6 lugl 1898 anni - United States Takes Possession of Hawaii

Descrizione:

Since 1795, the islands of Hawaii had been under the rule of a monarchy, known as the Kingdom of Hawaii. Over the years, a number of American missionaries had visited the islands and had more-or-less converted the entire indigenous population to Christianity by 1840.

In this time the missionaries and their descendants had also integrated into the population of Hawaii meaning that by the end of the 19th Century the islands had a significant American population, some of which made up part of the government.

In 1887 it was these American members of the government that forced the King of Hawaii to decree a new constitution that favoured wealthy white elites.

Six years later, the next ruling monarch was a Queen who decided get rid of that constitution and establish an absolute monarchy that gave her the control, instead of her mostly American government.

This eventually led to a coup that overthrew her rule and made Hawaii a republic controlled by Americans. Finally in 1898 Hawaii was annexed as part of the United States and eventually made the 50th and final state.