History of Hawaii

The history of the Hawaiian Islands spans Polynesian settlement, the rise and overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, U.S. annexation, and the islands’ development as a U.S. state.

Polynesian navigation: The seafaring knowledge and techniques Polynesian peoples used to navigate and settle the Pacific. Long-distance voyaging brought the first settlers to the Hawaiian Islands.
Kamehameha I: The ruler who unified the Hawaiian Islands into one kingdom by 1810. His conquests established the monarchy that shaped the kingdom’s early history.
Kamehameha III: The longest-reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, who ruled from 1825 to 1854. His reign saw constitutional government and major changes in land tenure.
Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom: The 1893 seizure of power that deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani and ended the Hawaiian Kingdom’s government. It marked the decisive rupture in the islands’ independent political history.
Bayonet Constitution: The 1887 constitution imposed on King Kalākaua under threat of force, reducing royal authority and restricting voting rights. It preceded the overthrow by weakening the monarchy and empowering foreign-backed interests.
Settlement of Hawaii: The migration and establishment of Polynesian communities in the Hawaiian Islands. It marks the beginning of human history in the archipelago.
Hawaiian Kingdom: The independent constitutional monarchy that governed the Hawaiian Islands from 1810 until its overthrow in 1893. Its changing institutions and sovereignty anchor the islands’ nineteenth-century history.
Liliʻuokalani: The last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, deposed in 1893. Her resistance and later writings became central to accounts of the overthrow.
Republic of Hawaii: The republic that governed the Hawaiian Islands from 1894 until U.S. annexation in 1898. It served as the intervening regime between monarchy and U.S. territorial rule.
1897 Petition Against Annexation: A petition signed by thousands of Native Hawaiians opposing annexation by the United States. It records organized opposition that complicates claims of island-wide consent.

Linked from 2 pages