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| Hanapepe Massacre |
Hanapepe MassacreOn September 9, 1924, toward the end of a long, drawn-out strike of Filipino sugar workers on Kauai, Hawaii, local police shot dead sixteen strikers in what came to be known later as the Hanapepe Massacre. As reproachful as it may appear in retrospect, the incident did not arouse contemporary public censure nor bring into question the legitimacy of the coercive agents or their actions.
By the 1920s, the sugar plantation owners in Hawaii had become disillusioned with both Japanese and Filipino workers. They spent the next few years trying to get the U.S. Congress to relax the Chinese Exclusion Act so that they could bring in new Chinese workers. Congress, in a period when racism was more open than today, prevented the importation of Chinese labor.
Unfortunately, organized labor in the 1920s' U.S. mainland was also infected with racism and supported the Congress in this action. For a while it looked as though militant unionism on the sugarplantations was dead. To ensure the complete subjugation of Labor, the Hawaiian Territorial Legislature passed laws against "criminal syndicalism, anarchistic publications and picketing."
This repression with penalties up to 10 years in prison did not stifle the discontent of the workers. Particularly the Filipinos, who were rapidly becoming the dominant plantation labor force, had long, deep seated grievances. As the latest immigrants they were the most discriminated against, and held in the most contempt. Although the planters had claimed there was a labor shortage and they were actively recruiting workers from the Philippines, they screened out and turned back any arrivals that could read or write. They wanted only illiterate workers. Of 600 men who had arrived in the islands voluntarily, they sent back 100. But these measures did not prevent discontent from spreading.
In 1922, Filipino labor activist Pablo Manlapit was active among them and had organized a new Filipino Higher Wage Movement which claimed 13,000 members. In April, 1924, a strike was called on the island of Kauai. The chief demands were for $2 a day in wages and reduction of the workday to 8 hours. It looked like history was repeating itself. The plantation owners used repression, armed forces, the National Guard, and strike breakers who were paid a higher wage than the strikers demanded. Again workers were turned out of their homes. The propaganda machine whipped up racism. Spying and infiltration of the strikers ranks was acknowledged by Jack Butler, executive head of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association.
Arrests of strike leaders was used to destroy the workers' solidarity. People were bribed to testify against them. On September 9, 1924 outraged strikers seized two strike breakers at Hanapepe, Kauai and prevented them from going to work. The police, armed with clubs and guns came to the "rescue" at the union headquarters. In stark constrast, the Filipino strikers had only homemade weapons and knives to defend themselves.
The Associated Press flashed the story of what followed across the United States in the following words: Honolulu. - Twenty persons dead, unnumbered injured lying in hospital, officers under orders to shoot strikers as they approached, distracted widows with children tracking from jails to hospitals and morgues in search of missing strikers - this was the aftermath of a clash between cane strikers and workers on the McBryde plantation, Tuesday at Hanapepe, island of Kauai. The dead included sixteen Filipinos and four policemen.
In the aftermath, 101 Filipinos were arrested, and 76 were brought to trial and 60 were given four year jail sentences. Pablo Manlapit was charged with subornation of perjury and was sentenced to two to ten years in prison. The Hawaii Hochi charged that he had been manipulated into prison, a victim of framed up evidence, perjured testimony, racial prejudice and class hatred. Shortly thereafter, he was paroled on condition that he leave Hawaii. After eight months, the strike disintegrated, illustrating once again that racial unionism in Hawaii was doomed to failure.
The Federationist, the official publication of the American Federation of Labor, reported that in 1924, the ten leading sugar companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange paid dividends averaging 17 percent. From 1913 to 1923, the eleven leading sugar companies paid cash dividends of 172.45 percent, and in addition, most of them issued large stock dividends.
After the 1924 strike, the labor movement in Hawaii dwindled but it never died. Discontent among the workers seethed but seldom surfaced. Pablo Manlapit, who was imprisoned and then exiled returned to the islands in 1932 and started a new organization, this time hoping to include other ethnic groups. But the time was not ripe in the depression years. There were small nuisance strikes in 1933 that made no headway and involved mostly Filipinos.
Category:Hawaii history
September 9September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). There are 113 days remaining.
Events
- 1000 - Battle of Swold somewhere in the Baltic Sea between Norway and other Scandinavians.
- 1087 - William the Conqueror dies near Rouen, France.
- 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg Dukes Albert III and Leopold III.
- 1513 - James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in the Battle of Flodden Field, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.
- 1543 - Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is officially crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
- 1739 - Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britains mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1776 - The Continental Congress officially names their new country the United States.
- 1839 - John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.
- 1850 - California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.
- 1850 - The Compromise of 1850 strips Texas of a third of its claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Union Army enters Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- 1870 - Redmond, Washington, founded
- 1886 - The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized.
- 1914 - World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.
- 1922 - Greek-Turkish war has ended with Turkish victory over the Greeks. The largest part of the city of Smyrna (on the Minor Asia coast, now Izmir) is burned. Non-Turkic population flees.
- 1923 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party (CHP).
- 1924 - Hanapepe Massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii.
- 1926 - The U.S. National Broadcasting Company formed.
- 1942 - World War II: A Japanese floatplane drops an incendiary bomb on Oregon.
- 1943 - World War II: The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy.
- 1944 - World War II: Bulgaria is occupied by Soviet Union.
- 1945 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan formally surrenders to China.
- 1947 - "First actual case of (a computer) bug being found": a moth lodges in a relay of a Mark II computer at Harvard University.
- 1948 - The Republic Day of Democratic People's Republic of Korea
- 1954 - Marilyn Bell swims for 20 hours and 57 minutes under grueling conditions to become the first person to swim across Lake Ontario.
- 1956 - Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
- 1965 - The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.
- 1965 - Sandy Koufax throws a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs
- 1966 - The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson.
- 1970 - Elvis Presley begins a 6 city tour at the Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum. This show is filmed for inclusion in the movie Elvis: That's The Way It Is.
- 1971 - Attica Prison riots
- 1983 - Aaron Pryor beats Alexis Arguello by knockout in round ten of a rematch of their 1982 controversial fight, dubbed The Battle of The Champions.
- 1991 - Tajikstan gains independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1995 - The Sony Playstation is released in North America.
- 1999 - The Sega Dreamcast is released in North America.
- 2001, 01:46:40 UTC - the Unix billennium.
- 2001 - Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan.
- 2004 - 2004 Jakarta embassy bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 people.
- 2004 - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica reverses a decision by Minister of Education and Sport Ljiljana Čolić to require the teaching of both creationism and evolution in schools, and announces that Čolić will be replaced.
- 2004 - Friends spin off Joey premieres.
