Vacation Rental in Princeville Kauai
and Kauai Travel Guide
©B.Pruitt 2009
History of Kauai and Hawaii
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3.65 million years ago: A period of renewed volcanism produces the Koloa eruptions.
15,000 years ago: The most recent volcanic activity on Kauai forms Pu‘u Kilauea.
400 A.D.: The first Polynesians arrive, likely from the Marquesan Islands.
1100: A second wave of settlers arrives from Tahiti.
1350: King Kūkona defeats invading armies and ushers in long era of peace.
1778: Captain James Cook and his crew are the first Europeans to set foot on Hawaiian soil when they land at Waimea.
1780: Kauai's last king, Kaumuali‘i, is born.
1792: Explorer, George Vancouver, returns to Kauai commanding his own expedition.
1796: An invading army led by Kamehameha is turned back in the Kauai Channel by a storm and heavy seas.
1810: Kaumuali‘i concedes to Kamehameha as ruler of all Hawaiian Islands.
1816: Georg Schäffer begins construction of a Russian fort at Waimea.
1820: New England missionaries, Whitney and Ruggles, arrive at Waimea.
1821: Kaumuali‘i is taken forcibly to Honolulu and marries the Ka‘ahumanu, the widow of Kamehameha. Kahekili Ke‘eaumoku is installed as governor of Kaua‘i.
1835: Hawaii's sugar industry begins with Ladd and Company establishing a plantation at Koloa.
1841: Father Robert Walsh establishes the first Roman Catholic mission on Kauai.
1849: The Lîhu‘e Plantation is formed.
1852: The first group of indentured sugar workers arrives from China.
1853: The Lihu‘e Plantation mills its first crop of sugar cane.
1856: Valdemar Knudsen receives leases on what becomes the Kekaha Sugar Company.
1868: The first Japanese laborers leave Japan to work in Kauai's sugar fields.
1871: Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole is born near what is near Poipu. He served as Hawaii's delegate to congress and created the Hawaiian Homes Commission.
1876: Sugar industry benefits greatly when the Reciprocity Treaty is signed allowing sugar into the U.S. duty free.
1877: The first group of Portuguese contract laborers are recruited in the Azores.
1883: The Government of Hawaii sets restrictions on the number of Chinese immigrants.
1900: U.S. law prohibits further importation of Chinese workers when Hawaii is annexed.
1902: The first Korean laborers arrive.
1905: The County of Kauai is established and given authority over police, fire control, highways, public works and sanitation.
1906: Laborers from the Philippines arrive.
1911: The Tunnel of Trees is planted north of Koloa as a community project.
1930: Harbors are built at Port Allen and Nawiliwili.
1945: The International Longshore Workers Union starts representing sugar workers.
1946: A tsunami hits the north shore on April 1, causing great damage.
1950: Lihue airport opens.
1957: A March 3rd tsunami slams the north shore.
1959: The U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility is built at Barking Sands on Kauai's west side.
1960: Koke‘e Tracking Station is installed and used to track early American manned space flights.
1973: The Kilauea Plantation closes.
1982: Hurricane Iwa hits the island.
1992: Hurricane Iniki, the most powerful Hawaiian hurricane in memory devastates Kauai.
1996: McBryde Co. closes its sugar operations.
2000: Amfac Sugar Kauai closes the Kekaha and Lihue plantations.