Fun Facts About Hawaii

Fun Facts About Hawaii: all 32, explained

1. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 13 letters.

   The Hawaiian alphabet has five vowels, seven consonants and the ʻokina, a glottal stop. That is one of the smallest alphabets in the world.

   Source: Hawaiian language (Wikipedia) · Fact card

2. Hawaii is the only US state made entirely of islands.

   Hawaii is a chain of volcanic islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, more than 3,000 km from the US mainland. It became the 50th state in 1959.

   Source: Hawaii (Wikipedia) · Fact card

3. Measured from its base on the sea floor, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller than Mount Everest.

   Mauna Kea rises about 4,200 metres above sea level, but most of it is underwater. Measured from its base on the Pacific floor it is over 10,000 metres tall, compared with Everest’s 8,849 metres above sea level.

   Source: Mauna Kea (Wikipedia) · Fact card

4. Hawaii’s Big Island is still growing.

   Lava from Kīlauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has added new land to the island’s coast in recent decades when it flowed into the sea.

   Source: Kīlauea (Wikipedia) · Fact card

5. Hawaii is one of the most isolated island groups on Earth.

   The islands lie about 3,800 kilometers from California, the nearest continent, which is why so many plants and animals there are found nowhere else.

   Source: Hawaii (Wikipedia) · Fact card

6. Hawaii’s state fish is the humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa.

   The name of this reef triggerfish means roughly "triggerfish with a snout like a pig".

   Source: Rhinecanthus rectangulus (Wikipedia) · Fact card

7. Hawaii does not use daylight saving time.

   Close to the equator, day length changes little through the year, so Hawaii stays on Hawaii Standard Time all year.

   Source: Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone (Wikipedia) · Fact card

8. Hawaii has the only royal palace in the United States.

   Iolani Palace in Honolulu was the home of Hawaii’s last monarchs, King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani, before the kingdom was overthrown in 1893.

   Source: ʻIolani Palace (Wikipedia) · Fact card

9. Hawaii became the 50th US state in 1959.

   It was the last state to join the union, a few months after Alaska.

   Source: Hawaii (Wikipedia) · Fact card

10. Hawaii is one of the few US states where coffee is grown commercially.

    Kona coffee is grown on the slopes of Hualālai and Mauna Loa on the Big Island.

    Source: Kona coffee (Wikipedia) · Fact card

11. Hawaii has a green sand beach.

    Papakōlea Beach on the Big Island gets its color from olivine crystals eroded from a nearby volcanic cone.

    Source: Papakōlea Beach (Wikipedia) · Fact card

12. Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on Earth by volume.

    The volcano makes up about half of the Big Island and erupted most recently in 2022.

    Source: Mauna Loa (Wikipedia) · Fact card

13. The summit of Mauna Kea hosts some of the world’s largest telescopes.

    Its height, dry air and dark skies make it one of the best places on Earth for astronomy.

    Source: Mauna Kea Observatories (Wikipedia) · Fact card

14. Modern surfing comes from Hawaii.

    Native Hawaiians rode waves for centuries. Duke Kahanamoku, an Olympic swimmer from Honolulu, popularized surfing around the world in the early 1900s.

    Source: Duke Kahanamoku (Wikipedia) · Fact card

15. Hawaii has eight main islands.

    They are Hawaiʻi (the Big Island), Maui, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe.

    Source: Hawaiian Islands (Wikipedia) · Fact card

16. "Aloha" means much more than hello.

    It is used for hello and goodbye and also expresses love, affection and compassion.

    Source: Aloha (Wikipedia) · Fact card

17. Hawaii is the only US state with two official languages.

    English and Hawaiian have both been official since 1978.

    Source: Hawaiian language (Wikipedia) · Fact card

18. Hawaii was once the world’s biggest pineapple producer.

    Plantations on Oʻahu and Lānaʻi grew most of the world’s canned pineapple in the 20th century. Lānaʻi was once called the Pineapple Island.

    Source: Pineapple (Wikipedia) · Fact card

19. Kīlauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth.

    It erupted almost continuously from 1983 to 2018 and has erupted many times since.

    Source: Kīlauea (Wikipedia) · Fact card

20. The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the US into World War II.

    The USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu sits over the sunken battleship.

    Source: Attack on Pearl Harbor (Wikipedia) · Fact card

21. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu.

    He is the only US president born outside the contiguous 48 states.

    Source: Barack Obama (Wikipedia) · Fact card

22. Thousands of humpback whales visit Hawaii every winter.

    They migrate from Alaska to the warm, shallow waters around the islands to breed and give birth.

    Source: Humpback whale (Wikipedia) · Fact card

23. Hawaii’s state bird is a goose, the nēnē.

    The nēnē is found only in Hawaii and was saved from near extinction by captive breeding.

    Source: Nēnē (Wikipedia) · Fact card

24. It snows in Hawaii.

    The summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa often get snow in winter.

    Source: Mauna Kea (Wikipedia) · Fact card

25. Kauaʻi’s Mount Waiʻaleʻale is one of the wettest places on Earth.

    Its summit averages more than 11 meters of rain a year.

    Source: Mount Waiʻaleʻale (Wikipedia) · Fact card

26. Hawaii celebrates Lei Day every May 1.

    Schools and communities hold lei-making contests and festivities, under the slogan "May Day is Lei Day".

    Source: Lei (garland) (Wikipedia) · Fact card

27. The first Hawaiians arrived by canoe, navigating by the stars.

    Polynesian voyagers reached Hawaii around 1,000 years ago, crossing thousands of kilometers of open ocean.

    Source: Polynesian navigation (Wikipedia) · Fact card

28. A traditional Hawaiian canoe sailed around the world without modern instruments.

    The voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa completed a worldwide voyage from 2014 to 2017 using traditional navigation.

    Source: Hōkūleʻa (Wikipedia) · Fact card

29. Hawaii has no native land snakes.

    Bringing snakes into the state is illegal, to protect native birds and wildlife.

    Source: Hawaii (Wikipedia) · Fact card

30. Visitors climb Haleakalā on Maui to watch the sunrise above the clouds.

    The summit is more than 3,000 meters high, and sunrise visits need a reservation.

    Source: Haleakalā (Wikipedia) · Fact card

31. Poke is a Hawaiian dish.

    Poke means "to slice or cut" in Hawaiian and is traditionally made with cubed raw fish, seaweed and salt.

    Source: Poke (Hawaiian dish) (Wikipedia) · Fact card

32. Hawaii eats more Spam per person than any other US state.

    Spam arrived with the US military in World War II and is now used in dishes like Spam musubi.

    Source: Spam (food) (Wikipedia) · Fact card