70 Awesome & Interesting Facts & Trivia About Hawaii

Aloha, and welcome to Content Bash’s entry for Hawaii as part of our series covering dozens of facts for all 50 states — from Alabama to Georgia to Iowa to Maine to Montana. We have painstakingly collected all the below facts and have written them up her for your information and enjoyment. Whether you plan on visiting Hawaii or you’re just curious to learn a few things about the 50th state, you’ve probably come to the right place. Read on!

What is Hawaii Known For?

1. The Aloha state! You’ll hear that word a lot in Hawaii because it’s a term of endearment that means both hello and goodbye.

2. The beaches! Hawaii is a prime vacation spot, with its glistening tropical scenery making it a popular warm weather destination for folks who like that sort of thing. About 10 million tourists visited Hawaii in 2019, though that number has taken an obvious hit the past couple years because of the pandemic.

3. The culture! Hawaii has given us hula dancing and the act of exchanging leis (basically those big necklaces made of flowers). Poi and poke are Hawaiian dishes that have been slowly been incorporated and mainstreamed in American cuisine, and almost all Westerners have worn an aloha shirt at least once. Many have even owned several and worn them often.

4. Not being part of the continental United States! Hawaii is over 2,000 miles from California. It would be literally impossible to take a road trip that covers all 50 states because you can’t drive your car to Hawaii. It’s arguably the most exotic state of all the 50 states — even more than Delaware or Connecticut!

5. Hawaii is also known for Pearl Harbor.

Official Hawaii State Symbols

6. Hawaii officially became the Aloha State in 1959. Its other nicknames include the Rainbow State, Paradise of the Pacific, and the Pineapple State.

7. The official state bird of Hawaii is the nēnē, which is basically a Hawaiian goose. Here is a picture of it!

8. The monk seal is the official state animal of Hawaii. It also happens to be the only sea mammal that is native to Hawaii.

9. The state flag of Hawaii was adopted on December 29, 1845 — more than 100 years before the state joined the union. You’ll note the very familiar Union Jack symbol from the United Kingdom incorporated in the picture of the Hawaii state flag below:

10. Hawaii has an official state musical instrument and it’s the awesome ukulele.

11. The state motto of Hawaii is “ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono,” which means “the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

12. The official state flower of Hawaii is the yellow hibiscus. It’s very pretty. Here is a picture!

13. The kukui tree is the official state tree of Hawaii. It’s also known as a candlenut tree.

14. “Hawai’i Pono’i” is the official state song of Hawaii. Adopted by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1967, the lyrics were actually written by King Kalākaua in 1874. Give it a listen!

Facts About Early History of Hawaii

15. Some 1,500 years ago, the very first known residents of the Hawaii islands rowed some 2,000 miles from the very remote Marquesas Islands of Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. About 500 years later, people from Tahiti about 2,500 miles away also came to Hawaii.

16. For awhile, the archipelago of Hawaii used to be called the Sandwich Islands. English explorer Captain James Cook was the first white guy to come across Hawaii on January 18, 1778. Cook called them the Sandwich Islands after his patron John Montague, who happened to be the earl of Sandwich.

17. White people who came to Hawaii brought a lot of oppression and contagious diseases with them. Smallpox, measles and other illnesses — as well as war and famine — contributed to half the local population of Hawaii being wiped out by 1920.

18. In 1779, Captain Cook was shot by native Hawaiians and drowned in Kealakekua Bay.

19. The volcano Kīlauea erupted in 1790, sadly killing more than 5,000 people. It’s considered the deadliest volcano eruption in the history of the United States, with the caveat that it wasn’t part of the U.S. at the time.

20. Hawaii once had kings! In 1810, Kamehameha became the first king of Hawaii when the collection of islands became an internationally recognized kingdom. In 1819, King Kamehameha declared that the territory be renamed the Kingdom of Hawaii. The House of Kamehameha ruled until 1872, when Kamehameha V passed away.

21. Not long after Kamehameha V passed away, an election decided that control over the islands be given to Lunalilo, but Lunalilo passed in 1873. After that, power was transferred to the House of Kalākaua.

22. Thanks to American imperialism, the Hawaiian monarchy was neutered after the constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii was signed in 1887. King Kalākaua faced execution if he did not sign it.

23. When King Kalākaua passed away in 1891, his sister Lili’uokalani became the next monarch leader of Hawaii. She would be the last.

24. In 1893, the United States arranged a military coup to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii. Queen Lili’uokalani remained under house arrest until 1895 when she was made to abdicate her throne.

25. The Republic of Hawaii was established in 1894, which lead to Hawaii becoming United States territory in 1898. Horray for imperialism!

