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You Need to Know these Fun Facts about Hawai’i and her Capitol

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by

Karen Lanzetta
in , ,

Hard to know where to start, since Hawai’i is such an interesting state, but after reading this article you will know a lot of fun facts about Hawai’i and the Capitol. We are on a Visit All US Capitols Quest, so sit back and enjoy the learning journey. I definitely unearthed some little-known gems.

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Table of contents

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Even before humans discovered these islands, they were “born” and getting ready for brave souls to travel to them. Let’s do a quick recap before we get into the current Hawai’i capitol.

Hot Stuff and the Pacific Plate

Somehow I always thought that Hawai’i was formed by tectonic plates bumping into each other, but it turns out that the islands actually were formed by so-called “hot spots”. Pushing magma up, hot spots under the ocean develop an underwater vulcano (seamount). Eventually this new vulcano will erupt often enough to create an island.

When that happens under a moving plate (in this case the Pacific Plate), you end up with a string of islands ( of which the Big Island is the “baby”). Of course we are talking almost eternity, this plate moves only 3 and a half inches per year. Currently we estimate that the islands started to form at least 40 million years ago. Voila the Hawaiian archipelago!

What Animals were Alive?

How can we place the birth of Hawai’i in our internal time line? One way is by finding out which animals were roaming the Earth, even if not specifically on Hawai’i. Regretfully you won’t find any dinosaur fossils on the islands because they had been wiped out about 10 million years earlier. This means that the mammals were having a heyday.

You could find the ancestors of horses, camels and elephants. Eagles and vultures showed up and roamed the skies.

Any Humans Yet?

Nope, it would take many more millions of years before the first human like mammals appeared and started using tools. Naturally, it took them quite a while to discover this remote archipelago. Meanwhile, Hawai’i calmly and quietly developed her own plant and animal life. Read about indigenous birds of Hawai’i.

Pacific Golden Plover

One of my favorite birds is the Pacific Golden Plover. A real globetrotter, they spend the winter in Hawaii, but they breed all the way up in Alaska!

Hawaiian People

While Hawai’i was growing more and more islands and plants and animals evolved, humans were starting to spread around the world. Eventually, a group of them stumbled upon Hawai’i. Of course, it is not easy to stumble over such remote islands, but the Polynesians did just that.

Polynesians Arrive and Settle

Between 1,000 to 1,200 BC, a group of Polynesian people discovered Hawai’i. It is hard to imagine the trials and tribulations they had to go through to reach the islands, traveling the Pacific Ocean in what was basically an oversized canoe.

Europeans Invade and It’s All Downhill From There

In 1778, British explorer James Cook was the first non-Polynesian to arrive at the archipelago. Soon, other European and American explorers, traders, farmers and whalers followed. They brought many sicknesses which wiped out most of the native Hawaiian population…

1898: Annexed by the USA…

Because of it strategic position close to Asia, the U.S. took Hawai’i as a territory, using the controversial Newlands Resolution. After they invaded Hawai’i, Queen Liliʻuokalani sent a letter of protest to the U.S. House of Representatives in attempt to have them return control of her homeland, stating her throne had been taken illegally. Sadly, her attempt was unsuccesful and Hawai’i became a territory of the USA.

Half a century later, in 1941, Japan had a convenient target to attack the USA at Pearl Harbor.

It still took almost 20 years for Hawai’i to finally join the union in 1959.


Interesting Facts aboutThe Hawaiian State Capitol

After Hawai’i became a state, they needed a seat of government. For the first 10 years of statehood, they used the ‘Iolani Palace.

‘Iolani Palace: the Royal Residence

One of the Hawaiian kings (Kalākaua) was the first monarch to travel around the world. Visiting European palaces inspired him to build his own royal palace. After 3 years of construction, the building was finished in 1882.

After the annexation by the USA, the territory of Hawai’i used the Iolani Palace as their seat of government. To silence the rightful Queen Liliʻuokalani, they imprisoned her at the Palace for nine months in a small room on the upper floor. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Although many years later, they put up a statue of the Queen next to the current state house, it doesn’t really make up for the mistreatment of her and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Interesting tidbit: During World War II, the palace served as the temporary headquarters for the military governor in charge of the Hawaiian Islands. The soldiers of the only Japanese American regiment, the 442nd Infantry Regiment were sworn in during a mass ceremony on the grounds of the Palace.

The Modern Hawai’i Capitol

In 1969, a new and modern state capitol was opened. Based on the German Bauhaus style, with clean lines, simple geometric shapes, lots of black and gray as a starting point. But like all other architectural imports to Hawaiʻi, Bauhaus was transformed into a uniquely Hawaiian style, now called Hawaiian architecture.

In the Middle of the Ocean

Just like the islands of Hawai’i are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Capitol is surrounded by water, in the form of a reflecting pool. Of course, our timing was totally off because of maintenance and we couldn’t enjoy the water. I guess that is a good motivation to go back to Hawai’i.

The Sky is the Limit of the Hawai’i Capitol

Where other state capitols often are modeled after the US Capitol, Hawai’i chose to omit the copula and instead build with an open-air design, allowing sun, wind, and rain to enter. Thanks to the openness of this design, rainbows can sometimes be seen inside the building when it rains.

Touch a Full Size Liberty Bell!

Unlike the original Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the Hawai’i Capitol has a bell that you are actually allowed to touch. When we started our 50 capitols quest, we were surprised to find out that every state has a full-size copy of the original liberty bell. In 1950, the United States Treasury Department donated this particular replica to the people of Alaska. It looks just like the original one. The last time they rang the Pennsylvania Liberty Bell was in 1835 when it cracked at the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall.

Since we like bucket lists, we decided to try to visit all the liberty bell replicas. So far, we have been successful in most places, but not in Boston because Massachusetts locked up their liberty bell. What a contradiction! So the fact that the Hawai’i Capito gives free entry to its liberty bell made us happy.

Each of the replicas have a different serial number, this Hawaiian one is number 52. Of course now you want to know how could there be more than 50 replicas, since we have ony fifty states. Well, when this bell was donated, Hawai’i wasn’t even a state yet, just a territory. Not only the territory of Hawai’i got a bell, so did other territories, like St Thomas and Puerto Rico!

Vulcano Shaped Chambers

Unlike traditional government buildings, the two legislative chambers are cone-shaped, symbolizing volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian Islands. In addition the chandeliers from both legislative chambers represent the sun and moon, and can be seen through the glass walls when standing in the middle of the open patio. The sky is indeed the limit in the Hawaiian Capitol!

Hawai’i and her Capitol: Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading about these interesting Hawai’i history facts, and learned nore about her Capitol. Have you been to Hawai’i? Which island? Did you visit the capitol? Have you been to any other state houses or capitols? What is your favorite so far? Please share in the comments.

And finally, what y’all were waiting for, our customary awkward selfie, this time in front of the Hawai’i state Capitol. And another Sky is the Limit place on Oahu, Diamond Head, the leftovers of a vulcano.


Other Things to Do on Oahu

Check out interesting facts about other statehouses:

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