Whose Hawaii is it Anyway? Immigration at Hawaii Questions Answered

Whose Hawaii is it Anyway? Immigration at Hawaii Questions Answered
By Joe Robertson

There are four states in America where the majority population is not made of non-Hispanic whites. Hawaii is among them and has the highest percentage in terms of Asian Americans. It is also home to the highest percentage of people belonging to a mixed race. They make up about 20% of the population.

Since the early 20th century, Hawaii and Mexico have been called majority minority regions. But, Mexico became a state before Hawaii. It is the second Majority Minority State of the U.S.A.

After the Polynesians and then the Europeans, the third category of foreigners to arrive at the Islands of Hawaii, were the Chinese. The Chinese employees who worked with the Western Trading ships came to Hawaii and settled here in 1789. Today a large portion of the population of Hawaii is made up of Asian ancestry especially that of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino. Most are the descendents of the people who came to the islands during the 19th century (around 1850) and worked at the sugar plantations.

Precisely, the first Japanese immigrants who were 153 in number arrived in Hawaii on 19th June 1868. This immigration was considered illegal by the Japanese government which had been established right after the Meiji Restoration. The Japanese government first legalized this immigration of their people to Hawaii on 9th February, 1885. This was right after the petition to Emperor Meiji by Kalakaua, when Kalakaua visited Japan sometime in 1881.

The first missionaries to arrive at the shores of the Hawaiian Islands to spread the teachings and to preach Christianity were American. They came over in 1820 to teach the people what they called the more "civilized" way of living.

By 1899, more than 13000 Portuguese had come to the islands of Hawaii. These new immigrants also worked in the sugar plantations, like all the previous ones. By 1901, around 5000 Puerto Ricans had settled down and built their homes in Hawaii. At present, there are around 50,000 Hawaiian Portuguese and a little over 30,000 Puerto Ricans living in the four beautiful islands of Hawaii.

You may wish to know more at: Traveling to Hawaii and Travel to Lanai

Joe, a reporter, has been traveling around the world for more than a decade now and has extensive experience in many fields. Now he has a blog along with other article writers. To know more about him, do visit: Passive Income from your Website

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