Hawaii is a beautiful group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, is considered part of Polynesia, is one of the states in the United States, and is the only state that is not part of North America. It has a population of 1.4 million people which is ethnically diverse, including whites, Asians, Native Hawaiian, Blacks, and a growing number of people that are a mix of more than one race or ethnicity. The island state boasts a warm tropical climate, beautiful natural scenery, beautiful and abundant beaches, good spots for surfing, and volcanoes. It may be surprising that Hawaii was once a kingdom, then became a republic, then a U.S. territory, and then a U.S. state. There is a lot to take in when visiting Hawaii.
Economy
The defense industry plays an enormous role in the economic base of the Hawaiian Islands. It also has a strong impact on the urban areas of the islands, particularly Oahu.
Today, if you looked at the economy of the Hawaiian Islands, you’ll notice that federal spending is the second most important economic component and wealth generator, next to tourism. You’ll also notice that of all the federal spending, a larger and larger proportion of it is from the welfare, education, and health care sectors of federal expenditures, because as the population continues to grow, the amount of people that need federal help also continues to increase. But, with this being said, there is still the fact that there is a large amount of federal spending that is spent in the defense industry, supporting the military bases that exist on that island state.
Up until the late 1970’s, the amount of federal spending in Hawaii was primarily within the defense industry, helping to make sure that our military bases for our Pacific Fleet remained strong, capable of standing up against foreign invaders. Chief among military bases in Hawaii is Pearl Harbor, the base for our Pacific Command, and known for the tragedy in 1941 that led to our involvement in World War II – this naval base is on the island of Oahu, and is immediately adjacent to the city of Honolulu, helping to give rise to that city.
It also used to be that the defense industry was the largest sector of the Hawaiian economy, and that it even surpassed the amount of GDP that was generated within the tourist industry. But, since then, there has been two factors that have helped to reduce the power and relative size of the defense industry sector.
First, the tourist industry took off, since more and more people were wanting to come and see Hawaii, particularly the island of Oahu, and the city of Honolulu. Within the first years of the 1980’s, as tourism continued to grow, this meant that it started to create a larger share of the whole GDP, while the defense industry started taking a back seat, moving back to second place.
Not only that, but as the need for workers in the tourism industry has continued to rise, and other people come to the state because of its natural beauty and hospitable year-round climate, the resident population has continued to rise. At the same time, the size of our federal government has continued to grow, giving rise to health care, education, and welfare sectors. This means that the amount of federal expenditures would have increased, even if the size of the federal government remained the same, just because of the population increase, but since the growth of the federal government has multiplied these areas of federal expenditure, this means that non-defense federal spending has increased to the point where it now surpasses federal spending within the defense industry. Because of the rise in federal non-defense spending, the amount of people employed by the federal government within the whole labor market still remains relatively high – 20% percent of the population works for the federal government, military and non-military put together.
Even if defense spending remains the same, the relative size of that industry, remaining the same within a growing population and economy, means that it will continue to have a smaller and smaller place in the whole scheme of things in the state of Hawaii. Even with that being said, there will for the foreseeable future be a place on the island for the military and its defense spending, so we won’t see defense spending dropping to oblivion any time soon.
So, that’s a general snapshot of Hawaii’s economy.
Preserving Hawaii’s Language and Culture
There has been a movement in the Hawaiian Islands to recapture and preserve the native culture and language of Hawaii. There are some reasons why this is quite important.
Over the last couple centuries, there has been a tremendous amount of change that has taken place on the Hawaiian Islands. Originally, the islands were inhabited by Polynesians who emigrated to the islands around A.D. 750-1000. Linguists and archeologists, who have studied historical sites and similarities in different Polynesian languages, not just in the Hawaiian Islands, but throughout the entire Polynesian domain between Asia, South America, and Hawaii, have figured out that the Polynesian peoples originated in lands in southeastern China, where the original inhabitants eventually became enveloped both culturally and biologically through intermarriage and offspring, into mainstream Chinese culture. From there, they traveled to the island now known as Taiwan, using that as a springboard for the next set of islands, and so on. Eventually, the Polynesian people and culture, and the languages that evolved through isolation from one another, proliferated throughout all the islands in the Pacific, spreading all the way to the coasts of New Guinea, Easter Island, the Hawaiian Islands, as well as the western coast of South America before those particular Polynesians got eradicated by Native American communities.
