HAWAII, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of alternating horizontal stripes of white, red, and blue with the Union Jack in the canton. In 1793 Captain George Vancouver from Great Britain presented the Union Jack to the conquering king Kamehameha I, who was then uniting the islands into a single state; the Union Jack flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816. That year Western advisers to the king recommended the addition of red, white, and blue stripes to the Union Jack, thus creating a distinctive national flag for the country. After a brief British occupation of Hawaii in 1843, King Kamehameha III increased the number of stripes on the national flag to eight, corresponding to the major islands. There were also other Hawaiian flags, including a naval ensign, a jack, and a royal standard. American business interests supported the overthrow of the Hawaiian government in January 1893, whereupon they hoisted the Stars and Stripes. Rebuffed in their attempt to secure annexation by the United States, the new leaders proclaimed Hawaii a republic in 1894 under its former national flag. On August 12, 1898, however, Hawaii became a U.S. territory, and 61 years later it was admitted to the Union as the 50th state. The former national flag of the kingdom and the republic was adopted, unchanged, by both the territory and the state. There is no official symbolism for the colours, which were probably influenced by the national symbols of other Pacific island kingdoms as well as by the flags of the foreign powers that first visited Hawaii (the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France). Whitney Smith History The first inhabitants of Hawaii may have reached the islands as early as AD 400 from the Marquesas. Contact with and settlement by Tahitians began about AD 1000. Powerful classes of chiefs and priests arrived and established themselves, followed by conflicts, similar to the feudal struggles in Europe, with complicated land rights contributing to the disputes. The early Hawaiians lacked a written language, and their culture was entirely oral and rich in myth, legend, and practical knowledge, especially of animals and plant life. The material life of the islands was hampered by the lack of metal, pottery, or beasts of burden, but there was great skill in the use of wood, shell, stone, and bone, and the huge double and outrigger canoes were technical marvels. Navigational methods were well developed, and there was an elaborate calendar. Athletic contests encouraged warrior skills. European discovery Captain James Cook, the English explorer and navigator, is generally credited with having made the first European discovery of Hawaii; he first landed at Waimea, Kauai Island, on Jan. 20, 1778. Upon his return in the following year, he was killed during an affray with a number of Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay. The initial discovery by Cook was followed by a period of intermittent contact with the West. During this period Kamehameha I used European military technology and weapons to emerge as an outstanding Hawaiian leader, seizing and consolidating control over most of the island group. For 85 years thereafter, monarchs ruled over the Hawaiian kingdom. In the early 19th century the American whaling fleet began wintering in Hawaii, and the islands were visited with mounting frequency by explorers, traders, and adventurers. Captain George Vancouver introduced livestock to the islands in 1792. In 1820 the first of 15 companies of New England missionaries arrived. By the middle of the century there were frame houses, horse-drawn vehicles, schools, churches, taverns, and mercantile establishments. A written language had been introduced, and European and American skills and religious beliefsProtestant and Roman Catholichad been imported. Hawaiian culture was irrevocably changed.