Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (1795–1893)

Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands

Unified by Kamehameha I in 1795, the Hawaiian kingdom was an internationally recognised state with treaties across Europe. Its queen was overthrown in an 1893 coup backed by American planters; the US annexed the islands in 1898.

ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu had electric lighting four years before the White House — and its king circumnavigated the globe before any other head of state.