Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A new republic was then established, controlled by Sanford Dole, a powerful sugar-cane
planter. In 1898, through annexation, Hawaii became an American territory ruled by Dole. His
fellow sugar-cane planters, known as the Big Five, controlled banking, shipping, hardware,
and every other facet of economic life on the islands.
Oahu's central Ewa Plain soon filled with row crops. The Dole family planted pineapple
on its vast acreage. Planters imported more contract laborers from Puerto Rico (1900), Korea
(1903), and the Philippines (1907-31). Most of the new immigrants stayed on to establish fam-
ilies and become a part of the islands. Meanwhile, the native Hawaiians became a landless
minority.
For nearly a century on Hawaii, sugar was king, generously subsidized by the U.S. govern-
ment. The sugar planters dominated the territory's economy, shaped its social fabric, and kept
the islands in a colonial plantation era with bosses and field hands. But the workers eventually
went on strike for higher wages and improved working conditions, and the planters found
themselves unable to compete with cheap third-world labor costs.
IS EVERYONE
hawaiian
IN HAWAII?
The plantations brought so many different people to Hawaii that the state is now a rainbow of
ethnic groups: Living here are Caucasians, African Americans, American Indians, Eskimos,
Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Tahitians, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiians, Samoans,
Tongans, and other Asian and Pacific Islanders. Add to that a few Canadians, Dutch, English,
French, Germans, Irish, Italians, Portuguese, Scottish, Puerto Ricans, and Spaniards.
In combination, it's a remarkable potpourri. Many people retain an element of the traditions of
their homeland. Some Japanese Americans in Hawaii, generations removed from the home-
land, are more traditional than the Japanese of Tokyo. And the same is true of many Chinese,
Koreans, Filipinos, and others, making Hawaii a kind of living museum of various Asian and Pa-
cific cultures.
The Tourists Arrive
Tourism proper began in the 1860s on the neighbor islands: Kilauea volcano (located on the
Big Island of Hawaii) was one of the world's prime attractions for adventure travelers. In 1865,
a grass Volcano House was built on the rim of Halemaumau Crater to shelter visitors; it was
Hawaii's first tourist hotel. But tourism really got of the ground with the demise of the plant-
ation era.
