Hawaii - Historical & Cultural Center

Hawaii islands offer many historical facts: there King Kamehameha unified the squabbling fiefdoms into a strong kingdom, there Captain Cook stopped on his voyage, there United States was catapulted into the World War II after the attack from Pearl Harbor.

Weather Statistics & Climates

Weather statistics of the Hawaiian archipelago register dates just from two seasons: "the summer", between May and October, and "the winter", between October and April. The islands' climates are subtropical, with a normal annual temperature of 77 F. Usually, the weather from Hawaii is excellent, being almost always warm and sunny. Still, the weather statistics of Hawaii register sometimes very fast changes, so a tropical rain can be expected always.
Local climates vary considerably on each island. Windward sides face the northeast trades and receive much more rainfall; leeward sides are drier and sunnier, with less rain and less cloud cover. This fact is utilized by the tourist industry, which concentrates hotels and resorts on the sunny coasts of the islands.
Hurricanes are very rare in Hawaii. The worst hurricane from Hawaii was "Iniki" in 1992, that showed that Hawaii is still vulnerable to a direct hit of a hurricane.

Cultural Center & Historical Facts

Hawaii is a stepping-stone that links East to West because there the Polynesian sensuality, the American pragmatism and the Oriental exoticism weave a tapestry of cultural extremes. Hawaii's multi-cultural society has had major immigration from:
-Polynesia in 700 A.D.
-United States in 1820
-China in 1852
-Japan in 1868
-Portugal in 1878
-Puerto Rico in 1900
-Korea in 1903
-Philippines in 1906

Economy

Hawaii's cost of living is among the highest in the United States. Sources indicate a cost of living ranging from 30% above the national average to over 60% depending upon family size and circumstances. In 2005 visitor arrivals totaled 7.4 million (a new record) and the Gross State Product was $54 billion!
With the demise of its sugar and pineapple industries in the 1990's, Hawaii is working to diversify its economy with a focus on industries such as science and technology, health and wellness tourism, diversified agriculture, ocean research and development, and film & television production.

Education

The University of Hawaii consists of ten campuses: three are university campuses (UH Manoa on Oahu, UH Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii and UH West Oahu) and seven are community colleges. In the Fall of 2004, a total of 50,569 students were enrolled throughout the system. The public school system operates statewide under a single State Department of Education. In 2004 there were 183,185 K students in public schools.

Geography

Hawaii is the most remote island chain in the world, over 2,000 miles from the nearest landfall. Hawaii consists of eight major islands plus 124 minor islands, reefs and shoals, strung like a necklace across the Pacific for over 1,500 miles. The eight major islands (which make up over 99% of the total land area) are Oahu, Maui, Hawaii (known as Big Island), Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe (uninhabited) and Niihau (privately owned). Oahu is as different from Molokai and Maui as Kauai is from Lanai and the Big Island. With their collective mass of 4.1 million acres or 6,450 square miles, these islands form the fourth smallest state in the United States. For Hawaiians the land is the "mother". The Hawaiian word for land literally means "that which feeds".

Geology

Hawaii's story is the story of creation- the islands born from the Pacific's depths some 40 million years ago. Hawaii has been shaped by the capricious forces of fire, magma, rains, and winds. About 30 miles southwest of the active volcano Kilauea, located on the Big Island, is the newest island of the chain, Loihi. Stretching toward the northwest from Loihi are other major Hawaiian islands: Big Island, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau.

Government

From their "modern" discovery by Captain James Cook in 1778 - when each island was a separate kingdom - the Hawaiian Islands passed through several stages. These included the status of an united kingdom under Kamehameha the Great, a republic, and then a U.S. territory status until 1959, when the Congress made Hawaii the 50th State of the United States. Today, Hawaii has only two levels of government: state and county. There are no separate municipalities and no independent school districts.

Population

The historical artifacts prove that the Hawaiian Islands have attracted human migrants in waves, first the Polynesians, then the whalers, the merchants, the missionaries, the sugar planters and ranchers, the multi-ethnic traders and laborers, and finally the tourists. With a resident population of 1.3 million (2005), Hawaii has an average population density statewide of approximately 200 people per square mile. Hawaii is probably the only place in the United States, if not the world, where every single racial group is a minority-one of the world's most harmonious gatherings of people. At least a third of the population is mixed. According to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a study conducted in 1984 estimated that there were only 8,244 pure Hawaiians-about 0.7 percent of Hawaii's total population. Today some think the number could be less than 5,000. In 2003, Hawaii's ethnic population was:
-Unmixed (except Hawaiian) 739,890 (60.5%)
-Caucasian 286,727 (23.5%)
-Japanese 203,963 (16.7%)
-Filipino 162,542 (13.3%)
-Chinese 47,609 (3.9%)
-Black 11,587 (0.9%)
-Koreans 10,236 (0.8%)
-Samoan/Tongan 17,226 (1.4%)
-Mixed (except Hawaiian): 223,901 (18.3%)
-Hawaiian/Part Hawaiian: 258,490 (21.1%)