Hawaii (United States)

Last modified: 1998-01-07 by rob raeside
Keywords: hawaii | usa | united states | america |
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Rich Orman

• History
• Flag of Nation of Hawai'i

See also:

• Nation of Hawai'i Page
• United States of America
• States of the United States

Summarizing the book "The History of the United States Flag", by Quaife, Weig, and Appleman:

• Only US state flag to have flown over a kingdom, a territory, a republic, and a state.
• Captain Vancouver established a UK-Hawaii friendship in 1793-4 and obtained a "cession" of the Islands to the UK, but the British government apparently never took notice of it. He gave a red ensign to the king then, which on later visits he found flying in places of honor.
• During the War of 1812, an American asked why the King (this was Kamehameha) was flying the "enemy" flag. He lowered it and raised the US Flag, only to have the same thing happen when a British ship put into port. To avoid trouble, they decided to combine the two flags into one.
• A captain Adams (British) apparently helped design this flag for the king. Some scholars credit a Captain Beckley, however.
• The number of stripes varied, but was standardized at eight after 1843, for the eight principal islands in the group. In 1843 the UK declared that Hawaii was definitely independent and the Hawaiian flag was raised in a ceremony. However, this flag had stripes in the order white-red-blue through some mistake, which is why it is that way today, not red-white-blue as was originally done.

Dipesh Navsaria, 1995-11-21

Nation of Hawai'i Page.

Nation of Hawai'i is a pro-independence group of people decended from the original inhabitants of the islands. They have a white-yellow-black flag with a 'Kahili' symbol in the middle yellow band (the white and black bands are half the size of the yellow). See for a full explanation of the flag and the coat of arms

The white and black bars represent the balance of all things - Heaven and Earth, night and day, the positive and negative. The gold represents the entire human `ohana (family), with precious life as pure as golden light. The purple represents the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian Archipelago, Na Kanaka Maoli, caretakers of the Spirit of Aloha. The Kahili is an ancient symbol of communication between Heaven and Earth, inspiring leadership of the `ohana. The Kahili is embraced by La`i, leaves of Ti, a sacred plant of Hawai`i with powers of spiritual protection and healing.

Steve "Scooter" Kramer, 1996-09-09