Section
Introduction
Hawaii is located nearest the state of California. It is a state of the United States of America and is found East of Japan. It is made of various and numerous islands scattered throughout a slanted pattern .
Hawaii is largely volcanic, having been formed due to eruptions which spanned hundreds and even thousands of years. The first island to have been formed is Kauai on the Northern region, whereas the youngest among them are the Hawaiian Islands, located on the Southern most part of the region .
Source: Google 2016
This American state has a total of 132 islands; most of it though is uninhabitable due to their small size or land mass, and the lack of access to the bigger islands. These numerous islets are a result of continuous volcanic eruptions. Under these formations is a base consisting of volcanoes which are past their active state, thus the term dormant cones. However, some volcanoes are still active, with quiet lava continuously yet gently flowing out of its openings and cracks. .
Oahu, Honolulu and its Population
Honolulu is Hawaii’s capital, with a population of roughly 300,000 in 2008. The residents of Honolulu comprise about a fifth of the total demographics of the state. Along with Honolulu, several other urban areas dot the archipelago, namely Hilo, Pearl and Waikiki.
Honolulu is located in the Island of Oahu. Oahu was the next island that has been formed by volcanic eruptions after Kauai. It lies between the former and Maui, another island in the archipelagic state .
Oahu which is home to the state capital has 75% of the population of Hawaii. It has a diverse demographic ethnicity. Less than 10% of its inhabitants are considered Pacific islanders. On one hand, the most populous ones are the Japanese, which comprise 25% of the population of Oahu .
Aside from obviously being the state’s capital, Oahu has a lengthy history which may partly explain the percentage of the population which calls it home. It was once said to have been conquered by the chieftain of Maui. He was the one responsible for unifying the various Hawaiian Islands. The chief however chose to rule from Oahu.
Being the home of the national government, Oahu naturally developed first, economically. It ushered the plantation era of the state. Christianity was introduced in the late 1800’s. Commerce then flourished. It was then when Hawaii began exporting pineapples, the fruit most widely associated with it, and sugar. To meet the demand, the state had to take in laborers from neighboring countries such as China, Japan, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, mainly to work as pickers and or farmers
Topography and Agriculture
Hawaii being a volcanic island boasts of fertile soil. Soil located near volcanoes are considered ready for planting as they are rich, as compared with those which have been eroded or exposed to the nature’s elements for a long time. Volcanic eruptions produce fresh lava or molten lava. When it hardens to rocks, its elements are relatively new and unweathered. Thus, when the sun interacts with these elements from the rocks, nutrients necessary for life are then produced .
The very topography of Hawaii lured inhabitants into its hearth. Hawaii was discovered by Captain Cook in the late 1700’s. In the same era, orange, the round sweetish acerbic fruit was brought to the islands, and it flourished .
In the 1860’s the Bay Sugar Refinery was established in San Francisco. The company then sourced its raw sugar, which comes from sugar canes, from the state. It was during this time that the first Japanese immigrants who worked as farmers were recorded to have inhabited the island .
Sugar was the primary product of the Island State. Its success however depended on land availability and labor. The land problem was initially solved by the King Kamehameha through a land distribution act. The Kingdom allowed foreigners to buy and lease land . Similarly, a treaty was signed between the then independent Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States, allowing the kingdom to supply sugar free from export duties .
Waihawa is a place located in Oahu which is surrounded by lakes. Sugarcanes had to be irrigated and beyond a certain elevation it was too costly. Wahiawa which had an elevation beyond 60 meters, specifically 300 meters above ground level was considered as UNsuitable for sugar farming. As a result, pineapples were grown in the area .
Hawaii was once known as a sugar powerhouse. Gradually, pineapple was introduced and cultivated in the area. The Japanese indentured laborers whose contracts have come to an end then shifted to working in pineapple farms, as they consider the work easier than planting sugar cane. In 1913, the greatest number of Japanese laborers was recorded in Hawaii, and they were all in Oahu .
The homesteaders which arrived in the area then cleared the land and planted the fruit. Along with that, they built homes and settled in the area. Eventually, growing pineapples and eventually the plantation concept caught up with the residents of Kauai and Maui, two other big islands of Hawaii .
After the introduction of the pineapple in the 1890’s by Captain Kidwell, the farming practice became a large industry for the country. Captain Kidwell first planted the fruit near Pearl Harbor. After a few years, he built a factory that places pineapples in tin cans. On the same period, the famous Del Monte plantation was founded by another businessman .
It was not until after the great depression of the 1920’s that Hawaii’s agricultural sector boomed. At that time, roughly 9 million cases of pineapple was processed and canned by eight different canneries. After a decade, the industry attracted 6,000 Filipino immigrants to work specifically as pineapple picker and packers. With 76 thousand acres planted with the ubiquitous fruit, the industry saw its peak in the 1950’s .
Migration in Hawaii
Hawaii has the highest concentration of Asian Americans in the whole of Northern America. As proof of there being integrated into Hawaiian and American society, a number of the state’s present infrastructure were named after Japanese immigrants, the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, Nambe Courtyard and Nakahara store to name a few .
