夏威夷

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旧称桑威奇群岛(Sandwich Islands)。

美国一州,由太平洋中部的一组火山岛组成,面积6,471平方公里。首府火奴鲁鲁(檀香山)东距旧金山3,857公里。主要岛屿从西到东分别是:尼豪岛、考艾岛、欧胡岛、毛洛开岛、拉那伊岛、卡霍奥拉韦岛、茂伊岛和夏威夷岛,另有120多个小岛。州内的活火山有冒纳罗亚山和基拉韦厄火山。至少带有一部分原住民夏威夷人血统者占全州总人口的1/8,仅次於日本後裔(占总人口1/4),该州居民大部分居住在欧胡岛上。其原住民是玻里尼西亚人,约在西元400年从马克萨斯群岛迁移到夏威夷。1778年科克船长在夏威夷群岛登陆,取名为桑威奇群岛。1796年在酋长卡米哈米哈一世统治下,统一了其族群。美国捕鲸船队开始驻留在这里,1820年新英格兰传教团抵此,夏威夷人受西方人的影响,文化大为改观。1851年卡米哈米哈三世让夏威夷接受美国的保护,後来因美国蔗糖利益而酿成推翻君主政权的一次政变,建立夏威夷共和国(1893)。1898年新共和国同意和美国合并,1900年成为美国准州。1941年日本人轰炸珍珠港导致美国卷入第二次世界大战,夏威夷因而成为一个重要的海军基地。1959年成为美国的第五十州。旅游业为经济主要命脉。夏威夷也是世界天文中心之一,在冒纳开亚山顶部设有望远镜。人口约1,211,537(2000)。

Hawaii

State (pop., 1997 est.: 1,187,000), U.S., comprising a group of islands in the central Pacific Ocean that covers 6,471 sq mi (16,760 sq km). Its capital is Honolulu. Located 2,397 mi (3,857 km) west of San Francisco, the state's major islands are, from west to east, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii; there are over 120 islets. The state's active volcanoes include Mauna Loa and Kilauea. People of at least part-Hawaiian descent constitute about one-eighth of Hawaii's total population, followed by those of Japanese ancestry, who constitute one-fourth. The majority of the state's residents live on Oahu. The original Hawaiians were of Polynesian origin and came from the Marquesas Islands c. AD 400. Capt. James Cook visited the islands in 1778, and called them the Sandwich Islands. In 1796 Kamehameha I united the group under his rule. American whalers began to stop there; they were followed in 1820 by New England missionaries, and Western influences changed the islands. While Kamehameha III in 1851 placed Hawaii under U.S. protection, a coup later fomented by U.S. sugar interests resulted in the monarchy's overthrow and the establishment of a Republic of Hawaii (1893). In 1898 the new republic and the U.S. agreed on annexation, and in 1900 Hawaii became a U.S. territory. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941 led to U.S. involvement in World War II, and Hawaii became a major naval station. Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959. Its largest industry is tourism. It is also a world astronomy center, with telescopes atop Mauna Kea.

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