Births
- 1349 - Duke Albert III of Austria (d. 1395)
- 1427 - Thomas de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1464)
- 1466 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (d. 1523)
- 1558 - Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, French soldier (d. 1602)
- 1585 - Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (d. 1642)
- 1629 - Cornelis Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1691)
- 1711 - Thomas Hutchinson, American colonial governor of Massachusetts (d. 1780)
- 1737 - Luigi Galvani, Italian physician and physicist (d. 1798)
- 1754 - William Bligh, British naval officer (d. 1817)
- 1755 - Benjamin Bourne, American politician (d. 1808)
- 1828 (N.S.) - Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (d. 1910)
- 1855 - Anthony Francis Lucas Croatian-born oil exploration pioneer (d. 1921)
- 1868 - Mary Hunter Austin, American writer (d. 1934)
- 1873 - Max Reinhardt, German film director and actor (d. 1943)
- 1878 - Adelaide Crapsey, American poet (d. 1914)
- 1887 - Alf Landon, American politician (d. 1987)
- 1890 - Colonel Harland Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (d. 1980)
- 1894 - Arthur Freed, American songwriter and film producer (d. 1973)
- 1894 - Bert Oldfield, Australian cricketer (d. 1976)
- 1898 - Frankie Frisch, baseball player (d. 1973)
- 1899 - Waite Hoyt, baseball player (d. 1984)
- 1903 - Phyllis Whitney, American writer
- 1904 - Feroze Khan, Pakistani field hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1908 - Cesare Pavese, Italian poet and novelist (d. 1950)
- 1911 - John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Jimmy Snyder, American bookmaker and sports commentator (d. 1996)
- 1922 - Hans Georg Dehmelt, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1923 - Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, American virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1924 - Jane Greer, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1924 - Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (d. 2003)
- 1925 - Cliff Robertson, American actor
- 1928 - Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, American musician (d. 1975)
- 1929 - Claude Nougaro, French singer (d. 2004)
- 1935 - Chaim Topol, Israeli actor
- 1939 - Ron McDole, American football player
- 1939 - Carlos Ortiz, Puerto Rican boxer
- 1941 - Peter Bonetti, British footballer
- 1941 - Otis Redding, American singer and songwriter (d. 1967)
- 1941 - Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist
- 1946 - Bruce Palmer, Canadian musician (Buffalo Springfield) (d. 2004)
- 1946 - Billy Preston, American musician
- 1949 - Joe Theismann, American football player and commentator
- 1951 - Alexander Downer, Australian politician
- 1951 - Tom Wopat, American actor and singer
- 1952 - David A. Stewart, English musician (Eurythmics)
- 1954 - Jeffrey Combs, American actor
- 1957 - Pierre-Laurent Aimard, French pianist
- 1960 - Hugh Grant, British actor
- 1963 - Lauren Allen, American Porn Star
- 1966 - Georg Hackl, German luger
- 1966 - Adam Sandler American actor and comedian
- 1969 - Rachel Hunter, New Zealand model and actress
- 1974 - Mathias Färm, Swedish Guitarist (Millencolin)
- 1982 - Ai Otsuka, Japanese singer and songwriter
- 1986 - Max Olesen, Canadian sex symbol
Deaths
- 701 - Pope Sergius I
- 1000 - Olaf I of Norway
- 1087 - King William I of England
- 1398 - King James I of Cyprus (b. 1334)
- 1487 - Chenghua, Emperor of China (b. 1447)
- 1488 - Francis II, Duke of Brittany (fell from a horse) (b. 1433)
- 1513 - King James IV of Scotland (b. 1473)
- 1569 - Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Flemish painter
- 1612 - Nakagawa Hidenari, Japanese warlord (b. 1570)
- 1680 - Henry Marten, English regicide (b. 1602)
- 1755 - Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, German historian (b. 1694)
- 1806 - William Paterson, Signer of the U.S. Constitution, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1745)
- 1815 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (b. 1738)
- 1841 - Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Swiss botanist (b. 1778)
- 1891 - Jules Grévy, President of France (b. 1813)
- 1898 - Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet (b. 1842)
- 1901 - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (b. 1864)
- 1909 - Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad entrepreneur (b. 1848)
- 1915 - Albert Spalding, baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (b. 1850)
- 1960 - Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (b. 1911)
- 1976 - Mao Zedong, Chinese head of state (b. 1893)
- 1978 - Jack Warner, Canadian-born film studio founder (b. 1892)
- 1980 - John Howard Griffin, American writer (b. 1920)
- 1985 - Paul Flory, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1990 - Doc Cramer, baseball player (b. 1905)
- 1990 - Samuel Doe, President of Liberia
- 1993 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (b. 1920)
- 1997 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1999 - Jim "Catfish" Hunter, baseball player (b. 1946)
- 2001 - Ahmed Shah Massoud, Afghani military leader
- 2003 - Larry Hovis, American actor (b. 1936)
- 2003 - Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1908)
- 2005 - John Wayne Glover, the North Shore Granny Murderer, hanging suicide.
Holidays and observances
- Eastern Orthodoxy - Synaxis of the Theopatores Joachim and Anna
- Japan - ChrysanthemumDay (Kiku no Sekku)
- North Korea - Republic Day (1948)
- Tajikistan - Independence Day (from USSR, 1991)
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/9 BBC: On This Day]
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September 8 - September 10 - August 9 - October 9 – listing of all days
ko:9월 9일
ms:9 September
ja:9月9日
simple:September 9
th:9 กันยายน
Sugar
:This article deals with sugar as food and as an important, widely traded commodity. The word also has other uses; see sugar (disambiguation).
In general use, "sugar" is taken to mean sucrose, also called "table sugar" or saccharose, a disaccharide which is a white crystalline solid. It is the most commonly used sugar for altering the flavor and properties (such as "mouthfeel", preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. Table sugar is commercially extracted from either sugar cane or sugar beet.
The "simple" sugars, or monosaccharides, such as glucose (which is produced from sucrose by enzymes or acid hydrolysis), are a store of energy which is used by biological cells. A sugar is denoted by any word on the ingredient list that ends with "ose".
For information on the other sugars, see monosaccharide and disaccharide.
In precise culinary terms, sugar is a type of food associated with one of the primary taste sensations, that of sweetness.
Production
primary taste
Table sugar or sucrose is extracted from plant sources. The most important two sugar crops are sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) and sugar beets (Beta vulgaris), in which sugar can account for 12%–20% of the plant's dry weight. Some minor commercial sugar crops include the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), sorghum (Sorghum vulgare), and the sugar maple (Acer saccharum). In the financial year 2001/2002, 134.1 million tonnes of sugar were produced worldwide.
The major cane sugar producing countries are countries with warm climates, such as Australia, Brazil, and Thailand. In 2001/2002 there was over twice as much sugar produced in developing countries as in developed countries. The greatest quantity of sugar is produced in Latin America, the United States and the Caribbean nations, and in the Far East.
The sugar beet regions are in cooler climates: North West and Eastern Europe, Northern Japan, plus some areas in the United States including California. The beet growing season ends with the start of harvesting around September. Harvesting and processing continues until March in some cases. The duration of harvesting and processing is influenced by the availability of processing plant capacity, and weather - harvested beet can be laid up until processed but frost damaged beet becomes effectively unprocessable.
The world's second largest sugar exporter is the EU. The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU sets maximum quotas for members production to match supply and demand, and a price. Excess production quota is exported (approx 5 million tonnes in 2003). Part of this is "quota" sugar which is subsidised from industry levies, the remainder (approx half) is "C quota" sugar which is sold at market price without subsidy. These subsidies and a high import tariff make it difficult for other countries to export to the EU states, or compete with it on world markets. The U.S. sets high sugar prices to support its producers with the effect that many sugar consumers have switched to corn syrup (beverage manufacturers) or moved out of the country (candy makers).
