The twentieth century made Honolulu strategic as well as central. Pearl Harbor, west of downtown, grew into a major naval base, and on December 7, 1941 the attack there brought the United States into World War II — a day of great loss that is remembered now at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. After the war the city boomed, and in 1959 Hawaiʻi became the fiftieth state, with Honolulu as its capital. Through territory, war, and statehood, the harbor city remained the islands' unquestioned center of government, trade, and life.
That kingdom did not survive the century. In 1893 the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown by a group of businessmen backed by U.S. forces; the monarchy was ended, and in 1898 the islands were annexed by the United States, becoming a territory in 1900. It is a hard and contested history, and Honolulu does not hide it — ʻIolani Palace stands restored at the center of downtown precisely as a place to remember the kingdom that was. The Hawaiian identity the monarchy embodied did not disappear; it remains, to this day, the deep current beneath the modern city.
Why People Visit Honolulu
Honolulu offers the full range of Hawaiʻi in one place — royal and wartime history, world-class museums, and a famous shoreline, all in a walkable, welcoming capital city. Visitors come for Diamond Head, the beaches, and the heritage downtown, and stay for the food, the culture, and the easy access to the rest of Oʻahu. From the palace to the crater to the harbor, it rewards both a quick visit and a long stay. It is historic, cosmopolitan, and unmistakably Hawaiian.
