How The Kingdom of Hawai’i Was Toppled By White Farmers

From a kingdom to a republic to annexation

(Public domain / Edited by author)

Captain James Cook led the first major European expedition to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Contact occurred during Cook’s third expedition. He was not looking for the Hawaiian Islands. In fact, at this point, few people realized that such a large and verdant island chain existed in the Central Pacific. Cook initially named the island chain the Sandwich Islands in a bid to win favor from his wealthy benefactor, the Earl of Sandwich.

When Cook returned to the islands at the tail end of his expedition in 1779, he met his end. While anchored near Kealakekua Bay, native Hawaiians allegedly stole a longboat from the Cook expedition. In order to force the natives to return the important vessel, Cook waded ashore with the intention of capturing the local chief. At this time, Hawaii was ruled by a desperate group of local chiefs with no central authority. While attempting to drag this chief back to his ship, Cook was killed in the ensuing fracas.

This incident shaped the Hawaiian people in ways that no one could have foreseen. In just a few short years, Hawaii would be transformed from an ancient decentralized tribal system to a modern constitutional monarchy. A century later, the islands would be seized by foreign planters and…