Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians, descendants of Polynesians, represent only 10.2% of the population! however, 22% of the inhabitants of Hawaii have native origins, even if it is not their dominant ethnic group. Since the arrival of Westerners in Hawaii in the 18th century, they have been progressively decimated by numerous diseases against which they were not immune and then mixed with other communities that came to settle successively on the island. According to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), native Hawaiians of 100% Polynesian descent do not actually represent 9% of the population but only 1%, or a little less than 10,000 people! When, according to the OHA, they are among the poorest and least well cared for in the state, there is reason to be seriously concerned about the survival of this ancestral people... Some private schools now teach Hawaiian culture and are reserved for students of Polynesian origin
Europeans and Americans
Arriving in the wake of Captain Cook, the English were the first Europeans to settle in the archipelago in the late 18th century. They were mainly sailors working on whalers or merchants. The British influence was very important in Hawaii, much more than that of the Americans, as shown by the Union Jack on the Hawaiian flag. A second important wave of migration occurred from 1820 onwards, with the installation of the first Protestant missionaries who came straight from the Boston area. Many of these Americans made the arduous sea voyage for the very first time. The third wave of Westerners to arrive in Hawaii, beginning in the 1870s, were the Portuguese. Originally from Madeira and the Azores, they came to the archipelago to work on the sugar plantations, which were in need of labor. Although the Portuguese did not succeed in establishing themselves in Hawaii, they did change Hawaiian music forever by inventing the ukulele.
Asian communities
Like the Portuguese, Asians came to Hawaii in the 19th century to work on the sugarcane plantations, which were short of labor.
The first to arrive were the Chinese in the 1850s. A second wave of Chinese immigration took place in the 1870s, and it was during this same period that many Japanese workers arrived for the first time. Today, they are the majority Asian group in Hawaii. Filipinos were the last major wave of Asian immigration, from 1910 to 1930. They are the second largest Asian community in Hawaii.
While Filipinos have a relatively modest standard of living today, the Japanese and Chinese - who arrived earlier - have climbed the social ladder and work in commerce, administration, real estate or tourism. The share of the population of Asian origin (only) is now 37.6% of the population, which is the highest
Two official languages
The State of Hawaii recognizes two official languages: English and Hawaiian. It was the British captain, James Cook, who first introduced English to Hawaii, when he discovered the archipelago in 1778. The Hawaiians didn't understand anything at the time! It was the Protestant missionaries, who settled in the archipelago at the beginning of the 19th century, who taught English to the Hawaiians in order to better convert them to Christianity. Originally derived from Polynesian, Hawaiian is the language spoken by the Marquesans and Tahitians who are, historically, the first inhabitants of Hawaii. It has undergone many changes over the years but still sounds the same. However, despite the Hawaiian cultural renaissance of the 1970s, Hawaiian is hardly spoken. The locals use only a few words and expressions in their daily lives and these are usually the only ones they know! Only the 200 inhabitants of the private island of Niihau, who live practically in isolation, are the last ones on the archipelago to speak Hawaiian fluently. Hawaiian is also used in traditional songs, such as those that can be heard in hula shows. Finally, a local slang called pidgin is commonly spoken on the islands. Pidgin is Hawaiian Creole. It was invented by immigrants of very diverse origins, who worked on the sugar plantations in the 19th century, and was inspired by English. It was a very practical coded language for them because the plantation owners did not understand a word of it! In the street you can also hear many foreign languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Spanish..
A population rocked by the aloha spirit
The average life expectancy in Hawaii is 81.3 years (2018) and it is the oldest living state in the United States! According to several studies, this is due to a healthier lifestyle than the rest of the United States, including a very low number of smokers among the local population. It is also a state with a very low rate of obese people in its population, among the lowest in the United States. Locals like to think that it's simply the "Aloha Spirit" that keeps them there! One thing is for sure, the aloha spirit attracts many people from all over the world. An estimated 43% of the people living in Hawaii were not born here, mainly mainland Americans, Canadians, Pacific Islanders and Asians, attracted by the high employment rate and good living conditions here. As an indirect consequence, nearly 1,600 homeless or extremely vulnerable people travel to Hawaii each winter to survive in better conditions, without a return ticket. However, the migratory trend has been reversed since 2016, which has seen the population decrease a little more each year, not because of excess mortality but because of emigration to the mainland. The island of Oahu alone has recorded more than 12,000 departures in 2021. This departure would not come from the heart but from the wallet, as life on the island is marked by a higher cost of living than in other American states (rent, taxes, imported products).
