HAWAII

Hawaii was a territory of the United States of America for 59 years before it was admitted to the union and became the 50th state on August 21, 1959. The first settlement on the islands was by the Polynesians between 300 and 900 A.D. from the Marques and Tahiti islands, respectively. Captain Cook was the first European who discovered the islands while sailing from Tahiti towards the northwest coast of America in 1778. King Kamehameha formed the islands into a kingdom in 1810, and the monarchy was overthrown by the American businessmen (sugar plantation owners), U.S. minister John L. Stevens, and U.S. marines from the USS Boston in 1893. 

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Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and approximately 2000 miles away from the west coast of California. The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanic activity under the ocean floor, which erupted over millions of years to form the islands. There is a small island being formed off the big island because of Kilauea volcano activity.  The eruption has been happening since 1983 until today. The geologists believe the lava flow will eventually join the island of Hawaii (the Big Island) and one day become a large island. The island chain comprises eight major islands, of which Kauai (upper left) is the oldest, and Oahu and Maui are the second and third oldest. The Big Island (Hawaii) is the largest and newest of the inhabited islands. The only uninhabited island is Kahoolawe. The military utilized the island for military training purposes only.  The US military stopped utilizing these for bombing and training on the island in 1993 due to political pressures. Congress voted to transfer Kahoolawe to the state formally in 1994 and authorize the cleanup of the island in the amount of 400 million dollars.