World

Hawaii: 50th State is 50 Today

by 158 | August 21, 2009 at 06:37 am

79 views | 4 Recommendations | 1 comment

There are unconfirmed rumors

President Obama was born in Hawaii.

Hawaii is about the size of New Jersey

or about half the size of Nova Scotia

with a population of 1,300,000.It is a

major tourist destination for people

from all over the world. Most of

the people of Hawaii are of Asian

ancestry, about 1/3 are white and

many are of mixed race. There are

only about 509,000 people who are

native Hawaiian.

After King Kamehameha the Great conquered and united the islands in 1810, the kingdom was overthrown when a group of American businessmen forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate in 1893. Hawaii was considered a republic until it became a U.S. territory in 1898. Nearly 18 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor pulled the U.S. into World War II, Hawaii was admitted into the union on Aug. 21, 1959.