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The islands are exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcanic activity over the Hawaiian hotspot. The islands are about 1,860 miles (3,000 km) from the nearest continent and are part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania .
On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii. Between 1768 and 1779, Captain James Cook led three voyages to chart unknown seas for Great Britain. [78] While crossing the Pacific on his third voyage, he serendipitously encountered the Hawaiian Islands on January 18, 1778, the first documented contact by a European ...
The islands were first settled as early as AD 300 by Polynesian long-distance navigators. British captain James Cook was the first European to land on the islands in January 1778. [2] The islands, which were governed independently up until 1898 were then annexed by the United States as a territory from 1898 to 1959.
During the 1780s and early 1790s, the Hawaiian Islands were divided among several warring chiefdoms. In 1795, the fighting ended when Kamehameha, then a chief (ali’i) of Hawaii Island, conquered most of the main islands in the archipelago (including Maui and Oahu) then founded the Hawaiian Kingdom and the House of Kamehameha dynasty.
The annexation of Hawaii as a U.S. territory was finalized by August 12, 1898, and marked the end of the island nation's independence. Hawaii would not become an official U.S. state until 1959.
Lanai has been under the control of nearby Maui since before recorded history. [17] Its first inhabitants may have arrived as late as the 15th century. The Hawaiian-language name Lānaʻi is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called Lānaʻi o Kauluāʻau, which can be rendered in English as "day of the conquest of Kauluāʻau".
This first European contact with the Hawaiian islands marked the beginning of the end of the Ancient Hawaiʻi period. After Cook's visit and the publication of several books relating his voyages, the Hawaiian Islands attracted European and American explorers, traders, and whalers, who found the islands to be a convenient harbor and source of ...
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory [1] [2] [3] (Hawaiian: Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, [4] until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding Palmyra Island, was admitted to the United States as the 50th US state, the State of Hawaii.