state, United States
Alternative Titles: Aloha State, Hawaii Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Sandwich Islands
State, United States
Seal of Hawaii
Seal of Hawaii
(2010) 1,360,301; (2016 est.) 1,428,557
Total area (sq mi)
Total area (sq km)
David Y. Ige (Democrat)
State nickname
Aloha State
Date of admission
Aug. 21, 1959
State motto
State bird
nene (Hawaiian goose)
State flower
yellow hibiscus
State song
“Hawai’i Pono’i”
U.S. senators
Brian Schatz (Democrat)
Mazie Hirono (Democrat)
Seats in U.S. House of Representatives
2 (of 435)
Time zone
Hawaiian (GMT − 10 hours)
  • 1Excluding military abroad.


    Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  • Allerton Garden, Kauai, Hawaii.
    Allerton Garden, Kauai, Hawaii.

Hawaii was characterized by Mark Twain as “the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean.” The name is thought to derive from Hawaiki, the former name of Raiatea, the ancestral home of Polynesians.

  • Steep cliffs on the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii.
    Steep cliffs on the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii.
    John Wang/Getty Images
  • Onomea Falls on the island of Hawaii.
    Onomea Falls on the island of Hawaii.
    James P. Blair/Getty Images

Hawaii is economically vigorous, with diversified agriculture and manufacturing. Hawaiian activities of national and international importance include research and development in oceanography, geophysics, astronomy, satellite communications, and biomedicine. Often called the Crossroads of the Pacific, the state is strategically important to the global defense system of the United States and serves as a transportation hub of the Pacific basin. Finally, Hawaii is a cultural centre and a major tourist mecca. Area 10,970 square miles (28,412 square km). Population (2010) 1,360,301; (2016 est.) 1,428,557.

  • Subaru Telescope, Mauna Kea Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
    Subaru Telescope, Mauna Kea Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii.



The land area of the state of Hawaii consists of the tops of a chain of emerged volcanic mountains that form 8 major islands and 124 islets, stretching in a 1,500-mile (2,400-km) crescent from Kure Island in the west to the island of Hawaii in the east. The eight major islands at the eastern end of the chain are, from west to east, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii. Each volcanic mountain formed during the transit of the Pacific Plate across a hotspot (a region of Earth’s upper mantle that upwells to melt through the crust) located beneath the central Pacific Ocean, and erupting magma added mass to the crust above.

  • Hawaii
    Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  • Volcanoes, coastlines, and relief of Hawaii, U.S.
    Volcanoes, coastlines, and relief of Hawaii, U.S.
    Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  • Eruption of Kilauea, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, 1983.
    J.D. Grigg/USGS
  • Overview of Hawaii’s land and wildlife, with a discussion of Mauna Kea Observatory.
    Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz

The origin of Hawaii’s islands, islets, and seamounts can be traced to at least 70 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous Period (145 million to 66 million years ago). Volcanic activity has become dormant, with the exception of the emergent volcanoes of Mauna Loa, Kilauea, and the Lō‘ihi Seamount. Mauna Loa and Kilauea are located on the easternmost and largest island, Hawaii (often referred to as the “Big Island”), where spectacular eruptions and lava flows take place from time to time. The Lō‘ihi Seamount, a growing volcano that could break the surface of the ocean tens of thousands of years from the present, is located 18.6 miles (30 km) southeast of the island of Hawaii. The highest Hawaiian mountains are Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, both on the island of Hawaii, reaching 13,796 feet (4,205 metres) and 13,678 feet (4,169 metres) above sea level, respectively.

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Heads of wheat and unprocessed wheat grains (Triticum species).
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There has been little erosion in the geologically young areas, where the terrain is domelike or scattered with hardened lava, and the volcanic craters are clearly defined. In the older areas the mountains have been shaped and eroded by sea, rain, and wind. Their aspects thus include sharp and craggy silhouettes; abrupt, vertically grooved cliffs pocked with caves; deep valleys; collapsed craters (calderas); and coastal plains. The powerful Pacific surf, churning and crashing against the fringing coral shelves and the lava shorelines, has carried minute shells onto the shore and reduced coral and large shells to sand, creating the state’s famous expanses of beach.

Heavy rainfall in mountainous areas produces an extremely voluminous runoff, which is responsible for the erosion that forms the numerous grooves, ridges, and V-shaped valleys characteristic of the older volcanic islands such as Kauai and Oahu. The action of rain combined with waves has had a particularly dramatic effect on the more exposed windward sections of the islands.


