Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States, having received statehood on August 21, 1959. Hawaii is the only U.S. state geographically located in Oceania, although it is governed as a part of North America, and the only one composed entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii is America’s youngest state, entering the nation on August 21, 1959.
Hawaii has its own time zone and does not observe Daylight Saving Time.
In 1790, the volcano Kilauea erupted on the Big Island of Hawaii, killing over 5,000 people and making it the most deadly volcanic eruption in the United States. Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Hawaii is home to the unique “Happy Face Spider” (Theridion grallator), which bears an uncanny resemblance to a smiling face on the back of its abdomen.
Hawaii 5-0 was the longest-running police drama until Law and Order. While the stars worked for the state police department in the series, in reality, Hawaii doesn’t have a statewide police department or DMV. They are managed by each county government.
Born in Hawaii, Barack Obama is the only president from outside the continental United States.
Hawaii became the first state in the union to legalize abortion on demand in 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade. (Colorado legalized abortion in 1967, but only in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.)
Hawaii’s nickname is the “Aloha State.” The word aloha is derived from the Proto-Polynesian, alofa, and its meanings include “love,” “compassion,” and “mercy.” Aloha is used both as “hello” and “goodbye.”
The only land snake to be found in the wild in Hawaii is the tiny Hawaiian blind snake, which is thought to have arrived in plant soil brought from the Philippines in 1929 to landscape the Kamehameha School grounds.
Day biting mosquitoes first arrived in Hawaii in 1872 as stowaways aboard a merchant ship, bringing with them new diseases such as malaria and the plague.
The southernmost state in the United States is Hawaii.
Early Christian missionaries to Hawaii (circa 1820) were shocked to find that Hawaiian mothers practiced infanticide if the babies were deformed or diseased or if there were already too many children. They were also shocked by the extreme displays of grief (such as knocking out their own teeth or tattooing their own tongues) after the death of a loved one.
Hawaii is the only U.S. state with a majority Asian American population, at 58%.
Hawaii is the only U.S. state with a majority Asian American population, at 58%.
Hawaii has lost more species and has more endangered species than any other state in the United States. Nearly all of the state’s native birds are in danger of becoming extinct.
Hawaii is the only state in the nation that grows coffee, has tropical rainforests, and is made completely of islands.
Hawaii is the only state that is not geographically located in North America, is completely surrounded by water, and does not have a straight line in its state boundary.
Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, and Maine have all banned billboards.
Because of its continuous volcanic eruptions, Hawaii is the only state in the nation to have an increasing land area.
The eight horizontal stripes on Hawaii’s flag represent each of the state’s main islands. In the upper-left corner of the flag is a small version of Britain’s flag which honors British captain George Vancouver, who gave Hawaii its first flag in 1794.
The word Hawaii is from the Proto-Polynesian hawaiki, meaning “place of the gods” or “homeland.”
Hawaii has two official languages, Hawaiian and English, though Pidgin, Samoan, and Tongan are also spoken.
Captain Cook initially called Hawaii the “Sandwich Islands” after his English patron, the Earl of Sandwich. In 1819, King Kamehameha renamed the islands the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Surfing, or heenalu, was invented thousands of years ago by the Polynesians who first settled Hawaii. Their boards weighed more than 150 pounds and measured up to 20 feet.
Nearly one tourist has died every week in Hawaii, on average, from 2012 to 2015.
Oahu draws more visitors than any other island of Hawaii.
From bottom to top, Mount Everest is not the world's tallest mountain. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is about 1 km (3280 feet) taller.
The average projected lifespan of those born in Hawaii in the year 2000 is 79.8 years (77.1 years if male; 82.5 if female), longer than the residents of any other state.
It is illegal to own a hamster in Hawaii .
One of the earliest cases of AIDS ever recorded in the United States was in Hawaii. In May 1978, a 50-year-old Asian woman was diagnosed with the disease and died in August of that year.
George Washington is worshipped as a god by Japanese Shinto priests in Hawaii.
The ukulele was not invented in Hawaii but rather in the Portuguese Island of Madeira.
Only two types of mammals are native to Hawaii: the hoary bat and the monk seal.
Everyone is a minority in Hawaii—there are no racial majorities. Haoles or Caucasians, constitute about 33% of the population, Japanese about 33%, Filipino-Americans about 16%, and Chinese-Americans about 5%. Most of the population has mixed ethnicities.
The most disproportionately common physical injury diagnosis in Hawaii is "arm injury."
When Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1778, he was greeted as the god Lono because he had arrived during a sacred festival. Initially, the Hawaiians thought Cook’s ships were floating islands.
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