The History of the Hawaii Flag - (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of the Hawaiian flag? ›

The Hawaii flag was commissioned in 1816 at the request of the first king to unite the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Stories speculate that the flag was meant as a symbol to appease both British and American interests during the War of 1812 (which pitted the United States against Great Britain).

Kānaka Maoli flag

The Kānaka Maoli ('true people' in the Hawaiian language) design is purported by some to be the original flag of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, though this claim is unverified and widely disputed. It was introduced to the public by Gene Simeona in 2001.

Unlike any other U.S. state flag, it uniquely incorporates the national flag of a foreign country. King Kamehameha I designed this flag, blending elements from Britain, America, and Hawaiʻi. In the top left corner, the Union Jack pays homage to the historical ties between the Royal Navy and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

The Hawaii flag features eight horizontal stripes alternating in color white, red, and blue in that order. In its canton is the United Kingdom's Union Jack flag, which features a field of blue charged with a compound saltire (crossing) of alternating white and red.

The flag consists of eight horizontal stripes, representing the eight major islands and the British Union Jack. It has served as the flag of the kingdom, republic, territory and the state of Hawaii.

Hawaii was a British protectorate for a long while, and the flag the Hawaiian Kingdom has always had Union Jack on it since 1793. From 1816 on, versions of the flag with different orders of the stripes was flown but it hasn't changed much since. Then came the USA.

Inverted national flags signify distress. The inverted Hawaiian flag has come to symbolize a nation in distress and is the main symbol of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

History. Hawaiʻi is one of two U.S. states, along with Texas, that were internationally recognized sovereign nations before becoming U.S. states. The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was sovereign from 1810 until 1893, when resident American and European capitalists and landholders overthrew the monarchy.

Elbert (1957), Kānaka Maoli is defined as a “true person” or “indigenous person” (Blaisdell in Dougherty 1992, p 182).

The Hawaiian Islands were first discovered by the West in 1778 by Captain James Cook. At the time, Cook named the island chain the Sandwich Islands after the British Earl of Sandwich.

Why didn't the British take Hawaii? ›

The British realized that barring an overt effort to simply take the Hawaiian Islands— an unlikely possibility—the most likely circ*mstance encouraging an American annexation attempt would grow out of instability within Hawai'i itself.

The royal flag, also called the royal ensign, is a flag that signals the presence of the Hawaiian monarch and in this portrait it signaled the presence of Kamehameha II on board. The royal ensign also flies at the residence of the Hawaiian monarch and wherever the monarch travels.

The controversial Kanaka Maoli—or “native Hawaiian”—flag (right) was introduced to the public by Gene Simeona of Honolulu in 2001. Simeona stated that this unearthed design was “resurrected from an 'original' Hawaiian green, red and yellow striped flag, destroyed by British navy Capt.

James Cook, the British explorer and navigator, is generally credited with having made the first European discovery of Hawaii; he landed at Waimea, Kauai Island, on January 20, 1778. Upon his return the following year, he was killed during an affray with a number of Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay.

The State Motto

The words Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono which mean "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." The saying is attributed to King Kamehameha III on July 31, 1843, when the Hawaiian flag was once more raised after a brief period of unauthorized usurpation of authority by a British admiral.

Hawai'i recognition as a separate region from the mainland USA began before Hawai'i became a state in 1959, when its remoteness from the mainland was not only cultural and social but an issue of the geography as well. So surfers wear either the flag of Hawai'i or the US flag to denote the region they're from.

Elbert (1957), Kānaka Maoli is defined as a “true person” or “indigenous person” (Blaisdell in Dougherty 1992, p 182).

The State Motto

The words Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono which mean "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." The saying is attributed to King Kamehameha III on July 31, 1843, when the Hawaiian flag was once more raised after a brief period of unauthorized usurpation of authority by a British admiral.