Because the topography of Hawaii is generally abruptly descending or sloping, there are few surfaces that collect water. Excess rainfall seeps through porous mountain areas to gather in subterranean chambers and layers retained by less-permeable lava and ash beds, or it is prevented by underlying salt water from seeping to the sea. The resultant artesian water supply is tapped for use in irrigation and also for human consumption. Many streams in Hawaii are intermittent, depending on the volume of rainfall. The island of Kauai has numerous perennial streams, the largest of which is the Wailua River.


As a result of the weathering of basaltic lava and volcanic ash, Hawaii is rich in arable soils. Given local conditions, with variations in rainfall and organic matter, the islands contain a wide variety of soils. Of these the most significant are the andisols and mollisols that are the product of lava flows that occurred more than 3,000 years ago on the islands of Maui and Hawaii and that are agriculturally productive when irrigated. Also suitable for agriculture are the oxisols of Oahu and Kauai, both of which are red from iron oxidation.


Hawaii lies just below the Tropic of Cancer, and its mild tropical climate is considered by many people to be the world’s ideal. Although the weather is often humid by U.S. mainland standards, temperatures are conditioned by the northeast trade winds, which prevail most of the year and make living on the islands delightfully comfortable. As moisture-laden air is carried over the islands, most frequently by the trade winds, it is apt to condense, form cap clouds, and dissipate against the shores and mountains of the windward coasts, which are therefore more lush in foliage than the leeward coasts.

  • Rainstorms and waterfalls of Hawaii, U.S., including time-lapse sequences of cloud movements.
    Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Most Hawaiians recognize only two seasons: summer and winter. Summer (kau) lasts from May through October, with high temperatures and reliable trade winds. The rainy season, winter (ho‘oilo), lasts from November to April, with cooler temperatures and frequent rainstorms.

The average temperature in Honolulu is in the low 70s F (about 22 °C) in the coolest month and in the high 70s F (about 26 °C) in the warmest, though extreme temperatures in the high 50s F (about 14 °C) and low 90s F (about 33 °C) have been recorded there. The average water temperatures off Waikiki Beach in Honolulu range from the mid-70s F (about 24 °C) in late February to the high 70s F (about 26 °C) in late September. The temperature falls about 3.5 °F (2 °C) with every 1,000 feet (300 metres) of elevation, so mountainous regions are considerably cooler, especially during the winter months, when there can be frost; a temperature of 1.4 °F (−17 °C) has been recorded on the summit of Mauna Kea, and winter snows frequently blanket the crests of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

Rainfall variations throughout the state are dramatic. Mount Waialeale, on the island of Kauai, is often called the wettest spot on Earth, with an annual average rainfall of about 450 inches (11,430 mm). The driest area of the state is at Kawaihae, on the island of Hawaii, where the average annual rainfall is only about 9 inches (220 mm). The average yearly rainfall in Honolulu is 23 inches (590 mm), and in Hilo, one of the state’s wettest cities, it is about 130 inches (3,300 mm).

Plant and animal life

The plants and animals that have migrated to Hawaii evolved in a relatively benign environment, creating species that live nowhere else on the planet. The seeds of endemic plant species were carried to Hawaii by birds, winds, or currents and tides, bringing about extensive forestation, shrubbery, and grasslands where soil and precipitation were favourable. However, as greater and greater numbers of species were introduced by humans, either purposely or accidentally, the native species, both plant and animal, came under increasing pressure. About one-third of the more than 1,000 animal species that the U.S. government has declared threatened or endangered are located in Hawaii. More than 1,000,000 acres (400,00 hectares) of land in the state have been set aside in an attempt to protect native ecosystems.

Polynesians and Europeans introduced mongooses, rats, frogs, toads, and, in the more remote regions of some of the islands, deer, sheep, pigs, and goats. Endemic birds, which may have evolved from a small number of original immigrants and which have been isolated from others of their kind, have taken on certain characteristics of their own. These include the nene (Hawaiian goose), the Hawaiian stilt, and a variety of small forest birds known as honeycreepers. Some species of birds have become extremely rare, but, as the result of an increased environmental awareness, steps have been taken to preclude their extinction. Seabirds nest in profusion on the western islands of the archipelago and to a far lesser extent among the major eastern islands. There has been considerable importation of birdlife. Mynas, sparrows, cardinals, and doves live in the trees in both urban and rural areas. Every autumn the small golden plover make an awe-inspiring, nonstop 3,000-mile (4,800-km) flight from Alaska to Hawaii, where they spend the winter, together with ducks from Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern United States.