The sugar market is also under attack from the cheap prices of glucose syrups produced from wheat and corn (maize). In combination with artificial sweeteners, drink manufacturers can produce very low cost products.
Cane
The harvested vegetable material is crushed, and the juice is collected and filtered. The liquid is then treated (often with lime) to remove impurities, this is then neutralized with sulfur dioxide. The juice is then boiled, sediment settles to the bottom and can be dredged out, scum rises to the surface and this is skimmed off. The heat is removed and the liquid crystallises, usually while being stirred, to produce sugar which can be poured into moulds. A centrifuge can also be used during crystallization.
Beet
The washed beet is sliced, and the sugar extracted with hot water in a 'diffuser'. Impurities are precipitated with an alkaline solution "milk of lime" and carbon dioxide from the lime kiln. After filtration the juice is concentrated by evaporation to a content of about 70% solids. The sugar is extracted by controlled crystallisation. The sugar crystals are removed by a centrifuge and the liquid recycled in the crystalliser stages. Liquid from which no more sugar can be economically removed is lost from the process as molasses and used in cattle food.
The white sugar produced is sieved into different grades for selling.
Cane versus Beet
There is little perceptible difference between sugar produced from beet and that from cane. Testing for impurities can distinguish the two, and these have been developed to reduce fraudulent abuse of EU subsidies, and also aid detection of adulteration of fruit juice.
The residues of sugar production differ substantially and from place to place. While Cane molasses can be used as an ingredient that from sugar beet is unpalatable and generally used for industrial fermentation or as animal feedstuff. Cane and beet pulp can be burnt for fuel, but beet pulp is generally dried, pelleted and used as an animal feedstuff.
Types of culinary sugar
Raw sugars are yellow to brown sugars made from clarified cane juice boiled down to a crystalline solid with minimal chemical processing. Raw sugars are produced in the processing of sugar beet juice but only as intermediates en route to white sugar. Types of raw sugar available as a specialty item outside the tropics include demerara, muscovado, and turbinado. Mauritius and Malawi are significant exporters of such specialty sugars. Raw sugar is sometimes prepared as loaves rather than as a crystalline powder: in this technique, sugar and molasses are poured together into molds and allowed to dry. The resulting sugar cakes or loaves are called jaggery or gur in India, pingbian tong in China, and panela, panocha, pile, and piloncillo in various parts of Latin America.
Mill white sugar, also called plantation white, crystal sugar, or superior sugar, is raw sugar whose colored impurities have not been removed, but rather bleached white by exposure to sulfur dioxide. This is the most common form of sugar in sugarcane growing areas, but does not store or ship well; after a few weeks, its impurities tend to promote discoloration and clumping.
Blanco directo is a white sugar common in India and other south Asian countries. In producing blanco directo, many impurities are precipitated out of the cane juice by using phosphatation a treatment with phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide similar to the carbonatation technique used in beet sugar refining. In terms of sucrose purity, blanco directo is more pure than mill white, but less pure than white refined sugar.
White refined sugar is the most common form of sugar in North America and Europe. Refined sugar can be made by dissolving raw sugar and purifying it with a phosphoric acid method similar to that used for blanco directo, a carbonatation process involving calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide, or by various filtration strategies. It is then further decolorized by filtration through a bed of activated carbon or bone char depending on where the processing takes place. Beet sugar refineries produce refined white sugar directly without an intermediate raw stage. White refined sugar is typically sold as granulated sugar, which has been dried to prevent clumping.
Granulated sugar is available in various crystal sizes, for home and industrial use depending on the application:
- Coarse-grained sugars, such as sanding sugar are favored for decorating cookies (biscuits) and other desserts.
- Normal granulated for table use is typically around 0.5 mm across
- Finer grades are produced by selectively sieving the granulated sugar.
- caster (0.35 mm) which is commonly used in baking
- superfine sugar, and are favored for sweetening drinks or preparing meringue.
- Finest grades
- Powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar (0.060 mm), or icing sugar (0.024 mm), are produced by grinding sugar to a fine powder. A small amount of anti-caking agent to prevent clumping may be added, this is either cornstarch (1%-3%) or tri-calcium phosphate.
There are also sugar cubes for convenient consumption of a normal amount.
Brown sugars are obtained in the late stages of sugar refining, when sugar forms fine crystals with significant molasses content, or by coating white refined sugar with a cane molasses syrup. Their color and taste become stronger with increasing molasses content, as does their moisture retaining properties. They are also prone to hardening if exposed to the atmosphere although this is reversible.
Chemistry
In biochemistry, a sugar is the simplest molecule that can be identified as a carbohydrate. These include monosaccharides and disaccharides, trisaccharides and the oligosaccharides; these being sugars composed of 1, 2, 3 or more units. Sugars contain either aldehyde groups (-CHO) or ketone groups (C=O), where there are carbon-oxygen double bonds, making the sugars reactive. Most sugars conform to (CH2O)n where n is between 3 and 7. A notable exception is deoxyribose, which as the name suggests is "missing" an oxygen. As well as being classified by their reactive group, sugars are also classified by the number of carbons they contain. Derivatives of trioses (C3H6O3) are intermediates in glycolysis. Pentoses ( 5 carbon sugars) include ribose and deoxyribose, which are present in nucleic acids. Ribose is also a component of several chemicals that are important to the metabolic process, including NADH and ATP. Hexoses ( 6 carbon sugars) include glucose which is a universal substrate for the production of energy in the form of ATP. Through photosynthesis plants produce glucose which is then converted for storages as an energy reserve in the form of other carbohydrates such as starch, or as in cane and beet as sucrose.
Many pentoses and hexoses are capable of forming ring structures. In these closed-chain forms the aldehyde or ketone group is not free, so many of the reactions typical of these groups cannot occur. Glucose in solution exists mostly in the ring form at equilibrium, with less than 0.1% of the molecules in the open-chain form.
Monosaccharides in a closed-chain form can form glycosidic bonds with other monosaccharides, creating disaccharides, such as sucrose, and polysaccharides such as starch. Glycosidic bonds must be hydrolysed or otherwise broken by enzymes before such compounds can be used in metabolism. After digestion and absorption the pricipal monosaccharieds present in the blood and internal tissues are: glucose, fructose, and galactose.
The term "glyco-" indicates the presence of a sugar in an otherwise non-carbohydrate substance: for example, a glycoprotein is a protein to which one or more sugars are connected.
Simple sugars include sucrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, maltose, lactose and mannose. As far as disaccharides are concerned, the most common are sucrose (cane or beet sugar - made from one glucose and one fructose), lactose (milk sugar - made from one glucose and one galactose) and maltose (made of two glucoses). The formula of these disaccharides is C12H22O11.
Sucrose can be converted by hydrolysis into a syrup of fructose and glucose, producing what is called invert sugar. This resulting syrup is sweeter than the original sucrose, and is useful for making confections sweeter and softer in texture.
