Chapter 4 Honolulu Political Economy

     Honolulu Harbor, known also as Kulolia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794. He named the harbor Fair Haven. Other foreign captains then referred to it as Brown's Harbor. The name Honolulu (with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use. In the 1800s, the City of Honolulu was the area near the harbor which is now referred to as downtown Honolulu.
Honolulu became the most important shipping point in Hawaii. It flourished with the sandalwood export and then as a supply port for whalers. Sugar, pineapples, light manufacturing, tourism and defense installations followed as economic mainstays and the last two remain so to this day.
     Seamen, colonizers, adventurers, merchants and missionaries from America and Europe westernized the Hawaiian Islands. Probably the greatest influence was by the group of missionaries who arrived from New England in 1820. They left a lasting imprint in fields of religion, education, economics and politics. Later, immigrants from Asia brought other cultural values and practices that helped to fashion the unique Hawaiian culture of today.
     In 1850, Kamehameha III proclaimed Honolulu the capital city of his kingdom. It is still the capital and dominant city of the nation's 50th State.

     Shortly after the conquest of Oahu, the high chief of Kauai surrendered sovereignty to King Kamehameha I and all the islands were united as one government. During the monarchy, local affairs were administered through the Privy Council, the Minister of the Interior and the governors appointed by the king for each island. Even for a period after U.S. annexation of the islands in 1898 and the creation of the Territory of Hawaii by the Congress in 1900, there was no municipal government.
In 1905, the Territorial Legislature passed the law which formed the basis of modern government in Hawaii. It established five counties: Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kalawao. Kalawao was the Hansen's Disease settlement on Molokai's Kalaupapa peninsula under the jurisdiction of the state's Health Department. The four other counties were governed by elected Boards of Supervisors.
The state government retained many traditional county government functions and over the next several decades took on even more, giving Hawaii the most centralized state government. The state administers the entire court system, the public health, welfare, correctional and school systems in addition to all harbors, airports and major highways.

     Several services are contracted out to businesses or private nonprofit organizations, including the operation and maintenance of the bus system, the refuse incinerator/power generating plant, refuse landfill and convenience centers, and animal control services
Resource
http//www1.honolulu.gov/cchnl.htm