The insect population contains about 10,000 native species, of which about nine-tenths are unique to the islands. The ocean sustains a diversity of marine ecosystems, from tide pools to the deep ocean floor, with about one-fourth of all the species being unique to Hawaii. The waters surrounding the islands are home to a wide variety of marine mammals, including about a dozen species of whales.


Population composition

Most anthropologists believe that the original settlement of Hawaii was by Polynesians who migrated northwest from the Marquesas Islands between the 4th and 7th centuries ce, to be followed by a second wave of immigrants that sailed from Tahiti during the 9th or 10th century. The capabilities demonstrated by the revival of the use of the voyaging canoe and traditional navigation methods in Hawaii beginning in the 1970s indicate that the islands may not have been as isolated after their initial colonization as was once thought; indeed, there may have been considerable purposeful voyaging between Hawaii and far-flung Polynesian destinations. Still, Hawaii’s isolation was great enough that Hawaiian culture developed its own distinctive characteristics, even though there are still rather close resemblances in language and culture between the Hawaiians and their Polynesian relatives.

The original Hawaiians were highly skilled in fishing and farming. By the late 18th century their society had evolved into a complex one with a rigid system of laws set down by chiefs and priests. They worshipped and feared a group of gods not unlike the ancient Greek deities of Mount Olympus in character and power.

The arrival of foreigners to Hawaii began after British Capt. James Cook came upon the islands in 1778. During the ensuing four decades, European and American explorers, adventurers, trappers, and whalers stopped for fresh supplies at the Hawaiian Islands—contact that would have a profound effect on the islanders. Not the least of these effects was the introduction of diseases from both the East and the West against which the islanders, theretofore virtually disease-free, had no natural immunities. Venereal disease, cholera, measles, and tuberculosis all contributed to the decimation of the native peoples, whose population fell from approximately 300,000 to fewer than 40,000 by the 1890s, little more than a century later.

The collapse of the population, coupled with the impact of outside cultures, most likely caused crisis in Hawaiian society and sparked social and political change. Most notably, Hawaiians, led by members of the royal family, overthrew the complex kapu (taboo) system of laws and punishments in 1819. Loss of faith in the old gods, intense curiosity about the ways of people of the United States and Europe, and avid interest in learning to read and write brought about a swift adoption of Christianity on the part of many Hawaiians. The first group of Christian missionaries arrived from the United States in 1820, and by the mid-19th century Hawaii was largely a Christian kingdom, with a small but significant European and American population.

Since that time the ethnic and religious makeup of Hawaii has undergone dramatic change. As the number of Native Hawaiians declined, other ethnic groups arrived, mainly to work on the plantations. Contract labourers came first from China, then from Japan, the Azores, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Korea. They were joined by immigrants from the U.S. mainland, Europe, and elsewhere in the Pacific. Over the course of two centuries, people from all over the world had settled in Hawaii, creating a multiethnic society. Each group brought its own customs, languages, and religions into the Hawaiian way of life, broadening it far beyond its Polynesian cultural origins. The descendants of these later settlers now far outnumber the descendants of the original Hawaiians. There is also a continuous influx and outflow of military personnel and their dependents as a result of Hawaii’s importance as a base for all branches of the U.S. armed forces.

The two official languages of Hawaii are English and Hawaiian. In the early 1990s the Hawaiian language was all but extinct, spoken by only a handful of Native Hawaiians. However, a program that established Hawaiian-language immersion schools created a new generation of Hawaiian speakers, and instruction in Hawaiian is now offered from kindergarten through the graduate school level. The language also lives on in place-names and street names and in songs. Most Hawaiian residents can also speak what has come to be called Hawaiian Creole English. Commonly referred to as pidgin, Hawaiian Creole English is a dialect of English created by children in the multilingual environment of Hawaiian plantation camps. Hawaiian Creole English has been used increasingly in Hawaiian fiction, poetry, and drama.

With a continued influx of Asian immigrants as well as tourists from Asia, notably from Japan, Hawaii has remained multilingual. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and several major Filipino languages are widely spoken, and it is not uncommon to see signage in these languages. The largest religious groups are Roman Catholics and Protestants. There are, however, small but important groups of Buddhists and of adherents of other Asian religions.

