It was 1768, and the Master's Mate, James Cook of England, was given the command of captain of two ships that would carry astronomers to Tahiti so they could look at Venus cross paths with the sun. This was the first of three major trips Cook takes that will make him one of the worlds leading explorers of his time.

It was on his third expedition where he discovered something that no other western man had seen before. His goal had been to head north towards the artic and look for a passage from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic, a "Northwest Passage." Heading north he discovered many islands but on January 19, 1777, he discovered one that would become Hawaii.

Although a fairly small island, Hawaii found ways to make a profit off trade. Many ships in the early years made trades for fruits, vegetables and pork. Later on whaling in the Hawaiian waters became fairly profitable. But the most profitable trade in the early years was the trade of Sandalwood trees. Sandalwood was traded with merchant ships, who sold them to the orient. The orient would then use this wood for the following: incense sticks, perfumes, cosmetics, and carvings. In the late 1830's, many sugar mills were started up throughout the kingdom. In the latter part of the century, Hawaii averaged 9,586 tons of sugar a year that was being exported. Although not a big industry, tourism became fairly popular. A few companies offered trips to Hawaii aboard makeshift passenger boats from San Francisco.

Throughout its history, before the annexation by the United States, Hawaii had many emperors. The first major leader was a man by the name of Kamehameha. In the late 1700s, Kamehameha came to power by force by the help of a few Englishmen's teachings of "western battle techniques." He also helped make the sandalwood market, a very valuable wood used for furniture, by forcing his people into labor to cut down the trees. Liholiho Kamehameha II, son of Kamehameha, was highly influenced by missionaries. He is known for introducing whaling to the islands. Missionaries raised Kauikeaouli Kamehameha III, the younger brother of Liholiho. Kamehameha III had the longest reign out of all of them. He is known for having many white cabinet members due to the fact that he took the throne at age ten. During his reign the sandalwood and whaling industry came to an end and made way for the first Hawaiian sugar mill. In 1848, heavily influenced by his white cabinet members, he signed a constitution, which divided all the land. His reign was the start of the fall to the Damehameha dynasty.

After Lunalilo's death, David Kalakaua was elected to power. While in power, he replaced most of the white cabinet members with Hawaiian's. He was probably the least popular king. He would often throw giant parties and waist money on frivolous things. One such thing he purchased was a war ship in the hopes that he could use it to become the king of the Pacific. The last of the rulers of Hawaii was Queen Liliuokalani. Although very ambitious and very loving of her people she was overthrown by group of white businessmen, which were helped by the United States government.

For the past century, Hawaii has been apart of the United States, which has made people very happy and pleased to be apart of the strongest nation in the world. However, there are those who feel that the United States committed a great in-justice upon the island nation of Hawaii. "I am Hawaiian, not American. Americans stole our nation and threw our queen in jail. I refuse to pledge allegiance to the American flag." A first grader, f

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1967
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)