History
Sugarcane is a tropical grass, probably native to New Guinea. In the course of prehistory, its culture spread throughout the Pacific Islands and into India. By 800 B.C., it was being grown in China as well. Westerners discovered sugarcane in the course of military expeditions into India. Nearchos, one of Alexander the Great's commanders, described it as "a reed that gives honey without bees."
Originally, the cane was chewed raw to extract its sweetness. Sugar refining was developed in the Middle East, India and China, where it became a staple of cooking and desserts. In early refining methods, the cane was ground or pounded to extract the juice, and the juice then boiled down or dried in the sun to yield sugary solids that resembled gravel. The Sanskrit word for sugar (sharkara), also means gravel. Similarly, the Chinese term for table sugar is "gravel sugar" (Traditional Chinese:砂糖)。
Later sugar spread to other areas of the world through trade. It arrived in Europe with the arrival of the Moors. Crusaders also brought sugar home with them after their campaigns in the Holy Land, as there they encountered caravans carrying this "sweet salt" as it was called. While sugar cane could not be grown in northern Europe, sugar could be extracted from certain beets and these began to be widely cultivated around 1801, after the British control of the seas during the Napoleonic wars isolated mainland Europe from the Caribbean.
The history of sugar in the West
In the 1390s, a better press, which doubled the juice obtained from the cane, was developed. This permitted economic expansion of sugar plantations to Andalusia and the Algarve. In the 1420s, sugar was carried to the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus stopped, intending to stay only four days, at Gomera in the Canary Islands, for wine and water. Columbus became romantically involved with the Governor of the Island, Beatrice. He stayed a month. When he finally sailed she gave him cuttings of sugarcane, the first to reach the New World.
The Portuguese took sugar to Brazil. Hans Staden, published in 1555, writes that by 1540 there were 800 sugar mills on Santa Catalina Island and another 2000 up the north coast of Brazil, Demarara and Surinam. Approximately 3000 small mills built before 1550 in the New World created an unprecedented demand for cast iron gears, levers, axles and other implements. Specialist trades in mold making and iron casting were inevitably created in Europe by the expansion of sugar. Sugar mill construction is the missing link of the technological skills needed for the Industrial Revolution that is recognized as beginning in the first part of the 1600s.
After 1625, the Dutch carried sugarcane from South America to the Caribbean islands from Barbados to the Virgin Islands. In the years 1625 to 1750, sugar was worth its weight in gold. Price declined slowly as production became multi-sourced especially through British colonial policy. Sugar production also increased in the American Colonies, Cuba, and Brazil. African slaves became the dominant plantation worker as they were resistant to the diseases of malaria and yellow fever. European indentured servants were in shorter supply, succeptible to disease and a less economic investment. Local Native Americans had been reduced by European diseases like smallpox.
With the European colonization of the Americas, the Caribbean became the world's largest source of sugar. Sugar cane could be grown on these islands using slave labour at vastly lower prices than cane sugar imported from the East. Thus the economies of entire islands such as Guadaloupe and Barbados were based on sugar production. The largest sugar producer in the world, by 1750, was the French colony known as Saint-Domingue, which is today the independent country of Haiti. Jamaica was another major producer in the 1700s.
During the eighteenth century, sugar became enormously popular and went through a series of booms. The main reason for the heightened demand and production of sugar was a great change in the eating habits of many Europeans. For example, they began consuming jams, candy, tea, coffee, cocoa, processed foods, and other sweet victuals in much greater numbers. Reacting to this increasing craze, the islands took advantage of the situation and began harvesting sugar in extreme amounts. In fact, they produced up to ninety percent of the sugar that the western Europeans consumed. Of course some islands were more successful than others when it came to producing the product. For instance, Barbados and the British Leewards can be said to have been the most successful in the production of sugar because it counted for ninety-three and ninety-seven percent of the island’s exports, respectively.
Planters later began developing ways to boost production even more. For example, they began using more animal manure when growing their crops. They also developed more advanced mills and began using better types of sugar cane. Despite these and other improvements, the prices of sugar reached soaring heights, especially during events such as the revolt against the Dutch and the Napoleonic wars. Sugar was a highly desired product, and the islands knew exactly how to take advantage of the situation.
As Europeans established sugar plantations on these larger Caribbean islands, prices fell, especially in Britain. What had previously been a luxury good began, by the eighteenth century, to be commonly consumed by all levels of society. At first most sugar in Britain was used in tea, but later candies and chocolates became extremely popular. Sugar was commonly sold in solid cones and required a sugar nip, a pliers-like tool, to break off pieces.
Sugar cane quickly exhausts the soil and larger islands with fresher soil were pressed into production in the nineteenth century. For example, it was in this century that Cuba rose as the richest land in the Caribbean (with sugar being its dominant crop) because it was the only major island that was free of mountainous terrain. Instead, nearly three-quarters of its land formed a rolling plain which was ideal for planting crops. Cuba also prospered above other islands because they used better methods when harvesting the sugar crops. They had been introduced to modern milling methods such as water mills, enclosed furnaces, steam engines, and vacuum pans. All these things increased their production and production rate.
After the world's only successful slave revolution established the independent nation of Haiti, sugar production in that country declined and Cuba replaced Saint-Domingue as the world's largest producer.
Production spread to South America as well as to new European colonies in Africa and the Pacific.
The rise of beet
In 1747 the German chemist Andreas Marggraf identified sucrose in beet root. This discovery remained a mere curiosity for some time, but eventually his student Franz Achard built a sugarbeet processing factory at Cunern in Silesia, under the patronage of Frederick William III of Prussia. While never profitable, this plant operated from 1801 until being destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon, cut off from Caribbean imports by a British blockade and at any rate not wanting to fund British merchants, banned sugar imports in 1813. The beet sugar industry that emerged in its place grew, and today, cane and beet sugar enjoy approximately equal world production.
While it is no longer grown by slaves, sugar growing in developing countries continues to this day to be associated with workers earning minimal wages and living in extreme poverty. Cuba was a large producer of sugar in the 20th century until the collapse of the Soviet Union took away their export market and the industry collapsed.
In the developed countries, the sugar industry is machine reliant, with a low requirement for manpower. A large beet refinery producing around 1,500 tonnes of sugar a day needs a permanent workforce of about 150 for 24 hour production.
Mechanization
Beginning in the late 18th century, sugar production became increasingly mechanized. The steam engine was first used to power a sugar mill in Jamaica in 1768, and soon thereafter, steam replaced direct firing as the source of process heat.
In 1813, the British chemist Edward Charles Howard invented a sugar refining method in which the cane juice was boiled not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam and held under partial vacuum. At reduced pressure, water boils at a lower temperature, and this development both saved fuel and reduced the amount of sugar lost through caramelization. Further gains in fuel efficiency were achieved through the multiple-effect evaporator, designed by the African-American engineer Norbert Rillieux perhaps as early as the 1820s, although the first working model was not built until 1845. This system consisted of a series of vacuum pans, each held at a lower pressure than the previous. The vapors from each pan were used to heat the next, and little heat wasted. Today, multiple-effect evaporators are employed widely in many industries for evaporating water.
