Hawaii (
hə-WY-ee;
Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi
[həˈvɐjʔi] or
[həˈwɐjʔi]) is a
state of the
United States of America located in the
Pacific Ocean. It is the only U.S. state located outside
North America, the only island state, and the only state in the
tropics.
The state encompasses nearly the entire
Hawaiian archipelago, which consists of 137
volcanic islands spanning 1,500 miles (2,400 km), which are
physiographically and
ethnologically part of the
Polynesian subregion of
Oceania. The state's ocean coastline is consequently the
fourth longest in the U.S, at about 750 miles (1,210 km). The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are
Niʻihau,
Kauaʻi,
Oʻahu,
Molokaʻi,
Lānaʻi,
Kahoʻolawe,
Maui, and
Hawaiʻi, after which the state is named; it is often called the "Big Island" or "Hawaii Island" to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago.
Of the 50
U.S. states, Hawaii is the
eighth-smallest geographically and the
11th-least populous, but the
13th-most densely populated. It has more than 1.4 million residents, and is among the most diverse states in the country, with the nation's only
Asian American demographic majority. The state capital and largest city is
Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu. Settled by Polynesians some time between 124 and 1120 AD, Hawaii was an independent nation until 1898, when it was annexed by the United States. It became the most recent state to join the union, on August 21, 1959.
Hawaii's diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches, oceanic surroundings, active volcanoes, and clear skies on the Big Island make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, volcanologists, and astronomers. Due to its central location in the Pacific and successive waves of labor migration, Hawaii is a unique
melting pot of
Southeast Asian,
East Asian and
North American cultures, in addition to its
indigenous Hawaiian culture.
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Timothy Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman (March 18, 1845 – February 27, 1863) was an American
Union Army soldier of
Native Hawaiian descent. Considered one of the "Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War", he was among a group of more than one hundred documented Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants who fought in the
American Civil War while the
Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was still an independent nation.
Born and raised in
Hilo, Hawaiʻi, he was the eldest son of
Kinoʻoleoliliha, a Hawaiian
high chiefess, and
Benjamin Pitman, an American pioneer settler from
Massachusetts. Through his father's business success in the
whaling and sugar and coffee plantation industries and his mother's familial connections to the
Hawaiian royal family, the Pitmans were quite prosperous and owned lands on the
island of Hawaiʻi and in
Honolulu. He and his older sister Mary were educated in the
mission schools in Hilo alongside other children of mixed Hawaiian descent. After the death of his mother in 1855, his father remarried to the widow of a missionary, thus connecting the family to the American missionary community in Hawaiʻi. However, following the deaths of his first wife and later his second wife, his father decided to leave the islands and returned to Massachusetts with his family in 1861. The younger Pitman continued his education in the public schools of
Roxbury, where the Pitman family lived for a period of time.
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Kīlauea (
KEEL-ow-AY-ə,
KIL-ə-WAY-ə, Hawaiian:
[tiːlɐwˈwɛjə]) is an active
shield volcano in the
Hawaiian Islands that last erupted between 1983 and 2018. Historically, Kīlauea is the most
active of the
five volcanoes that together form the island of
Hawaiʻi. Located along the southeastern shore of the island, the volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and emerged above sea level about 100,000 years ago.
It is the second youngest product of the
Hawaiian hotspot and the current eruptive center of the
Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Because it lacks
topographic prominence and its activities historically coincided with those of
Mauna Loa, Kīlauea was once thought to be a satellite of its much larger neighbor. Structurally, Kīlauea has a large, fairly recently formed
caldera at its summit and two active
rift zones, one extending 125 km (78 mi) east and the other 35 km (22 mi) west, as an active
fault of unknown depth moving vertically an average of 2 to 20 mm (0.1 to 0.8 in) per year.
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Pāhoehoe Lava flows in the open
lava channel (not in a
Lava tube) with overflows at both sides. The lava flow is due to July 21, 2007
fissure eruption at
Kīlauea
volcano. The channel is crusting over with a v-shaped opening pointing upstream. The crusting-over process usually starts at the upstream end, the crust grows downstream for a considerable distance, then the crust founders and sinks opening the channel to crusting over again.
This section is here to highlight some of the most common words of the Hawaiian Language, ʻŌlelo, that are used in everyday conversation amongst locals.
Hauʻoli
Happy, glad, joyful
Some common uses:
Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou, Happy New Year; Hauʻoli lā hānau, happy birthday
Haunani-Kay Trask (1949) is a
Hawaiian nationalist, educator, political scientist, author, and professor emeritus at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa. Trask is the producer of the award-winning documentary Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation (1993), winning nine different awards in three different countries. Trask helped to establish the
Gladys Brandt Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa. Trask authored two books, Eros and Power: The Promise of Feminist Theory (1984), and From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi (1993). She also published two books of poetry, Night Is a Sharkskin Drum (1994) and Light in the Crevice Never Seen (1999). Trask co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning documentary, Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation and developed an educational CD-ROM on the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement entitled Haunani-Kay Trask: We Are Not Happy Natives (2002). In March 2017, Hawaiʻi Magazine recognized her as one of the most influential women in Hawaiian history.
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- ... that missionary
John D. Paris had one of his churches occupied by a self-proclaimed prophet who predicted the end of the world in 1868?
- ... that the Hawaiian town
Kainaliu was named after an ancient canoe bailer who worked for King
Keawenuiaʻumi in the 16th century?
- ... that to prevent extinction of the
Mauna Kea silversword, scientists rappel over cliffs to hand-pollinate the approximately 41 remaining in the wild, on the rare occasion that one blossoms?
"Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here." —
Dan Quayle
There are no anniversaries listed for this day.
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