300-750 A.D. Polynesians arrive by canoe from Tahiti

1778 British explorer Captain James Cook discovers the Hawaiian Islands and names them the Sandwich Islands after Britain’s Earl of Sandwich

1779 Captain Cook is killed after a dispute at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii

1782 A decade of war among leading Hawaiian chiefs begins

1803 First horses are brought to Hawaii and land on the Big Island

1810 King Kamehameha the Great unites Hawaiian Islands into one kingdom

1813 First pineapple is introduced from Spain

1817 First coffee is planted on Oahu

1819 King Kamehameha the Great dies and Prince Liholiho inherits the throne

1820 The first American Protestant missionaries arrive from England

1828 The first Catholic chapel opens in Honolulu in January

1840 The first constitution of the kingdom of Hawaii is established

1850 King Kamehameha III declares Honolulu a city on August 31

1882 America’s only royal palace, Iolani Palace, is built on Oahu

1892 First macadamia nut is planted

1893 Queen Liliuokalani surrenders the Hawaiian kingdom to U.S. under protest

1895 Queen Liliuokalani abdicates the throne

1898 Hawaii is annexed to United States

1900 Hawaii becomes a part of the U.S. territory

1922 Prince Jonah Kalanianaole Kuhio, the last powerful member of the royal Hawaiian family, dies

1927 First non-stop airplane flight from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii

1935 Pan American Airways “China Clipper” inaugurates air mail service to Hawaii

Dec. 7, 1941 The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and U.S. enters World War II. Martial law is imposed in Hawaii

Oct. 24, 1944 Martial law ends in Hawaii

1948 A record 41,964 people visit Hawaii

1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th State and Ala Moana Center is built

1959 First jet arrives as the “age of tourism” begins

1967 One million visitors make Hawaii their destination

1972 Two million visitors make Hawaii their destination

1986 Five million visitors make Hawaii their destination

1988 Six million visitors make Hawaii their destination

1983 Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii erupts and is still erupting as of today

1992 Hurricane Iniki hits Kauai and the western shore of Oahu

1996 The last sugar plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii closes

1997 Miss Hawaii Brooke Lee is crowned Miss USA and goes on to become Hawaii’s first Miss Universe

1998 Cumulina the mouse is “born” via cloning from adult cells. This “Honolulu Technique” of cloning was developed by an international team of scientists lead by Ryuzo Yanagimachi, of the University of Hawaii.

2001 Miss Hawaii Angela Perez Baraquio is crowned Miss America, Mrs. Hawaii Leslie Lam is crowned Mrs. America