The process of separating the crystallized sugar from the molasses also received mechanical attention: the centrifuge was first applied to this task by David Weston in Hawaii in 1852.
written by a swedish guy
Health concerns
In 2003, a report was commissioned by four U.N. agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), compiled by a panel of 30 international experts. It stated that sugar should not account for more than 10% of a healthy diet. However, the Sugar Association[http://www.sugar.org/] of the US insists that other evidence indicates that a quarter of our food and drink intake can safely consist of sugar.
There is an on-going argument as to the value of extrinsic sugar (sugar added to food) compared to that of intrinsic (sugar, seldom sucrose, naturally present in food).
In the United States sugar has also been attributed as a leading cause of diabetes and obesity. As stated in the Diabetes in America, 2nd Edition [http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/america/contents.htm] more and more children at younger ages are becoming victims of this deadly disease.
Sugar and hyperactivity
There is common belief among the general public that eating too much sugar (not only sucrose, but other varieties such as glucose) will cause some children to become hyperactive—giving rise to the term "sugar high". Recent studies have not shown a link between the consumption of sugar and hyperactivity levels, even when the researchers focused on children with a presumed "sugar-sensitivity" [http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/ask/?quid=241]. The belief in the possibility of a sugar-high among parents and teachers may cause them to perceive children being more energetic and excited after consumption of sweets and sugary beverages through observer bias.
Others believe that the hyperactive effects of sugar can be seen equally in children and adults. Facts have shown that sugar is very addictive and that on average Americans eat or drink 5 pounds of sugar a month, drastically higher than 10 years ago due to the fact that sugar is hidden in many foods under many different names, even in ketchup.
Sugar economics
In many industrialized countries, sugar is among the most heavily subsidized agricultural products. The European Union, the United States, and Japan all maintain elevated price floors for sugar through subsidizing domestic production and imposing high tariffs on imports. In recent years, sugar prices in these countries have been three times the price on the international market.
In international trade bodies, especially the World Trade Organization, the "G20" countries led by Brazil have argued that because their cane sugar exports are essentially excluded from these sugar markets, they receive lower prices than they would under free trade. While both the European Union and United States maintain trade agreements whereby certain developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) can sell certain quantities of sugar into their markets, free of the usual import tariffs, countries outside these preferred trade regimes have complained that these arrangements violate the "most favored nation" principle of international trade.
In 2004, the WTO sided with a group of cane sugar exporting nations led by Brazil, and ruled that the EU sugar regime and the accompanying ACP-EU Sugar Protocol, whereby a group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries are given preferential access to the European sugar market, are illegal. In response, the European Commission proposed on 22 June 2005 to radically reform the EU sugar regime, cutting prices by 39% and eliminating all EU sugar exports. The African, Caribbean, Pacific and Least developed country sugar exporters have reacted with dismay to the EU sugar proposals, arguing for a fairer reform of the EU regime which would be pro-development and meaningful towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Small quantities of sugar, especially speciality grades of sugar, are sold as 'fair trade' commodities; these products are produced and sold with the understanding that a larger-than-usual fraction of the revenue supports small farmers in the developing world.
See also
- caramel
- Stevia Herb many times sweeter than pure sugar
- holing cane
- glycomics
- sweetener
- golden syrup
- sugar plantations in the Caribbean
References
- A C Hannah,
External links
- [http://www.sugar.ca/index.htm Wide range of information about sugars, from the Canadian Sugar Institute, a non-profit trade association of Canada's refined sugar manufacturers.]
- [http://www.ldcsugar.org/ Least Developed Countries sugar site]
- [http://www.acpsugar.org/ African, Caribbean and Pacific sugar exporters]
- [http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr20/en/ Expert Report on diet and chronic disease (WHO/FAO)]
- [http://www.sugartraders.co.uk/ Sugar Traders Association of the UK]
- [http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/markets/sugar/index_en.htm European Union sugar regime proposals]
- [http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_status_e.htm#265 WTO ruling on EU sugar regime]
- [http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/imports/ussugar.asp US Sugar Import Program]
- [http://www.foodsubs.com/Sweeten.html Cook's Thesaurus: Sugar (www.foodsubs.com)]
- [http://www.zucker.prv.pl/ The word "sugar" in more than 220 languages.]
- [http://www.joyfulaging.com/Sugar.htm Sugar Accelerates Aging]
Category:Carbohydrates
Category:Sweeteners
Category:Nutrition
Category:Granular materials
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Hawaii
Hawaii (Hawaiian/Hawaiian English: Hawaii, with the okina; also, historically, the Sandwich Islands) is the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Admitted on August 21, 1959, Hawaii constitutes the 50th state of the United States and is situated 2500 miles from the mainland. It is the southernmost part of that country. As of the 2000 U.S. Census it had a population of 1,211,537 people. Honolulu is the largest city and the state capital.
Hawaiis the most recently admitted state of the United States. In addition to possessing the southernmost point in the United States, it is the only state that lies completely in the tropics. As one of two states outside the contiguous United States (the other being Alaska), it is the only state without territory on the mainland of any continent and it is the only state that continues to grow due to active lava flows, most notably from Kīlauea. Ethnically, Hawaii is the only state that has a majority group that is non-white (and one of only four in which non-Hispanic whites do not form a majority) and has the largest percentage of Asian Americans. For various reasons, Hawaii is considered the endangered species capital of the United States.
Symbols
The state constitution and various other measures of the Hawaii State Legislature established official symbols meant to embody the distinctive culture and heritage of Hawaii. These include a state bird, state fish, state flower, state gem, state mammal, state tree and the state muffin, though only a few other states share this symbol, like Washington. Included are the two statues representing Hawaii in the United States Capitol.
The primary symbol is the state flag, Ka Hae Hawaii, influenced by the British Union Flag and features eight horizontal stripes representing the eight major Hawaiian Islands. The constitution declares the state motto to be Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Āina i ka Pono, a pronouncement of King Kamehameha III meaning, "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." It was also the motto of the kingdom, republic and territory. The official languages are Hawaiian and Hawaiian English. Hawaiian Pidgin is an unofficial language. The state song is Hawaii ponoi, written by King Kalākaua and composed by Henri Berger. Hawaii Aloha is the unofficial state song, often sung in official state event.
Image:Nene.neck.arp.600pix.jpg|Hawaiian Goose Nēnē State Bird
Image:Humuhumunukunukuapuaa.jpg|Reef Triggerfish Humuhumunukunukuāpua'a State Fish
Image:Maohauhele.jpg|Hawaiian Hibiscus Mao hau hele State Flower
Image:Aleuritesmoluccana1web.jpg|Candlenut Kukui State Tree
Image:Humpback Whale underwater shot.jpg|Humpback Whale Koholā kuapio State Mammal
Image:Fatherdamienstatue2.jpg|Father Damien Statue State Capitol
Image:Kamehamehastatue.jpg|Kamehameha Statue Aliiolani Hale - State Supreme Court
Geography
Main article: Hawaiian Islands
Nineteen islands and atolls extending across a distance of 2,400 km (1,500 mi) comprise the Hawaiian Archipelago. The main islands are the eight high islands at the southeastern end of the island chain. These islands are, in order from the northwest to southeast, Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the Island of Hawaii.