  • Byodo-in Temple, Oahu, Hawaii.
    Byodo-in Temple, Oahu, Hawaii.
    Brand X Pictures/Jupiterimages

Settlement patterns

Until the end of World War II, Hawaii’s population was scattered in rural settlements, ranging from tiny fishing villages far off the main roads, scant clusters of small houses in isolated valleys, and solitary farm or ranch houses to large coastal and upland villages and plantation and ranch towns.

During the 1950s and ’60s there was a building boom in Hawaii of such magnitude that the configuration of entire towns was altered. Single-family dwellings, individual businesses and shops, small markets, and three- or four-story hotels were overrun by high-rise hotels and apartment buildings, shopping centres, and supermarkets. The most graphic example of this was in the city of Honolulu, where construction of 30- and 40-story buildings gave the city—once sprawling and low—a thrusting, multileveled skyline. The Waikiki area on Oahu became so densely built up that (despite its world-famous beach) it transformed into an urban resort. Resort development on the other islands, notably Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii, was better planned, with less density and more open space along the shorelines. On Oahu, much agricultural land was developed for housing, rural towns became suburbs, and a second city, Kapolei, was founded in 1990 on the leeward plains, once home to vast sugarcane fields.

Most of the state’s residents live on Oahu, and nearly three-fourths of them reside in Honolulu proper and its metropolitan area. Because there are vast areas of Oahu still devoted to agriculture and forest reserves, the majority of the population actually resides in high-density clusters. Honolulu is the only legally incorporated town or city in the state.

Many of the older houses in agricultural villages on the islands are largely raised frame structures, often with corrugated-iron roofs. More modern homes are found in some smaller towns. Plants of native origin skirt the foundations of homes, and the yards are informally planted with fruit and flower trees. In all but the smallest villages, there are a school, markets, a post office, a fire station, and at least one church.



Hawaii ranks relatively low among U.S. states in terms of personal income, farm products sold, value of manufacturing shipments, retail sales, and bank deposits. Largely because of its insularity and dependence on imports, Hawaii has a high cost of living. Transportation costs are included in the prices of nearly all consumer goods. As Hawaii’s population rose, housing became increasingly difficult to acquire, and it is disproportionately expensive when compared with housing costs in many mainland states. Building materials, most of which are imported, are expensive. Historically, residential land has been limited and highly priced, since much of the property, notably on Oahu, is owned by corporations and trusts (though legislation has largely remedied this situation for owners of single-family homes if not for condominium owners). One solution to the shortages and expense associated with urban housing has been the development of mixed-housing communities consisting of single-family homes, high-rise dwellings, townhouses, and apartment complexes.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Agriculture is a major component of the local economy. Since the first Polynesian settlement on the islands, a tremendous variety of food and ornamental plant life from many parts of the world has been introduced. Food plants grown commercially or in backyards for home consumption include sugarcane, pineapple, papaya, banana, mango, guava, litchi, coconut, avocado, breadfruit, lime, passion fruit, taro, and tamarind, though sugarcane and pineapple production have decreased as the world market for them has been changed by lower labour costs in other pineapple- and sugarcane-producing places such as the Philippines. Nearly all varieties of common garden vegetables are raised on the islands, and flowers abound year-round. Since the early 2000s there has been a slow but steady growth of diversified crops, including coffee, macadamia nuts, ginger root, and seed crops. Most of Hawaii’s islands have ranches, with the majority concentrated on the Big Island, where the ranching tradition dates from the 1830s. Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) taught Hawaiians how to manage their herds, beginning a tradition of paniolos, or Hawaiian cowboys, who derived their name from these vaqueros and predated the cowboys of the American West. The paniolos still run their ranches in much the same way today. Livestock raising, together with some lumbering and commercial fishing, are other important sources of income. Nearly half of the commercial fish catch is tuna, especially yellowfin.

Resources and power

Hawaii has no important mineral deposits; its only natural resources are its climate, water supply, soil, vegetation, and surrounding ocean, as well as the rock, gravel, sand, and earth quarried for use in construction and landscaping. Electric power is supplied by a small number of power companies operating oil-powered steam and diesel generators. Several military installations and some private institutions generate their own power. A small amount of hydroelectric power is generated on several of the islands, and in the mid-1980s a geothermal plant began producing electricity on Hawaii, which supplies about one-fifth of the total electricity to the island. On Maui, the Kaheawa wind farm was opened in 2006. Hawaii still relies on imported oil for most of its energy, but the state has set out to increase its use of renewable energy sources.


