5 million BC - Kaua’i is formed.
3 million BC - O’ahu is formed.
1.5 million BC - Maui is formed.
1 million BC - Hawai’i Island is formed.
AD 300 - Marquesans discover and settle the Hawaiian islands.
AD 1100-1300 - Tahitians invade Hawai’i.
1250 - Arrival of the Tahitian priest Pa’ao, who rededicates the heiau for human sacrifice.
1542 - Spanish expedition led by Joao Gaetano finds Hawai’i, suppresses the information.
1758 - Kamehameha is born.
1778 - British captain James Cook first sights Ni’ihau and Kaua’i.
1779 - Cook is killed at Kealakekua Bay.
1786 - La Perouse explores the islands.
1790 - An American vessels kills and wounds hundreds of Hawaiians in the Olowalu Massacre.
1791 - Kamehameha builds Pu’ukohola Heiau and begins his conquest of the islands.
1794 - Vancouver brings cattle, goats, sheep.
1795 - Kamehameha conquers Maui, Moloka’i, Lana’i, and O’ahu.
1803 - The first horses arrive.
1809 - Kaua’i joins a now united Hawaiian kingdom.
1819 - Kamehameha dies. The kapu system is discarded by Kamehameha II. The North Pacific whaling trade commences.
1820 - The brig Thaddeus arrives in Kailua-Kona with the first party of missionaries.
1822 - The first printed sheet of writing is struck in Honolulu.
1823 - Second missionary party establishes a church in Lahaina, Maui. Queen Keo pu olani is baptized on her deathbed.
1824 - Kamehameha II’s sandalwood tax dooms the native dryland forests.
1825-26 - Liholiho and his wife Kama malu die in London. Kamehameha III becomes king, with Ka’ahumanu acting as regent.
1825 - Sugar and coffee plantations are begun in Manoa Valley.
1831 - Missionaries establish Lahainaluna, the oldest school in the Western US.
1832 - Ka’ahumanu dies. Kamehameha III leases land in Kolo a, Kaua’i for sugar production.
1836 - The first English-language newspaper, the Sandwich Island Gazette, is published in Honolulu.
1837 - Honolulu draws up its first street plan.
1840 - Kamehameha III proclaims Hawai’i’s first constitution.
1842 - The US recognizes the independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
1845 - The seat of government is moved from Lahaina to Honolulu.
1846 - A peak year for whaling, with 429 whaling ships stopping in Lahaina.
1848 - The king proclaims the Great Mahele and land ownership is privatized. Imported diseases kill 10,000 Hawaiians.
1852 - The first Chinese plantation laborers arrive.
1854 - Kamehameha III dies.
1863 - Kamehameha IV dies.
1864 - Kamehameha V issues a new constitution strengthening the power of the monarchy.
1866 - The first leprosy patients are taken to Kawalao, Moloka’i, on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.
1872 - Kamehameha V dies.
1873 - Lunalilo reigns for one year.
1874 - David Kalakaua, the “Merrie Monarch,” ascends the throne.
1876 - HP Baldwin completes the Hamakua Ditch and brings wide-scale sugar production to Maui. Kalakaua arranges Reciprocity Treaty with the US.
1878 - First Portuguese laborers arrive.
1885 - Japanese laborers arrive.
1887 - Royal power is curtailed by the “Bayonet Constitution.”
1891 - Liliu’okalani comes to power.
1893 - The queen attempts to broaden her constitutional powers, and the monarchy is overthrown.
1894 - Hawai’i is declared a republic.
1895 - Citizens attempt an armed insurrection.
1898 - The US accepts Hawai’i as a territory.
1893 - Princess Ka’iulani, heir to the deposed monarchy, dies at age 24.
1901 - The Moana Hotel is built in Waikiki.
1908 - A team of Hawaiian paniolos wins the World’s Steer Roping Championship in Wyoming.
1912 - Duke Kahanamoku shatters the 100-meter freestyle swimming record at the Stockholm Olympics Games.
1917 - Lili’uokalani dies.
1922 - Dole purchases Lana’i and creates the world’s largest pineapple plantation.
1927 - The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is built, catering to the cruise liner trade.
1936 - The Hawai’i Clipper flies from San Francisco to Honolulu in 21 hours, 33 minutes, initiating commercial air traffic to Hawai’i.
1941 - Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan. The US declares martial law in Hawai’i. Many Japanese-Americans are sent to mainland internment camps.
1946 - World War II ends. A tsunami devastates Hilo.
1949 - Strikes cripple Hawai’i for six months, shifting political power out of the hands of the “Big Five” companies.
1954 - Labor-supported Democrats swamp Republicans in Territorial elections.
1959 - Hawai’i becomes the 50^th US state. The first airline jet arrives.
1960 - Hilo struck again by a tsunami.
1967 - The annual visitor count reaches one million.
1972 - Visitor count reaches two million.
1974 - George Ariyoshi becomes the first Asian-American governor of Hawai’i.
1976 - The re-created voyaging canoe Hokule’a sails to Tahiti, and Hawaiian activists form the Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana formed. The visitor count reaches four million.
1977 - Kimo Mitchell, son of Uncle Harry Mitchell of Keanae, disappears off Kaho’olawe with George Helm of Molokai.
1982 - Hurricane Ewa devastates Kaua’i.
1983 - Kilauea begins its present eruption.
1986 - John Waihe’e becomes first Hawaiian governor of Hawai’i
1992 - Hamakua Sugar closes, ending plantation agriculture on the Big Island. Kaua’i is slammed by Hurricane Iniki.
1993 - President Clinton signs an official apology to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the monarchy. A supercomputer begins operation on Maui.
1996 - Hawaiians vote to convene on the issue of sovereignty. The visitor count approaches 6 million.
2002 - Linda Lingle becomes the first female Governor of Hawaii and first Republican to lead the Aloha State in over 40 years.
2006 - Linda Lingle is re-elected as Governor.