26. After Hawaii became a territory of the United States, the Hawaiian language was banned. This act of oppression wasn’t unbanned until 70 years lated in 1978 when it became one of the official languages of Hawaii. It’s also the only state with two official languages.

27. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act. U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Hawaii Geography & Topography

28. Honolulu is the capital of Hawaii and it’s also the biggest city in the state.

29. There are only five counties in Hawaii: Hawaii, Honolulu, Kalawao, Kauai, and Maui.

30. The Hawaii Islands is the largest archipelago in the world. Covering 10 degrees of latitude on the globe, it spreads about 1,500 miles across. Of course, it’s also the only one of the United States that is completely made up of islands.

31. There are 137 islands in the archipelago. Eight of them are considered major islands: Hawaii, Niihau, Kauai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, and Maui.

32. The most active volcano in Hawaii is Kīlauea, which has been erupting since 1983. The Kīlauea Volcano is erupting so much that Big Island is increasing 30 or 40 acres a year. Whoever said God ain’t making more land didn’t consider Hawaii.

33. Speaking of more land! In just 200,000 years or so, the next island in the Hawaii archipelago is expected to appear with the others at sea level, and it’s already got a name: Lōʻihi. Right now, it’s a seamount, that is also an underwater volcano, and it’s expected to pop up southeast of the island of Hawaii.

34. The highest peak in the state of Hawaii is Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano with a peak 13,803 feet about sea level.

35. The nearest continent to Hawaii is North America, and it’s 2,390 miles away.

36. West of Hawaii is Japan, about 3,850 miles away.

37. Mauna Loa is world’s largest volcano, and with a peak of 13,679 feet above sea level, it’s only slightly shorter than Mauna Kea.

38. One of the rainiest spots on the whole planet is Mount Waialeale, on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi. It has averaged over 450 inches of rain for over a century.

39. Know want an antipode is? Hawaii’s are Botswana and Namibia in Africa.

40. Geographically speaking, Hawaii is not part of any continent. It’s a part of Oceania, a couple thousands away from the nearest continent. Politically, however, Hawaii’s status as a United State makes it a part of North America.

41. It may be a bit hard to tell on a physical globe, but Hawaii is the southern-most state of the United States.

Tourist Attractions & Places to Visit in Hawaii

42. Iolani Palace in Honolulu is the only royal building that is on United States soil. It’s where Queen Lili’uokalani lived under house arrest after the coup d’état against her kingdom. You can visit it if you want.

42. The largest museum in Hawaii is the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Bernice was the last legal heir of the Kamehameha Dynasty that reigned as Hawaii’s royal family during the 1800s, and the museum contains the princess’s collection of art and artifacts. The Bishop Museum is an excellent steward of Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Pacific culture.

43. The world’s largest plant maze is located in Wahiawa, Hawaii at the Dole Plantation (you probably know the Dole name from the stickers on your banana). Spread across three acres and almost 2.5 miles of paths winding through 14,000 Hawaiian plants, it’s one of the most popular attractions on the island of Oahu.

44. Waikiki Beach in Oahu is where everyone who wants to go to Hawaii wants to go. The Moana Surfrider hotel was built on the shores of Waikiki in 1901 and it’s been the hot spot of Hawaii ever since.

45. The Kapalua Bridge is Hawaii’s longest suspension bridge, stretching a 360-foot path over the Kaopala Gulch in Maui. See for yourself!

Other Fun, Cool & Weird Facts About Hawaii

46. Believe it or not, only one land mammal is native to Hawaii is the Hawaiian hoary bat. Any other land mammals that you come across in Hawaii were brought to the archipelago by humans.

47. Surfing was basically invented in Hawaii, at least the modern version that we know and admire today. Polynesian culture had a variation of surfing where they ride on planks to fish in rough water, but that evolved in Hawaii to standing upright on long boards and riding waves. Herman Melville and Mark Twain both wrote about surfing in the mid-19th century.

48. Though it’s certainly not always in style, the aloha shirt is something of a staple in American fashion. Many people who served in the Pacific Islands during World War II brought aloha shirts home with them to the United States, where they became more colloquially known as Hawaiian shirts.

49. The hula is a dance that was developed in Hawaii by the Polynesians who came to the islands. These dances were typically developed to honor Hawaiian deities and chiefs and accompanied by chants. Participants also have worn a wrapped skirt called a pāʻū, sometimes worn with a layer of green kī leaves over it. Many lei are also usually prominent as part of the hula outfit. At this point in the 21st century, though, the hula dance ceremony has been pretty watered down by 100+ years of white appropriation and Hollywood portrayals.

50. NASA has used volcanoes in Hawaii to train their astronauts for voyages to the moon. In the 1960s, astronauts in training visited Mauna Loa and used the surfaces of the lava field — which is supposed to be similar to the surface of the moon — to prepare for their trip outer space.

