The islands of Hawaii were created by volcanic activity millions of years ago.

Polynesia, which means many islands, is a name covering over a thousand islands between Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. The Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, Samoa, American Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna are also in this grouping.

Captain James Cook named the Hawaiian Islands the Sandwich Islands after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich.

Captain Cook was killed in a skirmish with islanders on 14 February 1779 at Kealakekua Bay on his third visit to Hawaii; Cook had circumnavigated the world twice charting previously unknown islands.

The Big Island of Hawaii is almost twice as big as all the other Hawaiian Islands put together.

Pearl Harbour (Oahu), named after its pearl fisheries, is the best natural harbour in the Pacific.

Over seventy percent of Hawaiians live on Oahu and over half of these live in Honolulu.

Lanai is known as the Pineapple Island and until recently has been mainly used for pineapple plantations.

"Aloha" is used as a greeting and a farewell. Hospitality is important to the Hawaiian way of life and is called the spirit of Aloha.

Kamehameha united the Hawaiian Islands at the end of the eighteenth century. With the help of the Europeans, he conquered all the islands except for Kauai which paid him tribute.

Hawaii is the only state in the USA with a royal heritage.

Hawaiian society was divided into the ruling class of known as the ali'i, the priests and the ordinary people.

Hawaiian royalty used surf boards which were double the length of those used by ordinary people.

Hawaii become a state of the USA in 1959.

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961.

In 1960 a tsunami originating near Chile, killed many people; it travelled to the Hawaiian Islands and carried on to Japan. (A tsunami is an enormous wave produced by undersea earthquakes which can travel at speeds of up to 600 mph).

Hawaii's Mauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano.

In May 2018 the eruption of the Kilauea volcano destroyed many homes.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Monitors volcanic activity in Hawaii.

Climate change will affect Hawaii's beaches and infrastructure; many Hawaiians will be displaced.