Source: United States Census Bureau
In 1868, the first Japanese were sent to Hawaii to work as farmers. Known as ‘ganen-mono’, to refer as first people, only 13 of the originally 138 who were sent were able to complete their indentured labor terms .
With the Chinese Laborer Exclusion Act, The United States banned the Chinese from working for them and for American companies. With the American owned farms established in Hawaii, the United States looked for laborers elsewhere. Thus, more Japanese workers came in despite the harsh working conditions. These migrants became the ancestors of the now populous sector in Hawaiian society .
The Japanese had strong cultural ties to their homeland. The workers did not intermarry. They opted for Japanese brides, pictures of which were sent through mail. They brought with them their religion, namely Shinto’s and Buddhism. Some Japanese practices became integrated into Hawaiian culture. Hawaiian food for instance boasts of sushi and teriyaki based meals .
The maneki niko, which is the popular and ubiquitous waving cat, owes its existence to Japanese migrants. A Japanese ramen, the Okinawan soba also found its way into the stomach and heart of Hawaiian culture .
Migration of Puerto Ricans
Another group that made its home in the islands is the Puerto Ricans. Having come from a Spanish Colony the Puerto Ricans were largely family oriented. That trait made them attractive for employers due to the expected longer stay in the job contract. These Puerto Ricans were also utilized to break up the labor unions of the Japanese workers .
The Puerto Ricans were known as Borinkis in Hawaii. An estimated 500 children were enrolled in the Island’s schools in the early 1900’s. In 1923, Puerto Ricans were estimated to comprise more than 2% of the population of Hawaii. Following the census in 1950, about 9,000 Hawaiian residents call themselves Puerto Ricans. They identify with such ethnicity despite intermarriage and the previous dispersal of the group .
In the 2010 census, Hawaii has about 8.8% of Hispanics who call it home. The Puerto Ricans meanwhile comprise about 3% of the total populace. The group brought with them various influences. In music for instance, they introduced the four stringed instrument called the cuatro. The Hawaiians tweaked it to become a 10 stringed instrument. The sound can be heard in Hawaiian music, a background music they call katchi-katchi .
Aside from music, they also brought with them their local food. The patele, a popular rice based dish in Hawaii, which can be served in stew form, or a thick rice wrapped in banana leaves. The name is a rendition of the originally Latin American pastele .
Urbanization of Hawaii
The Pineapple industry alone, as expected cannot sustain Hawaii for so long. The hard fought higher than industry wage won by the Japanese migrants caused its gradual demise. As the law of economics states, when demand is too high, that is, when wages are higher, employers may look into other sources to fill in the requirement .
In the early 1990’s Hawaiian workers earned more than $8 an hour, as compared with $6 per hour in Thailand. At that time, the industry only comprised less than 10% of the global industry. The workers first gave way to cheaper laborers from the Philippines and Viet Nam. Eventually, with globalization, the plantation itself has been relocated into countries such as the Philippines, specifically in its Southern islands .
The Pineapple fields were replaced with alfalfa and oats. The workers meanwhile were asked to either work in a different industry or leave the island to be able to find work. Some of them found employment in the hospitality industry
David Murdoch started the hospitality industry in Hawaii when he commissioned the building of a hotel in the former plantation areas. In buying the parent company of Dole, he relocated the plantation and built a high end Kanele Bay Hotel in the island of Lanai .
Tourism and the Hawaii Population
Currently, Hawaii is one of the world’s top tourist destinations. The Hawaii Tourism of Authority listed more than 8 million people to have visited the country in 2014. The number of tourists alone increases the population of the state, even on a temporary basis. For instance, in 1992, although Hawaii had about 1.1 million inhabitants, the tourists increased the de facto population to 1.2 million. At that time, much of the increase was in the capital city of Honolulu .
While tourism has boosted Hawaii’s income as a state, the sector increased at the expense of the manufacturing industry. The demise of the pineapple industry for instance resulted to rising home prices and lack of jobs, thus high employment rates forced other locals to find work in the Mainland .
Further homestead issues permanently drove some Hawaiians out of the island. Their claims were not recognized and were denied due to a procedural infirmity in the law. The United States ruled that only the country could actually sue a State for homestead violations. As a result, many of them settled in other states and in other countries such as Asia and Europe .
Conclusion
Hawaii is unique among the states of Mainland America. Not only is it located off the shore of the Pacific, but it is peppered with Americans tracing their bloodlines to Asians and Pacific Islanders, a phenomenon unique to Hawaii.
Its very topography enabled it to attract migrants. With its rich volcanic soil, it was able to sustain crops which were usually grown in the tropics. Also, it has a varied elevation, enabling it to support plantations which largely shaped its human landscape.
Currently, Hawaii however has shifted from agriculture to hospitality. The rising cost of labor and first world economic standards found in the state ironically deflected investors looking for an increase in profit margins. As a result, the islanders have sought work in the mainland or in other parts of Asia and Europe. Many of them still want to maintain their Hawaiian culture. However, as we all know, with culture, some of it will be preserved, some will be fused with other cultural influences in the place where the American Hawaiians choose to take root.
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