Hawaii has several hundred companies engaged in diversified manufacturing. Heavy-manufacturing plants, using raw materials for the most part imported from the U.S. mainland, include oil refineries that produce a variety of petroleum products and chemical compounds, a concrete-pipe plant, and an aluminum-extrusion plant. Heavy manufacturing is confined mainly to the island of Oahu. Most lumber is imported from the mainland. A number of garment manufacturers, largely situated in Honolulu, produce printed fabrics and apparel marketed locally, nationally, and abroad.

A wide variety of Hawaii-grown foodstuffs, sold locally and exported to the mainland, are processed in the state. These include Asian and Hawaiian food specialties as well as tropical fruit juices, jams and jellies, candies, coffee, macadamia nuts, and various alcoholic beverages. Exports include sugar, garments, flowers, and canned fish. Major imports are fuel, vehicles, food, and clothing.

Services, labour, and taxation

Tourism is Hawaii’s largest industry. Expansion has been particularly rapid since World War II, and the growth has resulted in part from continued improvements in transportation and the stimulus provided by the state government and local businesses. The majority of visitors come from the U.S. mainland, Canada, Australia, and Asia, particularly Japan. Cruise ships make regular stops in Honolulu, and interisland luxury cruises are available. About half of the hotel units are on Oahu, chiefly in Waikiki and the adjacent Ala Moana area. Visitors have access to a wide range of recreational and cultural facilities, including golf courses, tennis courts, parks, surfing sites, beaches, restaurants, theatres, musical attractions, and sporting events. Tourism has helped Hawaii to become the centre of the international market of the Pacific basin. Capital investment by U.S. mainland and foreign companies has increased tremendously.

  • High-rise hotels at Waikiki Beach, Honolulu.
    High-rise hotels at Waikiki Beach, Honolulu.
    © voshadhi/iStock.com

About one in four Hawaiian workers belong to a union, making the state among the most unionized in the country. Major Hawaiian manufacturing industries are unionized, as are many of the service and construction industries. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the state’s largest private-sector union, has an important and turbulent history. In 1949 its members held a six-month dock strike against the five shipping companies that controlled most of Hawaii’s economic activity (mainly the sugar and pineapple plantations). All shipping to and from the islands was stopped. The union’s successful action helped strengthen the Hawaiian Democratic Party, allowing it to more ably challenge the Republicans, who had been in power since the annexation of Hawaii in 1900. With the decline of sugar and pineapple production since the early 2000s, however, the ILWU’s influence in Hawaii has faded, and it has been superseded in membership by the Hawaii Government Employees Association, which has had considerable political clout.

State taxes are collected under a centralized tax system. The chief sources of the state’s revenue are a general excise tax, individual income taxes, and federal grants-in-aid.


Ocean surface transportation is Hawaii’s lifeline, and Honolulu Harbor, with its extensive docks, warehouses, and storage sheds, is the centre of Hawaiian shipping. A large percentage of the cargo ships ply between Hawaii and California ports, a few between Hawaii and the East Coast of the United States via the Panama Canal, and others between Hawaii and western Pacific island ports. Tug-pulled barges and small freighters transport goods from Honolulu to the outer islands, returning with agricultural crops and livestock.

The majority of voyagers to and from Hawaii travel by air, as do most interisland passengers. The major civilian airports capable of serving large-jet traffic are Honolulu International Airport, on Oahu; Hilo International Airport at Hilo and Kona International Airport at Keahole in Kailua-Kona, both on Hawaii; and the Kahului Airport, on Maui. There are several smaller airports and a number of small private airfields on the islands. Military authorities maintain a number of airports throughout the state.

Hawaiian roads range from narrow country paths to multilane freeways, which are most common on Oahu. Most of the roads follow lowland contours, circling the islands along or near the shorelines and crossing islands only between mountain ranges. There are many spectacular mountain roads providing dramatic vistas. On Oahu two tunnels bring traffic from the heads of two valleys behind Honolulu through the Koolau Range and out into the windward, or northeastern, side of the island.

  • Koolau Range, Oahu, Hawaii.
    Koolau Range, Oahu, Hawaii.
    Courtesy of United Airlines; photograph, James E. McWayne

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