Islanders

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so today we look at the Pacific Islands and the American territories there.

A kingdom, a territory, then a state

One hundred years before Hawaii became a territory annexed by the U.S., it experienced a kingdom, a coup d’état and the establishment of the Republic of Hawai’i.

Starting in the 1790s and with the help of Western advisers and weapons, Kamehameha the Great of the big island of Hawaii consolidated several of the islands into a single kingdom, some by force, some by negotiation. Kamehameha died in 1819, but the kingdom continued until a successful coup against the monarchy in early 1893. The rebellion was comprised of non-Hawaiians and a division of U.S. Marines. It resulted in the Republic of Hawaii established on July 4, 1894. In 1895, there was an uprising to reestablish the native monarchy, but it failed.The Spanish-American War began in April 1898 and the Republic of Hawaii declared neutrality. But following the use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii’s strategic importance to the U.S. was apparent. Both houses of Congress approved annexation on July 4, 1898, and President William McKinley signed the bill on July 7. On April 30, 1900, it was incorporated as the Territory of Hawaii. On Aug. 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state.

The first Hawaiians

After reaching Hawaii, the Polynesians spent a time traveling between the Hawaiian Islands and other islands in the Polynesian Triangle, until contact with other islands ended. For the following 500 years, the Hawaiian culture was developed.

The first Hawaiians lived by a strict set of laws known as kanawai. Certain people, places and things were kapu (forbidden.) Kapu established rules for behavior. For example, women and men ate separately. Also, women were forbidden from eating certain foods such as pork, coconuts and bananas. Kapu also ensured the conservation of resources with restrictions on the amount and types of fish caught, the amount and types of seeds planted, and the harvesting of crops. Any breaking of Kapu rules could result in punishment by death or becoming a kauwa.

You can learn more about early Hawaiians from the National Park Service here.

U.S. territories (not all in the Pacific)

The U.S. has 16 territories in areas of the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean. People living in U.S. territories are citizens of the U.S. and receive defense and economic support. They have territorial resident commissioners or delegates who can serve on congressional committees but are not allowed to vote on final disposition of legislation.

The five populated territories

1. Guam, in the western Pacific Ocean, has an established civil government, a population of 161,785 and an area of 210 square miles. It is the largest of the Mariana Islands. Guam is a popular destination for tourists, especially from Japan. The U.S. took charge of the island in 1898, but residents were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1950.

2. Puerto Rico is the most populated U.S. territory with 3.7 million people. Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917. The island covers 3,420 square miles, and the commonwealth includes approximately 2,000 more square miles of water.

3. The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. commonwealth consisting of 15 islands and cover about 183.5 square miles. Of the population of 77,000, the vast majority are on Saipan and Tinian. Territorial status was approved in 1975 through a referendum.

4. The U.S. Virgin Islands cover 133.73 square miles and have a population of 106,105. The islands are U.S. territories, but their citizens are not eligible to vote in U.S. presidential elections.

5. American Samoa consists of five mainland and coral atolls in the South Pacific. It is the southernmost U.S. territory and one of two below the equator. It has a population of 55,500 and covers 76.8 square miles.

The regions

Polynesia, from the Greek for “many islands.” Estimated population: 689,920.

Melanesia is derived from the Greek melas ‘black’ and nesoi ‘islands’ because of the dark skin of its inhabitants. Estimated population: 13.1 million

Micronesia, derived from the Greek for “small island.” Estimated population: 112,630.

The most prominent Polynesian languages, by number of speakers, are Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Māori and Hawaiian.

Demographics in the U.S.

In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget outlined the current standards for federal data on race and ethnicity, which separated the “Asian or Pacific Islander” category into “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.”

The Census Bureau, following these standards, defines a Pacific Islander as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands.”

The agency has never had a checkbox for “Pacific Islander” in its official census forms. In 2020, the agency offered a checkbox for three Pacific Islander ethnic groups — Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro — along with a fourth “Other Pacific Islander” category accompanied by a fill-in text area.

There are 1.7 million Americans who identify as Pacific Islander, making up 0.52% of the U.S. population in 2022. Among them, 612,000 reported only Pacific Islander and 929,000 reported Pacific Islander in addition to a different racial group.

Asian Americans are sometimes grouped with Pacific Islanders under the “AAPI” umbrella and are jointly celebrated every May during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The AAPI population is the fastest growing racial group in the U.S., increasing 27% from 2011 to 2021.

From Hawaiians to Fijians, the Pacific Islander experience in the U.S. is diverse. Educational outcomes and incomes also vary widely between ethnic groups.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of State, National Park Service, USA Facts, National Archives, Department of Homeland Security