In the late 1700's the Hawaiian chiefs were fighting amongst themselves for power. And after a few bloody battles, the inhabited islands were put under the rule of one chief, Kamehameha. He ruled till the year 1872.
The King died without naming an heir thus the next king was King Lunalilo. After his death Governance was passed over these islands by the Europeans.
In the year 1887, a group of Europeans and Americans, cheated the then King, Kalakaua to sign an agreement. This agreement took away all power and authority from the King and rights were taken away from the people. The throne was then given to the King's sister Lili'uoklani who ruled till 1893.
With the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778, the islands of Hawaii first met the Europeans. It was Captain Cook who first drew and plotted the geographical co-ordinates of the islands. This was done basically so that they could come to the islands again and new exactly how to get there.
There are people who claim that there were visitors from Europe who came to the islands even before Cook. But there is no solid proof, hence the story of Captain Cook is considered as the story regarding the arrival of the Europeans.
It is a sad fact that in his life time Cook could visit these islands only twice; during his second visit he got killed. He got killed by a Hawaiian Chief's supporter who couldn't stand his Chief's humiliation.
Later, because the Hawaiian Islands and its beauty were mentioned in so many books and publications, Hawaii started growing in popularity among the Europeans and more and more visitors started coming. With the visitors came diseases in the islands. And because of these diseases the population of the people in Hawaii fell rapidly. The influence of the British can be seen in the flag of Hawaii too.
In around 1820, the first missionaries came from America and converted the entire population into protestant Christians.
More information and articles at: Travel to Hawaian Islands and Travel to Kauai
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