In 1778, British explorer James Cook was the first known non-Polynesian to arrive at the archipelago early British influence is reflected in the state flag, which bears a Union Jack. Settled by Polynesians some time between 10 CE, Hawaii was home to numerous independent chiefdoms. Consequently, it is a unique melting pot of North American and East Asian cultures, in addition to its indigenous Hawaiian heritage. As one of only six majority-minority states, it has the country's only Asian American plurality, its largest Buddhist community, and the largest proportion of multiracial people.

Hawaii is among the country's most diverse states, owing to its central location in the Pacific and over two centuries of migration. Two-thirds of the population lives on O'ahu, home to the state's capital and largest city, Honolulu.

states, Hawaii is the eighth-smallest in land area and the 11th-least populous, but with 1.4 million residents ranks 13th in population density. The uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands make up most of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the United States' largest protected area and the fourth largest in the world. The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi, after which the state is named it is often called the 'Big Island' or 'Hawaii Island' to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The state's ocean coastline is consequently the fourth longest in the U.S., at about 750 miles (1,210 km). Hawaii comprises nearly the entire Hawaiian archipelago, 137 volcanic islands spanning 1,500 miles (2,400 km) that are physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state geographically located within the tropics. Hawaii ( / h ə ˈ w aɪ i/ ( listen) hə- WY-ee Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the U.S.

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