All of the Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes arising from the sea floor through a vent described in geological theory as a hotspot. The theory maintains that as the tectonic plate beneath much the Pacific Ocean moves in a northwesterly direction, the hot spot remains stationary, slowly creating new volcanoes. This explains why only volcanoes on the southern half of the Island of Hawaii are presently active. The last volcanic eruption outside the Island of Hawaii happened at Haleakalā on Maui in the late 18th century. The newest volcano to form is Lōihi, deep below the waters off the south coast of the Island of Hawaii.
The isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the wide range of environments to be found on high islands located in and near the tropics, has resulted in a vast array of endemic flora and fauna. The volcanic activity and subsequent erosion created impressive geological features. Those conditions make Mount Waialeale the wettest place on earth; it averages 11.7 m (460 in) of rain annually.
The movement of the Hawaiian royal family from the Island of Hawaii to Maui and subsequently to Oahu explains why certain population centers exist where they do today. The largest city, Honolulu, was the one chosen by King Kamehameha III as the capital of his kingdom due to the natural harbor there, the present-day Honolulu Harbor. Other large cities and towns include Hilo, Kahului and Līhue.
Image:Niihausatellite.jpg|Niihau
Image:Kauai from space oriented.jpg|Kauai
Image:Oahu.jpg|Oahu
Image:Maui.jpg|Maui
Image:Molokaifromsatellite.jpg|Molokai
Image:Lanaisatellite.jpg|Lānai
Image:Kahoolawesatellite.jpg|Kahoolawe
Image:STS61A-50-57.jpg|Hawaii
Climate
The Climate of Hawaii is typical of tropical areas. It is famous for being warm throughout the whole year; during the summer, the temperature may reach to around 90 degrees Farenheit. Though people who live in Hawaii often complain about the heat, tourists generally enjoy the warm weather, as many of them come from locations of colder climates. Thus, Hawaii has become a popular tourist destination in the wintertime, when the Hawaiian weather would be above 70 degrees Farenheit. Hawaii is also popular with tourists in the summer because it does not suffer from the same heat waves that occur in the continental North America -- Hawaii has tradewinds which keep excess heat away.
The main portions of Oahu can be divided into Windward and Leeward sections, divided by a mountain range. The Windward side enjoys more rain. However the Leeward side's drier climate has benefitted toward the plantation industries.
History
Hawaiian antiquity
Main article: Ancient Hawaii, Hawaiian mythology, Polynesian mythology
Anthropologists believe that Polynesians from the Marquesas and Society Islands first populated the Hawaiian Islands in approximately 300AD, followed by Tahitian settlers in approximately 1300AD who conquered and eliminated the original inhabitants of the islands. These Tahitian conquerors preserved memories of their migrations orally through genealogies and folk tales, like the stories of Hawaiiloa and Paao. Relations with other Polynesian groups were sporadic during the early migratory periods, and Hawaii grew from small settlements to a complex society in near isolation. Voyaging between Hawai'i and the South Pacific apparently ceased with no explanation several centuries before European arrival. Local chiefs called alii ruled their settlements and fought to extend their sway and defend their communities from predatory rivals. Warfare was endemic. The general trend was towards chiefdoms of increasing size, even encompassing whole islands.
Vague reports by various European explorers suggest that Hawaii was visited by foreigners well before the 1778 arrival of British explorer Captain James Cook. Historians credited Cook with the discovery after he was the first to plot and publish the geographical coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands. Cook named his discovery the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.
Hawaiian kingdom
Main article: Kingdom of Hawaii
After a series of battles that ended in 1795 and peaceful cession of the island of Kauai in 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were united for the first time under a single ruler who would become known as King Kamehameha the Great. He established the House of Kamehameha, a dynasty that ruled over the kingdom until 1872. One of the most important events during those years was the suppression of the Hawaii Catholic Church. That led to the Edict of Toleration that established religious freedom in the Hawaiian Islands. The death of the bachelor King Kamehameha V who did not name an heir resulted in the election of King Lunalilo. After him, governance was passed on to the House of Kalākaua. However, local businessmen effectively rendered the monarchy powerless by enacting the Bayonet Constitution. Among other things, it stripped the king of his administrative authorities, eliminated voting rights for all Asians, and required specific income and property requirements for all other European and native Hawaiian voters, essentially limiting the electorate to elite native Hawaiians and Europeans. King Kalākaua reigned until his death in 1891. His sister, Liliuokalani, succeeded him to the throne and ruled until her dethronement in 1893, a coup d'état orchestrated by local businessmen and government officials with the help of an armed militia The Honolulu Rifles, instigated by the Queen's threat to abrogate the constitution. Governance was again passed, this time into the hands of a provisional government and then to an independent Republic of Hawaii. During the kingdom era and subsequent republican regime, Iolani Palace — the only official royal residence in the United States today — served as the capitol buildings.
Image:Kamehamehaportrait.jpg|Kamehameha
Image:Kamehamehaii.jpg|Kamehameha II
Image:Kamehamehaiii.jpg|Kamehameha III
Image:Alexanderliholiho.jpg|Kamehameha IV
Image:Kamehamehav.jpg|Kamehameha V
Image:Williamcharleslunalilo.jpg|Lunalilo
Image:Kalakauapainting.jpg|Kalākaua
Image:Liliuokalani2.jpg|Liliuokalani
Hawaiian territory
Main article: Territory of Hawaii
The Newlands Resolution was passed on July 7, 1898, formally annexing Hawaii as a United States territory. In 1900, it was granted self-governance and retained Iolani Palace as the territorial capitol building. Though several attempts were made to achieve statehood, Hawaii remained a territory for sixty years. Plantation owners, like those that comprised the so-called Big Five, found territorial status convenient, enabling them to continue importing cheap foreign labor; such immigration was prohibited in various other states of the Union.
The power of the plantation owners was finally broken by activist descendants of original immigrant laborers. Because they were born in a United States territory, they were legal U.S. citizens. Expecting to gain full voting rights, they actively campaigned for statehood for the Hawaiian Islands.
In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii, from the new state.) On June 27 of that year, a plebiscite was held asking Hawaiians to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was finally the 50th state of the Union.
Hawaiian statehood
After statehood, Hawaii quickly became a modern state with a construction boom and rapidly growing economy. The Hawaii Republican Party, which was strongly supported by the plantation owners, was voted out of office. In its place, the Democratic Party of Hawaii dominated state politics for forty years. The state also worked toward restoring the native Hawaiian culture. The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention of 1978 heralded what some called a Hawaiian renaissance. Its delegates created programs that sought to revive the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. In addition, they sought to promote native control over Hawaiian issues by creating the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Languages
Main articles: Hawaiian language, Hawaiian English
The state of Hawaii has two official languages as prescribed by the Constitution of Hawaii adopted at the 1978 constitutional convention: Hawaiian and English. Article XV, Section 4 requires the use of Hawaiian in official state business such as public acts, documents, laws and transactions. Standard Hawaiian English, a subset of American English, is also commonly used for other formal business. Hawaiian is legally acceptable in all legal documents, from depositions to legislative bills. The third and fourth most spoken languages are Tagalog and Japanese, respectively.