51. Speaking of space-related stuff, the world’s largest optical telescope is on top of Mauna Kea, the dormant volcano. The telescopes are the W.M. Keck brand, if that means anything to you.

52. Spam — the ironic favorite foodstuff of many — is unironically huge in Hawaii, where they consume about 5 million pounds of it every year. Unfortunately, Hawaii’s close relationship with Spam came from a 1941 law prohibiting fishing near shore, which basically fucked up a whole lot of Hawaiian fisherman and their families. Canned meat like Spam helped. In other parts of the world, spam brings to mind the digital inconvenience.

Click on the picture of spam to buy the origin of Spam!

53. Speaking of Spam (kinda), Hawaiian pizza — which consists of ham (or bacon) and pineapple — was actually invented in Ontario, Canada by a Greek immigrant named Sam Panopoulos at his restaurant in 1962. The seemingly aggressive combination of tomato sauce and pineapple was so unpopular that it ended up being popular anyway, and the mere concept of Hawaiian pizza has encouraged passionate debate for 50 years.

54. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters. It also uses an apostrophe-looking symbol called an okina. No wonder aloha has many definitions.

55. Is Honolulu the largest city in the world? Technically, depending on your definition. According to the state constitution of Hawaii, if an island doesn’t belong to a particular county, then it belongs to Honolulu. Such islands are basically stretched across all 1,500 miles of Hawaii, making Honolulu’s boundaries much bigger than, say, Los Angeles and New York City.

56. Kalihi Valley wallabies are not really from Hawaii. Wallabies are actually native to Australia, but a dude named Richard Henderson Trent (who happened to be the first treasurer of O’ahu County) had an exotic animal collection that included the purchase of wallabies in 1916. The wallabies soon escaped the grounds and rumor has it, the O’ahu wallabies set up their own shop in Kalihi Valley and have thrived ever since. The wallabies are actually protected by state law.

57. Hawaiian Christmas music is like a subgenre of Christmas music that has its own flavor that doesn’t include wintery images of snowmen and sleigh rides. Christmas in Hawaii obviously has a lot less snow and a lot more sunshine, and the sun shines through a lot more in Hawaiian Christmas songs, like this fun ditty “Here Comes Santa Claus in a Red Canoe” by The Surfers.

58. There are not a lot of white people living in Hawaii! Less than 25% of the population of the state of Hawaii is made up of Caucasian people.

59. Aviator Charles Lindbergh was a staunch environmentalist later in his life, and much of it was spent in Hawaii. He was big on conservation efforts and helped create Haleakalā National Park on Maui. Charles Lindbergh died of lymphoma in Maui on August 26, 1974, and he was buried with a very modest headstone that can be visited.

What Famous People Were Born in Hawaii?

60. Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was born on August 4, 1960 at the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, Hawaii. You can gtfoh with any birther shit.

61. Bette Midler was born in Honolulu. The performer grew up in Hawaii and even majored in drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa before she dropped out. Bette Midler even appeared as an extra in the 1966 George Roy Hill film Hawaii, starring Julie Andrews and Max von Sydow.

62. Marcus Mariota is the only Hawaiian-born college football player to win the Heisman Trophy award. The University of Oregon football player took home that hardware in 2014.

63. Children’s literature writer Lois Lowry was born in Honolulu. She is a 2x winner of the Newbery Medal, for 1990’s Number the Stars and 1994’s The Giver, the latter of which has been banned in some places. That alone is basically enough for us to endorse Lois Lowry.

64. Peter Gene Hernandez was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1985. You probably know him as Bruno Mars. Bonus fun fact: As a child performer, young Bruno Mars appeared in the 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas, starring Nic Cage.

65. Actor Lauren Graham — perhaps best known for the popular television shows Parenthood and Gilmore Girls — was born in Honolulu.

66. Nicole Kidman is a pretty famous Australian actor but the Cold Mountain star was actually born in Honolulu.

67. Don Ho was a Hawaiian pop musician born in Honolulu that was pretty famous stateside in the 1970s when Hawaii was starting to become a more popular tourist destination. His biggest hit was 1966’s “Tiny Bubbles.”

68. Aquaman and Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa was born in Nānākuli, about 30 miles away from Honolulu.

69. Deadwood actor Timothy Olyphant was born in Honolulu, but moved to California when he was very young. We’re counting him, though.

70. Tia Carrere is an actor and singer who is perhaps best known for her role as Cassandra in the Wayne’s World movies. The two-time Grammy Award winner was born in Honolulu.

Cover Image Photo Credit: Image by hmmunoz512 from Pixabay

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