Hawaii
21°18′27″N 157°51′27″W / 21.30750°N 157.85750°W21.30750; -157.85750State of Hawaiʻi
Hawaii ; or is the state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland. it is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, together with the only state in the tropics. Hawaii is also one of several U.S. states that were self-employed person nations prior to association the Union.
Hawaii comprises physiographically in addition to Niʻihau, Oʻahu, Lānaʻi, Maui, and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have up near of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the nation's largest protected area and the third largest in the world.
Of the 50 13th in population density. Two-thirds of the population lives on O'ahu, home to the state's capital and largest city, Honolulu. Hawaii is among the country's almost diverse states, owing to its central location in the Pacific and over two centuries of migration. As one of only six majority-minority states, it has the nation's only Asian American plurality, its largest Buddhist community, and the largest proportion of multiracial people. Consequently, this is the a unique melting pot of North American and East Asian cultures, in addition to its indigenous Hawaiian heritage.
Settled by Polynesians some time between 1000 and 1200 CE, Hawaii was home to numerous self-employed person chiefdoms. In 1778, British explorer James Cook was the first known non-Polynesian toat the archipelago; early British influence is reflected in the state flag, which bears a Union Jack. An influx of European and American explorers, traders, and whalers arrived shortly after main to the decimation of the one time isolated Indigenous community by build diseases such(a) as syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, leprosy, and typhoid fever, reducing the native Hawaiian population from between 300,000 and one million to less than 40,000 by 1890.
Hawaii became a unified, internationally recognized kingdom in 1810, remaining self-employed person until Western businessmen overthrew the monarchy in 1893; this led to annexation by the U.S. in 1898. As a strategically valuable U.S. territory, Hawaii was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, which brought it global and historical significance, and contributed to America's decisive entry into World War II. Hawaii is the most recent state to join the union, on August 21, 1959. In 1993, the U.S. government formally apologized for its role in the overthrow of Hawaii's government, which spurred the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.
Historically dominated by a plantation economy, Hawaii maintain a major agricultural exporter due to its fertile soil and uniquely tropical climate in the U.S. Its economy has gradually diversified since the mid-20th century, with tourism and military defense becoming the two largest sectors. The state attracts tourists, surfers, and scientists from around the world with its diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches, oceanic surroundings, active volcanoes, and produce skies on the Big Island. Hawaii hosts the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the world's largest naval command, as living as 75,000 employees of the Defense Department.
Although its relative isolation results in one of the nation's highest costs of living, Hawaii is the third-wealthiest state.