The Kingdom of Hawaii existed from 1795 to 1893, founded when Kamehameha I conquered Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Lanai in 1795, with full unification of the archipelago completed in 1810 when Kauai and Niihau joined voluntarily. Its capital moved from the Waikiki, Honolulu and Kailua-Kona area under Kamehameha I to Lahaina from 1820 to 1845 and then to Honolulu, which remained the seat of government until the kingdom's end. Two dynastic families ruled the kingdom in succession, the House of Kamehameha from 1795 to 1874 and the House of Kalakaua from 1874 to 1893, and the kingdom won diplomatic recognition from European powers and the United States even as European and American contact introduced diseases that reduced the Native Hawaiian population from roughly 128,000 in 1778 to about 24,000 by 1920. The kingdom was overthrown on 17 January 1893 in a coup by the Committee of Safety, composed mostly of American-descended subjects and backed by United States military forces; Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate on 24 January 1895, and the Republic of Hawaii that succeeded the kingdom was annexed by the United States on 7 July 1898.
Facts
Government TypeAbsolute monarchy (1795-1840), then constitutional monarchy (1840-1893) 1 The source names two successive phases: absolute monarchy 1795-1840, then constitutional monarchy 1840-1893. Sources
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