n.
formerly Sandwich Islands
State (pop., 2000: 1,211,537), U.S., comprising a group of islands in the central Pacific Ocean that covers 6,459 sq mi (16,729 sq km).
Its capital is Honolulu . Located 2,397 mi (3,857 km) west of San Francisco, the state's major islands are, from west to east, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu , Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii ; there are more than 120 islets. The state's active volcanoes include Mauna Loa and Kilauea . People of at least part-Hawaiian descent constitute about one-eighth of Hawaii's total population, followed by those of Japanese ancestry, who constitute one-fourth. The majority of the state's residents live on Oahu. The original Hawaiians were of Polynesian origin and came from the Marquesas Islands 0441; AD 400. Capt. James Cook visited the islands in 1778 and called them the Sandwich Islands. In 1796 Kamehameha I united the group under his rule. American whalers began to stop there; they were followed in 1820 by New England missionaries, and Western influences changed the islands. While Kamehameha III in 1851 placed Hawaii under U.S. protection, a coup later fomented by U.S. sugar interests resulted in the monarchy's overthrow and the establishment of a Republic of Hawaii (1893). In 1898 the new republic and the U.S. agreed on annexation, and in 1900 Hawaii became a U.S. territory. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941 led to U.S. involvement in World War II , and Hawaii became a major naval station. Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959. Its largest industry is tourism. It is also a world astronomy centre, with telescopes atop Mauna Kea .