Origins
Before the arrival of Captain James Cook, the Hawaiian language was purely a spoken language. The first written form of Hawaiian was developed by American Protestant missionaries in Hawaii during the early 19th century. The missionaries assigned letters from the English alphabet that roughly corresponded to the Hawaiian sounds. Later, additional characters were added to clarify pronunciation. The okina indicates a glottal stop while the macron called kahakō signifies a long vowel sound. When a Hawaiian word is spelled without any necessary okina and kahakō, it is impossible for someone who does not already know the word to guess at the proper pronunciation. Omission of the okina and kahakō in printed texts can even obscure the meaning of the word. For example, the word lanai means stiff-necked. However, when spelled as lānai it means veranda while Lānai refers to an island. This can be a problem in interpreting 19th century Hawaiian texts recorded in the older orthography. For these reasons, careful writers use the modern Hawaiian orthography.
Revival
As a result of the constitutional provision, interest in the Hawaiian language was revived in the late 20th century. Public and independent schools throughout the state began teaching Hawaiian language standards as part of the regular curricula, beginning with preschool. With the help of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, also created by the 1978 constitutional convention, specially designated Hawaiian language immersion schools were established where students would be taught in all subjects using Hawaiian. Also, the University of Hawaii System developed the only Hawaiian language graduate studies program in the world. Municipal codes were altered in favor of Hawaiian place and street names for new civic developments.
Pidgin
Over the course of Hawaiian history, a third language was developed that is in common use throughout the state today. Originally considered a mere dialect of Hawaiian English, cultural anthropologists have recently reached consensus that Hawaiian Pidgin is a distinct language on its own. Hawaiian Pidgin finds its origins in the sugarcane and pineapple plantations as laborers from different cultures were forced to find their own ways of communicating and understanding each other. Laborer emigrants from different countries — China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Portugal — began composing their own words and phrases based on their own language traditions, which merged with Hawaiian and Hawaiian English.
Debates
A somewhat divisive political issue that has arisen since the Constitution of Hawaii adopted Hawaiian as an official state language is the exact spelling of the state's name. As prescribed in the Admission Act of 1959 that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognizes Hawaii to be the official state name. However, many state and municipal entities and officials have recognized Hawaii to be the correct state name. Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling. Private entities, including local mass media, also have shown a preference for the use of the okina. While in local Hawaiian society the spelling and pronunciation of Hawaii is preferred in nearly all cases, even by standard English speakers, the federal spelling is used for purposes of interpolitical relations between other states and foreign governments.
The nuances in the Hawaiian language debate are often not obvious or well-appreciated outside Hawaii. The issue has often been a source of friction in situations where correct naming conventions are mandated, as people frequently disagree over which spelling is correct or incorrect, and where it is correctly or incorrectly applied.
See also
- Hawaiian alphabet
Government
The state government of Hawaii is modeled after the federal government with adaptations originating from the kingdom era of Hawaiian history. As codified in the Constitution of Hawaii, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial.
The executive branch is led by the Governor of Hawaii and assisted by the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, both elected on the same ticket. The governor, in residence at Washington Place, is the only public official elected for the state government in a statewide race; all other administrators and judges are appointed by the governor. The lieutenant governor is concurrently the Secretary of State of Hawaii. Both the governor and lieutenant governor administer their duties from the Hawaii State Capitol. The governor and lieutenant governor oversee the major agencies and departments of the executive of which there are twenty.
The legislative branch consists of the Hawaii State Legislature — the twenty-five members of the Hawaii State Senate led by the President of the Senate and the fifty-one members of the Hawaii State House of Representatives led by the Speaker of the House. They also govern from the Hawaii State Capitol. The judicial branch is led by the highest state court, the Hawaii State Supreme Court, which uses Aliiolani Hale as its chambers. Lower courts are organized as the Hawaii State Judiciary.
The state is represented in the Congress of the United States by a delegation of four members. They are the senior and junior United States Senators, the representative of the First Congressional District of Hawaii and the representative of the Second Congressional District of Hawaii. Many Hawaii residents have been appointed to administer other agencies and departments of the federal government by the President of the United States. All federal officers of Hawaii administer their duties locally from the Prince Kuhio Federal Building near the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor.
Hawaii is primarily dominated by the Democratic Party and has supported Democrats in 10 of the 12 presidential elections in which it has participated. In 2004, John Kerry won the state's 4 electoral votes by a margin of 9 percentage points with 54% of the vote. Every county in the state supported the Democratic candidate.
The Prince Kuhio Federal Building also houses agencies of the federal government such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and the United States Secret Service. The building is the site of the federal courts and the offices of the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, principal law enforcement officer of the United States Department of Justice in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Image:Lindalingle.jpg|Linda Lingle Governor (Republican)
Image:Jamesaiona.jpg|James R. Aiona, Jr. Lieutenant Governor (Republican)
Image:Bunda.jpg|Robert Bunda Senate President (Democrat)
Image:Daniel Inouye.jpg|Daniel Inouye U.S. Senator (Democrat)
Image:Daniel Akaka.jpg|Daniel Akaka U.S. Senator (Democrat)
Image:Neilabercrombie.jpg|Neil Abercrombie U.S. Representative (Democrat)
Image:Edcaseofficial.jpg|Edward Case U.S. Representative (Democrat)
Image:Mayorharrykim.jpg|Harry Kim Mayor of Hawaii (Nonpartisan)
Image:Mufihannemann.jpg|Mufi Hannemann Mayor of Honolulu (Nonpartisan)
Image:Bryanjbaptiste.jpg|Bryan J. Baptiste Mayor of Kauai (Nonpartisan)
Image:Mayoralanarakawa.jpg|Alan Arakawa Mayor of Maui (Nonpartisan)
Unique to Hawaii is the way it has organized its municipal governments. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaii except the City & County of Honolulu. All other municipal governments are administered at the county level. The county executives are the Mayor of Hawaii, Mayor of Honolulu, Mayor of Kauai and Mayor of Maui. All mayors in the state are elected in nonpartisan races.
The officers of the federal and state governments have been historically elected from the Democratic Party of Hawaii and the Hawaii Republican Party. Municipal charters in the state have declared all mayors to be elected in nonpartisan races.
Economy
The history of Hawaii can be traced through a succession of dominating industries: sandalwood, whaling, sugarcane, pineapple, military, tourism, and education. Since statehood was achieved in 1959, tourism continues to be the largest industry in Hawaii, contributing 24.3% of the Gross State Product (GSP) in 1997. Most recently, new efforts were created to diversify the economy. The total gross output for the state in 2003 was USD $47 billion. Per capita income for Hawaii residents was USD $30,441.
Industrial exports from Hawaii include food processing and apparel. However, because of the considerable shipping distance to markets on the west coast of the United States and ports of Japan, these industries play a small role in the Hawaii economy. The main agricultural exports are nursery stock and flowers, coffee, macadamia nuts, pineapple, livestock, and sugar cane. Agricultural sales for 2002, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service, were USD $370.9 million from diversified agriculture, USD $100.6 million from pineapple, and USD $64.3 million from sugarcane.
