Native Hawaiians

Native Hawaiians (in Hawaiian, kanaka ‘oiwi or kanaka māoli) are the indigenous Polynesian peoples of the Hawaiian Islands who trace their ancestry back to antiquity before the arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook in 1778. According to the U.S. Census Bureau report for 2000, there are 476,000 people who identified themselves as being native Hawaiian, part native Hawaiian and mixed native Hawaiian. Most native Hawaiians are residents of the United States in California, the State of Hawaii, Nevada and Washington. Two-thirds live in the State of Hawaii while the other one-third is split among mainland states. Almost half of the mainland share of the population is in California.

Population

At the time of Captain Cook's arrival, native Hawaiians numbered over 800,000. Over the span of the first century after first contact, native Hawaiians declined in population by 80%, dying from diseases introduced to the islands. Native Hawaiians did not have immunity to influenza, measles, and whooping cough, among others. From 1890 to 1920, native Hawaiians held a steady number of only 40,000. A short period of population growth occurred before the 1930s and then glided into a steady decline through the present day.

Related Topics:
Influenza - Measles - Whooping cough - 1890 - 1920

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An Office of Hawaiian Affairs survey in 1984 reported that 61% of Native Hawaiians had less than 50% native Hawaiian blood. That same report indicated that only 8,244 pure blood native Hawaiians existed out of the 208,476 total native Hawaiians surveyed.

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