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400 AD The earliest habitation supported by archaeological evidence dates to the 4th century, probably by Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas, followed by a second wave of migration from Raiatea and Bora Bora in the 11th century.
1000 Some archaeologists and historians believe that there had been an early settlement from the Marquesas and a later wave of immigrants from Tahiti, circa 1000, who were said to have introduced a new line of high chiefs, the Kapu system, the practice of human sacrifice and the building of heiaus. This later immigration is detailed in folk tales about Pa'ao. Other authors have argued that there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence for a later influx of Tahitian settlers, and that Paao must be regarded as a myth. This seems very unlikely due to the fact that the Kapu system and the practice of human sacrifice was only common in Tahitian culture. Regardless of the question of Paao and the history of the Royal Hawaiian lineage, historians agree that the history of the islands was marked by a slow but steady growth in population and the size of the Kapu chiefdoms, which grew to encompass whole islands. Local chiefs, called Ali'is, ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. This was conducted in a system of allies of various ranks similar to the tribal systems before Feudalism.
1778 The 1778 arrival of British explorer James Cook is usually taken to be Hawaii's first contact with European explorers. Cook named the islands the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. He published the geographical coordinates of the islands and reported the native name as Owyhee.
Cook visited the Hawaiian islands twice. During his second visit—in 1779—he attempted to abduct a Hawaiian chief and hold him as ransom for return of a ship's boat that was stolen by a different minor chief; the chief's supporters fought back, and Cook was killed.
After Cook's visit and the publication of several books relating his voyages, the Hawaiian islands received many European visitors: explorers, traders, and eventually whalers who found the islands a convenient harbor and source of fresh food. Early British influence can still be seen from the design of the local Flag of Hawaii which has the British Union Flag in the corner. Visitors introduced diseases to the formerly isolated islands, and the Hawaiian population plunged precipitously. American missionaries (e.g. Hiram Bingham I) arrived in 1820 and eventually converted the remaining population to Protestant Christianity. Kamehameha II ended the human sacrifice and the Kapu system and Kamehameha III was the first Christian king.
During the 1780s and 1790s the chiefs were constantly fighting for power. After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and forced cession of the island of Kauai in 1810, all of the inhabited islands were subjugated under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872.
The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V—who did not name an heir—resulted in the popular election of Lunalilo over Kalakaua (Kalakaua). After Lunalilo's death, in a hotly contested and allegedly fraudulent election by the legislature in 1874 between Kalakaua and Emma (which led to riots and the landing of U.S. and British troops to keep the peace), governance was passed on to the House of Kalakaua.
1887 Under the influence of Walter M. Gibson, a group of kingdom subjects, members of the Hawaiian government, American and European businessmen forced Kalakaua to sign the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii which stripped the king of administrative authority, eliminated voting rights for Asians and set minimum income and property requirements for American, European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to wealthy elite Americans, Europeans and native Hawaiians. King Kalakaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her overthrow in 1893.
1893 Queen Liliuokalani announced plans to establish a new constitution that would have replaced the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii that was established during the reign of King Kalakaua. On January 14, 1893, a group of business leaders and citizens formed a Committee of Safety in opposition to the Queen. United States Government Minister John L. Stevens, responding to a request from the Committee of Safety expressing concern about possible violence directed against American citizens, summoned a company of uniformed U.S. Marines to come ashore. As one historian noted, the presence of these troops effectively made it impossible for the monarchy to enforce its new constitution.
In January 1893, Queen Liliuokalani was replaced by a Provisional Government composed of members of the Committee of Safety. There was much controversy in the following years as the queen tried to re-establish her throne. The administration of President Grover Cleveland commissioned the Blount Report, which concluded that the removal of Liliuokalani was illegal. The U.S. Government first demanded that Queen Liliuokalani be reinstated, but the Provisional Government refused. Congress responded to Cleveland's referral with another investigation, and submitted the Morgan Report by the U.S. Senate on February 26, 1894, which found all parties (including Minister Stevens) with the exception of the queen "not guilty" from any responsibility for the overthrow. The accuracy and impartiality of both the Blount and Morgan reports has been questioned by partisans on both sides of the historical debate over the events of 1893.
1894 The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands Resolution in Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States and became the Territory of Hawaii on July 7, 1898.
When William McKinley won the presidential election in November 1896, the question of Hawaii's annexation to the U.S. was again opened. The previous president, Grover Cleveland, was a friend of Queen Liliuokalani. He had remained opposed to annexation until the end of his term, but McKinley was open to persuasion by U.S. expansionists and by annexationists from Hawaii. He agreed to meet with a committee of annexationists from Hawaii, Lorrin Thurston, Francis Hatch and William Kinney. After negotiations, in June 1897, McKinley agreed to a treaty of annexation with these representatives of the Republic of Hawaii. The president then submitted the treaty to the U.S. Senate for approval.
1898 Despite some opposition in the islands, the Newlands Resolution was passed by the House June 15, 1898, by a vote of 209 to 91, and by the Senate on July 6, 1898, by a vote of 42 to 21, annexing Hawaii as a U.S. territory. Its legality continues to be questioned because it was a United States Government resolution, not a treaty of cession or conquest as is required by international law. Both houses of the American Congress carried the measure with two-thirds majorities.
1900 Hawaii is granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawaii remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners and key capitalists, who maintained control through financial institutions, or "factors," known as the Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various states of the U.S. The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a U.S. territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.
1959 In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii, from the new state.) On June 27 of that year, a referendum was held asking residents of Hawaii to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted at a ratio of 17 to 1 to accept. There has been criticism, however, of the Statehood plebiscite, because the only choices were to accept the Act or to remain a territory, without addressing the issues of legality surrounding the overthrow. Despite the criticism, the United Nations decolonization committee later removed Hawaii from the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
After statehood, Hawaii quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years.
1993 A joint Apology Resolution regarding the overthrow was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton, apologizing for the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It is the first time in American history that the United States government has apologized for overthrowing the legitimate government of a sovereign nation.
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