Hawaii is known for its relatively high per capita state tax burden. In the years 2002 and 2003, Hawaii residents had the highest state tax per capita at USD $2,757 and USD $2,838 respectively. This rate can be explained partly by the fact that services such as education, health care and social services are all rendered at the state level — as opposed to the municipal level as all other states. Also, millions of tourists contribute to the collection figure by paying the general excise tax and hotel room tax. Therefore, not all the taxes collected come directly from residents. However, business leaders have often considered the state's tax burden as being too high, contributing to both higher prices and the perception of an unfriendly business climate [http://starbulletin.com/2004/05/21/news/story1.html]. For more information about commercial industries in Hawaii, see the list of businesses in Hawaii.
Education
Main article: Hawaii State Department of Education
Hawaii is currently the only state in the union with a unified school system statewide. It is also the oldest public education system west of the Mississippi River. Policy decisions are made by the fourteen-member state Board of Education, with thirteen members elected for four-year terms and one non-voting student member. The Board of Education sets statewide educational policy and hires the state superintendent of schools, who oversees the operations of the state Department of Education. The Department of Education is also divided into seven districts, four on Oahu and one for each of the other counties.
The structure of the state Department of Education has been a subject of discussion and controversy in recent years. The main rationale for the current centralized model is equity in school funding and distribution of resources: leveling out inequalities that would exist between highly populated Oahu and the more rural Neighbor Islands, and between lower-income and more affluent areas of the state. This system of school funding differs from many localities in the United States where schools are funded from local property taxes.
However, policy initiatives have been made in recent years toward decentralization. Current Governor Linda Lingle is a proponent of replacing the current statewide board with seven elected district boards. The Democrat-controlled state legislature opposed her proposal, instead favoring expansion of decision-making power to the schools and giving schools more discretion over budgeting. Political debate of structural reform is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Schools and academies
Hawaii has the distinction of educating more students in independent institutions of secondary education than any other state in the United States. It also has four of the largest independent schools: Mid-Pacific Institute, Iolani School, Kamehameha Schools and Punahou School. Other popular independent schools include: Hawaii Baptist Academy, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Maryknoll School, St. Andrew's Priory, and Saint Louis School. A highly rated public high school often cited as comparable to the state's independent schools is Moanalua High School. It should be noted that independent and charter schools can select their students, while the regular public schools must take all students in their district.
For a comprehensive list of independent schools, see the list of independent schools in Hawaii. For a comprehensive list of public schools, see the list of public schools in Hawaii.
Colleges and universities
Graduates of institutions of secondary learning in Hawaii often either enter directly into the workforce or attend colleges and universities. While many choose to attend colleges and universities on the mainland or elsewhere, most choose to attend one of many institutions of higher learning in Hawaii. The largest of these institutions is the University of Hawaii System. Its main campuses are in Hilo, Manoa and West Oahu. Students choosing private education attend Brigham Young University Hawaii, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii Pacific University and University of the Nations. The Saint Stephen Diocesan Center is a seminary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. For a comprehensive list of colleges and universities, see the list of colleges and universities in Hawaii.
Problems
Public schools in Hawaii have to deal with large populations of children of non-native English speaking immigrants and a culture that is different in many ways from mainland US, where most of the course materials come from and where most of the standards for schools are set.
The public elementary, middle, and high school scores in Hawaii tend to be below average on national tests as mandated under the No Child Left Behind Act. Some of this can be attributed to the Hawaii State Board of Education requiring all eligible students to take these tests and reporting all student test scores unlike, for example, Texas and Michigan. Results reported in August 2005 indicate that two-thirds of Hawaii's schools failed to reach federal minimum performance standards in math and reading (of 282 schools across the state, 185 failed [http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/education/4870699/detail.html]).
On the other hand, results of the ACT college placement tests show that Hawaii class of 2005 seniors scored slightly above the national average (21.9 compared with 20.9) (Honolulu Advertiser, Aug. 17, 2005, p. B1). It should be noted that fewer students take the ACT examination than take the more widely accepted SAT examination. On the SAT Hawaii's college bound seniors tend to score below the national average except in math.
Hawaii, like all other states in the United States, is struggling to provide educational services in its public schools with shrinking budgets.
Media
Newspapers
Two major competing Honolulu-based newspapers serve all of Hawaii. The Honolulu Advertiser is owned by Gannett Pacific Corporation while the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is owned by Black Press of British Columbia in Canada. Both are two of the largest newspapers in the United States, in terms of circulation. Other locally published newspapers are available to residents of the various islands. The Hawaii business community is served by the Pacific Business News and Hawaii Business Magazine. The largest religious community in Hawaii is served by the Hawaii Catholic Herald. Honolulu Magazine is a popular magazine that offers local interest news and feature articles. Apart from the mainstream press, the state also enjoys a vibrant ethnic publication presence with newspapers for the Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Native Hawaiian communities. In addition, there is an alternative weekly, the Honolulu Weekly.
Television
All the major television networks are represented in Hawaii through KFVE (WB network affiliate), KGMB (CBS network affiliate), KHET (PBS network affiliate), KHNL (NBC network affiliate), KHON (Fox network affiliate), KIKU (UPN network affiliate) and KITV (ABC network affiliate), among others. From Honolulu, programming at these stations is rebroadcast to the various other islands via networks of satellite transmitters. Until the advent of satellite, most network programming was broadcast a week behind mainland scheduling. The various production companies that work with the major networks have produced television series and other projects in Hawaii. Most notable were police dramas like Magnum P.I. and Hawaii Five-O. Currently, the hit TV show Lost is filmed in the Hawaiian Islands. A comprehensive list of such projects can be seen at the list of Hawaii television series.
Film
Hawaii a growing film industry administered by the state through the Hawaii Film Office. Several television shows, movies and various other media projects were produced in the Hawaiian Islands taking advantage of the natural scenic landscapes as backdrops. Notable films produced in Hawaii or were inspired by Hawaii include Hawaii, Blue Hawaii, From Here to Eternity, South Pacific, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Outbreak, Waterworld, Six Days Seven Nights, George of the Jungle, 50 First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Blue Crush and Lilo & Stitch.
Hawaii is home to a prominent film festival known as the Hawaii International Film Festival.
Culture
:Main article: Culture of Hawaii
The aboriginal culture of Hawaii is Polynesian. Hawaii represents the northernmost extension of the vast Polynesian triangle of the south and central Pacific Ocean. While traditional Hawaiian culture remains only as vestiges influencing modern Hawaiian society, there are reenactments of ancient ceremonies and traditions throughout the islands. Some of these cultural influences are strong enough to have impacted the culture of the United States at large, including the popularity (in greatly modified form) of luaus and hula.
- Customs and etiquette in Hawaii
- Folklore in Hawaii
- Hawaiian mythology
- List of Hawaii state parks
- List of Hawaii State Landmarks
- List of Hawaii-related topics
- Literature in Hawaii
- Music of Hawaii
- Polynesian mythology
- Tourism of Hawaii
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