The first "visitors" to the Islands of Hawaii came not knowing what to expect — or even that the Islands existed. It is generally believed Hawaii's first permanent inhabitants sailed in voyaging canoes from the southern hemisphere islands of the Marquesas, between 300 and 800 A.D. Later waves of settlers arrived by the 12th century, this time from Tahiti.
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The 137 islands, islets and shoals that make up the Hawaiian Island chain sit at the northern tip of the Polynesian Triangle, an expanse of ocean roughly the size of Europe and North America combined. As one of the most geographically isolated, continuously populated spots on Earth, Hawaii is a land of many contrasts. READ MORE »