Maui Historical Timeline

ca. AD 500

The first human beings to set foot on Hawaiian shores are Polynesians, who travel 2,000 mi in 60- to 80-ft canoes to the islands they name Havaiki after their legendary homeland. Researchers today believe they were originally from Southeast Asia, and that they discovered the South Pacific Islands of Tahiti and the Marquesas before ending up in Hawaii.

ca. 1758

Kamehameha, the Hawaiian chief who unified the Islands, is born.

1778

In January, Capt. James Cook, commander of the HMS Resolution and the consort vessel HMS Discovery, lands on the island of Kauai and “discovers” it for the Western world. He names the archipelago the Sandwich Islands after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich. In November, he returns to the Islands for the winter, anchoring at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island.

1779

In February, Cook is killed in a battle with Hawaii’s indigenous people at Kealakekua.

1785

The isolation of the Islands ends as British, American, French, and Russian fur traders and New England whalers come to Hawaii. Tales spread of thousands of acres of sugarcane growing wild, and farmers come in droves from the United States and Europe.

1790

Kamehameha begins his rise to power with a series of bloody battles.

1791

Kamehameha builds Puukohola Heiau (temple) and dedicates it by sacrificing a rival chief he has killed.

1795

Using Western arms, Kamehameha wins a decisive confrontation on Oahu. Except for Kauai (which he tries to invade in 1796 and 1804), this completes his military conquest of the Islands.

1810

The chief of Kauai acknowledges Kamehameha’s rule, giving him suzerainty over Kauai and Niihau. Kamehameha becomes known as King Kamehameha I, and he rules the unified Kingdom of Hawaii with an iron hand.

1819

Kamehameha I died, and his oldest son, Liholiho, rules briefly as Kamehameha II, with Kaahumanu, Kamehameha I’s favorite wife, as co-executive. Kaahumanu persuades the new king to abandon old religious taboos, including those that forbade women to eat with men or to hold positions
of power. The first whaling ships land at Lahaina on Maui.

1820

By the time the first missionaries arrive from Boston, Hawaii’s social order is beginning to break down. First, Kaahumanu and then Kamehameha II defy kapu (taboo) without attracting divine retribution. Hawaiians, disillusioned with their own gods, are receptive to the ideas of Christianity. The influx of Western visitors also introduces to Hawaii Western diseases, liquor, and what some view as moral decay.

1824

King Kamehameha II and his favorite wife die of measles during a visit to England. Honolulu missionaries give both royals a Christian burial outside Kawaiahao Church, inspiring many Hawaiians to convert to the Protestant faith. The king’s younger brother, Kauikeaouli, becomes King Kamehameha III, a wise and gentle sovereign who reigns for 30 years with Kaahumanu as regent.

1832

Kaahumanu is baptized and dies a few months later.

1840

The Wilkes Expedition, sponsored by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, pinpoints Pearl Harbor as a potential Naval Base.

1845

Kamehameha III and the legislature move Hawaii’s seat of government from Lahaina, on Maui, to Honolulu, on Oahu.

1849

Kamehameha III turns Hawaii into a constitutional monarchy, and the United States, France, and Great Britain recognize Hawaii as an independent country.

1850

The Great Mahele, a land commission, reapportions the land to the crown, the government, chiefs, and commoners, introducing for the first time the Western principle of private ownership. Commoners are now able to buy and sell land, but this great division tips the scales regarding native landowners and settlers. By the end of the 19th century, white men own four acres for every one acre owned by a native. Some of the commission’s distributions continue to be disputed to this day.

1852

As Western diseases depopulate the Islands, a labor shortage occurs in the sugarcane fields. For the next nine decades, a steady stream of foreign labor pours into Hawaii, beginning with the Chinese. The Japanese begin arriving in 1868, followed by Filipinos, Koreans, Portuguese, and Puerto Ricans.

1872

Kamehameha V, the last descendent of the king who unified the Islands, dies without heirs. A power struggle ensues between the adherents of David Kalakaua and William Lunalilo.

1873

Lunalilo is elected Hawaii’s sixth king in January. The bachelor rules only 13 months before dying of tuberculosis.

1874

Kalakaua vies for the throne with the Dowager Queen Emma, the half-Caucasian widow of Kamehameha IV. Kalakaua is elected by the Hawaii Legislature, against protests by supporters of Queen Emma. American and British marines are called in to restore order, and Kalakaua begins his reign as the “Merrie Monarch.”

1875

The United States and Hawaii sign a treaty of reciprocity, assuring Hawaii a duty-free market for sugar in the United States.

1882

King Kalakaua builds Iolani Palace, an Italian Renaissance-style structure, on the site of the previous royal palace.

1887

The reciprocity treaty of 1875 is renewed, giving the United States exclusive use of Pearl Harbor as a coaling station. Coincidentally, successful importation of Japanese laborers begins in earnest (after a false start in 1868).

1891

King Kalakaua dies and is succeeded by his sister, Queen Liliuokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch.

1893

After a brief two-year reign, Liliuokalani is removed from the throne by American business interests led by Lorrin A. Thurston (grandson of the missionary and newspaper founder Asa Thurston). Liliuokalani is imprisoned in Iolani Palace for nearly eight months.

1898

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, president William McKinley recognizes Hawaii’s strategic importance in the Pacific and moves to secure the Islands for the United States. On August 12, Hawaii is officially annexed by a joint resolution of Congress.

1901

Sanford Dole is appointed first governor of the territory of Hawaii. The first major tourist hotel, the Moana (now called the Sheraton Moana Surfrider), is built on Waikiki Beach.

1903

James Dole (a cousin of Sanford Dole) produces nearly 2,000 cases of pineapple, marking the beginning of Hawaii’s pineapple industry. Pineapple eventually surpasses sugarcane as Hawaii’s number one crop.

1908

Dredging of the channel at Pearl Harbor begins.

1919

Pearl Harbor is formally dedicated by the U.S. Navy. Representing the Territory of Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, the adopted son of Kapiolani, the wife of Kalakaua, and with his brother one of the designated heirs to the throne of the childless Liliuokalani, introduces the first bill proposing statehood for Hawaii.

1936

Pan American World Airways introduces regular commercial passenger flights to Hawaii from the mainland.

1941

At Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Pacific Fleet is bombed by the Japanese, forcing U.S. entry into World War II. Nearly 4,000 men are killed in the surprise attack.

1942

James Jones, with thousands of others, trains at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. He later writes about his experience in From Here to Eternity.

1959

Congress passes legislation granting Hawaii statehood. In special elections, the new state sends to the U.S. House of Representatives its first American of Japanese ancestry, Daniel Inouye, and to the U.S. Senate its first American of Chinese ancestry, Hiram Fong. Later in the year, the first Boeing 707 jets make the flight from San Francisco in a record five hours. By year’s end 243,216 tourists visit Hawaii, and tourism becomes Hawaii’s major industry.

1993

After Native Hawaiians commemorate the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani with a call for sovereignty, Congress issues an apology to the Hawaiian people for the
annexation of the Islands.