| Hawaii, the newest state in the United
States, is a {{U}}(21) {{/U}} of eight large islands and many small
{{U}}(22) {{/U}} in the Central Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles west of
San Francisco. Hawaii was probably {{U}}(23) {{/U}} about 750 A.
D. , by {{U}}(24) {{/U}} from the other Pacific islands. The first
Europeans {{U}}(25) {{/U}} Americans to visit it were the British
Captain James Cook and his {{U}}(26) {{/U}} in 1778. James named his
discovery the Sandwich Islands {{U}}(27) {{/U}} the sponsor of his
expedition, the Earl of Sandwich. Twelve years later, the others from Europe and
the new United States began to settle in the islands. These "westerners" brought {{U}}(28) {{/U}} to Hawaii. They brought new diseases, which the Hawaiians had no {{U}}(29) {{/U}} to; they brought alcohol, which many Hawaiians became {{U}}(30) {{/U}} to; they brought a new religion which {{U}}(31) {{/U}} the old values and forced the islanders to {{U}}(32) {{/U}} their old culture and {{U}}(33) {{/U}} to a new one. Many Americans settled in Hawaii, and in 1893, they {{U}}(34) {{/U}} the queen and {{U}}(35) {{/U}} Hawaii a republic. Sandford Dole, a missionary's son, was made president. In 1898, the United States {{U}}(36) {{/U}} the islands, and it became a {{U}}(37) {{/U}} of the United States in 1900. On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese {{U}}(38) {{/U}} Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack {{U}}(39) {{/U}} the entrance of the United States to the Second World War. In 1959, the United States Congress {{U}}(40) {{/U}} Hawaii to statehood, making it the fiftieth state in the United States. For the first time in about 200 years, Hawaiians were able to participate in the electoral process. |