Skip to main content

British colonizers make landfall on Hawai'i.

Date: 1778

The Story of Sugar
COL
EUR
EPD
INDG
HAW

The British colonizer James Cook and his crew land on the island of Kauaʻi. The Indigenous population of Hawai'i will subsequently be overwhelmed by the infectious diseases brought by Cook and subsequent European colonizers to the island. The primary diseases first brought to the island are syphilis and gonorrhea. Later colonizers come with other illnesses, resulting in a significant loss of lives. When James Cook lands, he sees sugarcane growing naturally and immediately begins planning to establish sugar plantations on the island.