Eventually, as the Polynesians became settled on the Hawaiian Islands, kingdoms and chiefdoms emerged, each covering part of an island, or a whole island, but still meaning that there was political fragmentation that separated the islands from each other. Eventually, after a period of warfare in the Hawaiian Islands, lasting from the 1780’s to the second decade of the 1800’s, a king named Kamehameha finally united the islands under a single political regime. This entity, which lasted for some eighty years, was the first and last time that the Hawaiian natives had self-rule. It was during this time that Hawaii first started to make inroads with other civilizations, particularly the United States, because of its location relatively nearby to North America, allowing for trade and commerce with the mainland, particularly as a place to sell its rice, coffee, and sugar, and also allowing for mail service to the rest of the world through the United States.
It was this connection to the United States, through trade, commerce, and mail, which caused the beginnings of haole immigration to Hawaii. Haole is the term the Hawaiians use for white people. Eventually, by 1891, the Hawaiian queen at the time got deposed during a period that ended in a republican form of government being formed, to be replaced by an American immigrant who became president of that initial republic, that is, until annexation by the United States became complete in 1900. At this time, the territory became governed by a governor. Hawaii eventually became a state in 1959, thereby securing its place alongside all the other states within the United States.
During the last 125 or so years, the population has grown, and immigrations from the United States and Asia have changed the makeup of the Hawaiian population, particularly whites and Japanese, but also some people who came to Hawaii as workers, such as Filipinos, as well. The growth of a very ethnically diverse population in Hawaii has meant negative things to the native Polynesian Hawaiians. They have been separated, or disenfranchised, from their land. As the economy has grown in Hawaii, the natives have not been among the people benefiting from the creation of wealth. On top of that, the people that have emigrated to Hawaii have been using Hawaiian words, and naming their streets, businesses, geographical locations within the islands in that language, but have not been using the language correctly. This, more than anything else, has made the native Hawaiians feel disrespected.
Because of this, in the past 50 years, or so, there has been an effort by the Hawaiian natives to try to correct these grammatical mistakes. They have tried to make sure that people use full names rather than a shortened version of the name; they have tried to make sure that people are using the diacritical markings when writing the Hawaiian names; they have been getting the state government to change street signs to allow for these markings; and they have been educating people on the proper pronunciation of their words. They feel that proper usage of Hawaiian words helps people to respect them and their culture. In fact, they even have immersion pre-schools called ‘Punana Leo’ where native islanders can learn their native language.
Native Hawaiians have come from a place where it was illegal to speak their native language, to a place where it is legal, where they have dictionaries to guide them, and a culture they are trying to help maintain and keep from collapsing due to outside American culture and influence. Will they keep up their language, and get outsiders to have more respect for their language, and thus their culture? Will they get more relevance as time goes on by making inroads into the wealth that outsiders have on the island, and in the laws that are made by the state legislature, as well as the county governments and cities? Will they get other residents to start pronouncing the Hawaiian words right? Time will only tell as they are continuing to make inroads on the ones they have been making for the past half century.
Things to See and Do While in Hawaii
Here are a few of the things to see and do while visiting Hawaii:
Waikiki Beach and Other Beaches – Hawaii has many beautiful beaches. It would be a shame to not check some of them out.
Visiting Honolulu – This is the capital city of the state of Hawaii. There are many things to see and do while in this city. This includes historic sites, museums, shopping, and the local food.
Pearl Harbor, including the USS Arizona memorial – Visit the military naval base and the memorial from the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor at the beginning of World War 2. This base is located adjacent to Honolulu.
Going Snorkeling – There are many places offshore of each of the Hawaiian Islands where you can go snorkeling, and see the ocean life in its natural habitat.
Visiting the Volcano on the Big Island – Yes, this is off of Oahu, where Honolulu is located, but it’s worth the visit.
Surfing – Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and the art is still alive and well. The best places to surf would be “Jaws” off the island of Maui, Laniakea off of Oahu, Banzai Beach off of Oahu, and Ke’ei at Kealakekua Bay off the Big Island.
Native Hawaiian Polynesian Culture – enrich yourself in the native culture by going seeing a Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Honolulu, or seeing the Chief’s Luau or the Luau Kalamaku, both also in Honolulu.
Diamond Head Crater and State Monument – This is a beautiful spot in Honolulu not too far from Waikiki Beach.
Iolani Palace – This was the royal residence of rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii between 1880’s and early 1890’s, and is also located in Honolulu.
These are just a few of the many places to see while in Hawaii.
