the Hawaiian Islands became a beacon for voyagers in an era of international imperialism. For the most part, Hawaiians welcomed the foreign crews, not knowing they brought diseases deadly to the native population. During the next 100 years, 80 percent of the native Hawaiian population succumbed to these illnesses. Tyrannic ruler Kamehameha the First died in May of 1819 just as the first of the American Christian missionaries proclaimed their goal of "raising up the people of Hawai’i to an elevated state of Christian civilization." The influx of missionaries over the next 40 years was to change the island chain forever.

Honolulu Becomes a Pacific Hub

Foreigners created the village of Honolulu beside the tiny harbor of Kou in the first half of the 19th century. By 1850, Honolulu Harbor was full of masts with more than 150 whaling and merchant ships. This meant that more than 3000 seamen were ashore, looking for liquor and other entertainment. Honolulu's jails were always filled to capacity. The town, for better or worse, had become the hub of commerce for the entire northern and central Pacific. Sugar production took hold in the 1840s, and by 1884 production soared to 10 million pounds a year, transforming Hawai'i from a traditional, insular, agrarian and debt-ridden society into a city that was multicultural, cosmopolitan and prosperous. In the center of this world was Honolulu.

19th century super-powers England, France, and the United States were keenly aware of the Islands' and Honolulu's strategic importance. By the early 1840s, intrigues by British residents led Rear Admiral Richard Thomas, commander of the British Squadron in the Pacific, to send Lord George Paulet to Honolulu to protect British interests. He arrived in the winter of 1843 and issued a series of threatening ultimatums. King Kamehameha III had sent emissaries to Europe to resolve all disputes, but to no avail. The king was forced to yield to British guns on February 15, 1843. Protests mounted in the Islands. Since Great Britain had already recognized Hawaii's independence and France had promised to do likewise, the provisional cession to Paulet was received with concern in London, Paris and other foreign capitals. Admiral Thomas came to Honolulu on July 26 and declared Paulet's act to be unauthorized. On July 31, the Hawaiian flag was again raised.

The Hawaiian Monarchy

In 62 years, there were to be five individuals that carried the Kamehameha title, with the last of the direct dynasty passing on in 1872. In 1887, several hundred foreigners formed a secret group called the Hawaiian League. By various means, they intimidated the current king, David Kalakaua (descended from a cousin of Kamehameha the Great), into accepting a new constitution, known as the Bayonet Constitution. It stripped him of many powers, making him a figurehead, and permitted only Caucasian foreigners to vote in elections. In 1889, a man named Robert Wilcox led an uprising against the new constitution. The uprising was put down by the king's troops, but Wilcox became a hero to native Hawaiians. An all-Hawaiian Jury at his conspiracy trial found him not guilty.

After David Kalakaua’s death in 1891, his sister Lydia garnered the distinction of becoming the last Hawaiian monarch. Queen Liliuokalani, as she was known, was a courageous and intelligent woman and a strong nationalist. She tried to replace the Bayonet Constitution with one that would favor native Hawaiians, but was pressured into letting the old constitution stand.

The Overthrow of the Monarchy

Hawaiian planters needed political help to keep their plantations profitable. Most of all, they needed a reciprocity treaty that gave them the ability to sell sugar in the United States without paying a tariff. Hawaiians opposed reciprocity, fearing it was the bait to give the United States exclusive use of Pearl Harbor. The Queen’s attempt to create a constitution that would restore more power to the Hawaiian monarchy was the catalyst and the call to action for powerful Honolulu businessmen. On January 17, 1893, supported by U.S. Marines, they overthrew the Kingdom of Hawai'i. A provisional government was declared and immediately recognized by John Stevens, the American Minister to Hawai'i. Pineapple baron Sandford Dole was appointed President. This lasted until 1898, when the United States annexed Hawai'i and it became a territory of the United States. Once Hawai'i became a state in 1959, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs was created to manage native lands ceded during the overthrow and U.S. annexation.

Honolulu Grows

During the pre-tourist years, sugar planters and pineapple growers ran the islands with impunity, and prospered. However, strong new cultural identities were emerging. The U.S. military was creating a strong presence in the Pacific. The Navy and Army both considered Honolulu, with its key asset of Pearl Harbor, as the most important place in the North Pacific. Unlike military bases on the mainland or in the Philippines, where military life was separated from civilians, Hawai'i and the military grew up together. Military officers were at the top of Honolulu society. Waikiki's first luxury-trade hotel, opened in 1901, the elegant Moana Surfrider, was an exclusive paradise mainly for the rich. The same held true for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which opened in 1919. This would change greatly during the next 20 years, as steamship companies, Hollywood and the Pan American Clipper discovered Honolulu.

In one of World War II's most historic events, Pearl Harbor was struck by forces of the Japanese navy on December 7, 1941. For America, World War II began here, although interestingly, Hawaii would not become a state until much later in 1959.

Honolulu is currently the permanent home to almost one million people of all races and cultural backgrounds. It is not only one of the largest cities in the US, hovering around the 10th or 11th spot on the census charts, but also one of the most popular destinations in the country for business and leisure. At any given time, there are about 100,000 visitors in Hawai'i. Nearly all of them travel through Honolulu, "The Queen of the Pacific."