National Hawaii Day Date in the current year: July 5, 2025

Hawaii is one of two non-contiguous U.S. states; the other is Alaska. Hawaii is also the only island state. It is situated on an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,000 miles southwest of the continental United States. The state consists of 137 volcanic islands, most of which are uninhabited. It has eight main islands, seven of which are inhabited: Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, Lānaʻi, Maui, Molokaʻi, Niʻihau, and Oʻahu.

The Hawaiian archipelago was first settled by Polynesians sometime between 1000 and 1200 CE. Before the arrival of Europeans, the islands were home to numerous independent chiefdoms ruled by hereditary chiefs (aliʻi).

It is possible that Europeans sighted the archipelago before 1778, but the first recorded contact with Hawaii by a European explorer was that of Captain James Cook in January 1778. Contact with Europeans led to a decline in the native population because Hawaiians were vulnerable to European diseases, such as measles.

In the late 18th century, Kamehameha, the aliʻi nui (supreme ruler) of the island of Hawaii, conquered Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi. He then established the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Kamehameha dynasty. In 1810, the islands of Niʻihau and Kauaʻi voluntarily joined the kingdom, completing the unification of the Hawaiian Islands. The Kamehameha dynasty ended in 1874 when King Lunalilo, who had no children, died without naming an heir.

In 1887, influential anti-monarchists forced King Kalākaua to sign a new constitution that stripped the monarch of much of his power. Kalākaua died in 1891 and was succeeded by his sister, Liliʻuokalani, who was overthrown two years later. Following her overthrow, Hawaii was ruled by a provisional government until the Republic of Hawaii was established on July 4, 1894.

However, the republic was short-lived as the coup’s organizers intended for Hawaii to be annexed by the United States. Negotiations about annexation began after President William McKinley’s inauguration in March 1897. On August 12, 1898, Hawaii became an organized incorporated territory of the United States.

For decades afterward, Hawaiian plantation owners resisted statehood because territorial status allowed them to exploit immigrant laborers. This changed in the 1950s when a new majority, consisting of Hawaii-born descendants of immigrant laborers who were U.S. citizens, campaigned for statehood.

The U.S. Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act in March 1959. A statehood referendum was held on June 27, 1959, and the majority of residents supported it. Hawaii officially became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.

In 2017, National Day Calendar launched the National State Days project, which honors the history and culture of each state in the order they joined the Union, rather than on their admission anniversaries. National Hawaii Day is the last holiday in this series, as Hawaii was the last state to join the Union. Symbolically, it falls on July 5, the day after Independence Day.