Facts about Hawaii.
The State of Hawaii is located in the central Pacific and is comprised of eight major islands. Hawaii is located 2,390 miles from California, 3,850 miles from Japan, 4,900 miles from China and 5,280 miles from the Philippines. The state has a total population of 1.2m and the State Capital is Honolulu, located on the island of Oahu.
The ancient Hawaiians originally sailed to these islands on sturdy seagoing rafts, travelling more than 2000 miles from Polynesia. Exactly when they arrived is not certain, but it was before 480 AD, when Mookini Luakini Heiau was built south of the town of Hawi, in North Kohala. Captain James Cook arrived in the islands in 1775, naming them the "Sandwich Islands" after the Earl of Sandwich. However as early as 1818, King Kamehameha I is reported to have protested, saying that each island should be called by its own name, and the entire group referred to as the "Islands of the Kingdom of Hawaii".
The islands were officially granted their independence (after a brief usurpation) from Great Britain in 1843 and remained a sovereign kingdom until 1893, when the monarchy was overthrown by a group of American businessmen.
Hawaii's two official languages are Hawaiian and English. The melodious Hawaiian language is a Polynesian dialect. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet: vowels a, e, i, o, u; consonants h, k, l, m, n, p and w. In order to clarify pronunciation, you will often see the glottal stop ( ' ) or 'okina and macron used on words such as Hawai'i.
Hawaii officially became the 50th state in the American Union on August 21, 1959, hence the name of the famous TV series, Hawaii Five-O.
