Topic > Why Hawaii is not exactly a paradise

One of the 50 states of the United States, Hawaii is known for its beautiful landscapes full of natural environments. Due to its geographical location, located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii is charming enough to attract tourists and discover Hawaii's long history and culture. However, Hawaii's history is rather ambivalent. Looking back at the history of Hawaii, as a result of globalization and the expansion of capitalism, the United States had overthrown the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 to convert Hawaii into an economic draw for US capitalists and to seek more opportunities to colonize the 'East Asia and the Pacific Islands. Since then, Hawaii's indigenous people have been forced to make a living off tourism due to limited job opportunities and are still fighting for Hawaii's independence. Likewise, there are countless unintended consequences of capitalism around the world. The expansion of the United States under the patriotic commitment and justification provoked by the ideal of “manifest destiny” made the country one of the powerful and dominant nations taking advantage of the geographical position of the Pacific. However, the expansion of U.S. capitalism rooted in colonialism and imperialism during the 19th century stigmatized the devastation of Native American communities in North America as a key player and perpetuated the relationship of economic and social domination and subordination on Pacific Islanders and on East Asian nations. , deterioration of cultural conflicts and polarization of wealth around the world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For starters, Native Americans have had productive lands in North America throughout long history. Instead of commodifying and destroying the natural environment and considering the earth as a "divine right" "exclusive possession of man", they tried to conserve nature as a gift from God and approached the harmonization between man and nature far from the of the colonists. Meanwhile, the madness of Western European powers throughout the world prevailed and expanded their influence. For this reason, the Americans decided to focus on expanding their powers westward to obtain economic and political independence from their homeland, Great Britain. In the article “Transatlantic and Transpacific Connections in Early American History,” Yokota highlights the importance of westward expansion. She states: “Long before the principles of Manifest Destiny were formally articulated, ambitious individuals looked westward from their settlements along the East Coast and imagined a sovereign territory that would eventually encompass the entire North American continent and thus connect Asia and Europe”. With the justified belief that it is inevitable to rationalize the annihilation of the indigenous people from their homelands, their desire to play a bridging role between the Atlantic and Pacific trade has not only completely deprived the indigenous people of freedom of life, but it also exploited them as cheap labor. Therefore, it clearly shows how amplified capitalism brainwashed the colonialists and imperialists into thinking of indigenous peoples as an ignorant, lascivious and unassimilable group and of European powers as admiring the successes of capitalism, while the natives Americans experience colonial violence that was not their choice but a compulsion to do so. the expenses of conducting settler colonialism and extractive colonialism. Next, as shown above,the importance of trans-Pacific trade was significantly emphasized in American expansion to strengthen their economic and political position among world powers. Before colonial Americans gained independence from Great Britain, they surely recognized that decreasing import dependence on the British was the solution to alleviating the nation's struggling economy. Britain's tax policies and regulatory practices towards tea brought economic conflicts between colonial British and Americans to a fever pitch. As a result, colonial Americans intrude on the island of Hawaii and extend their influence into East Asia: China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. At the same time, East Asian nations had been in political turmoil due to government corruption, abuses, and taxes during the 19th century. Colonial Americans were enthusiastic about trade with East Asian nations because of their profitable product, “tea.” According to the book “Beyond Hawai'i: Native Labor in the Pacific World” written by Gregory Rosenthal, the importance of Hawaii was increasing to maximize its benefits: all these world powers: China, Russia, Great Britain, the United States – depended simultaneously from Hawaii. There were no sea otters in Hawaiian waters, but Hawaii had some supplies. To transport sea otter pelts across the great ocean, foreign traders needed a halfway stop: they needed a place where they could purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh water, and labor. The transpacific fur and tea trade of the late 18th century was intimately dependent on Hawaiian labor and resources. . . . According to one scholar's calculations, as many as forty-five ships visited Hawaii between 1786 and 1800. Geographically, since Hawaii is located in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, most of the world powers were completely bewitched by Hawaii's economic situation. potential to dominate a direct route to China. This chaotic movement disturbed indigenous Hawaiian societies and caused them to descend into capitalism. Gradually, salt and sandalwood became the favorite products of capitalists, and countless indigenous peoples had to work to meet the demand of the global market. Eventually, due to labor shortages that were not enough to cover world demand, in the nineteenth century, massive Asian workers rushed to Hawaii for the capitalists' tropical plantations. In the case of China, after the defeat of the Opium War by the British, they were the first victims of large-scale capitalist violence. The author of “American History Unbound Asians and Pacific Islanders,” Gary Y. Okihiro, explains: Plantation owners preferred young, strong workers to extract the most labor possible for their money. Most migrant work contracts included ten hours of work per day, with twenty-six working days per month. Of the 6,894 Chinese indentured laborers in Hawaii from 1895 to 1897, nearly half were under twenty-five and nearly all under thirty-five. Opium, spread by British colonizers in China, was legal in Hawaii at the time and widely used by men working on plantations. Colonists abused Chinese workers to maximize their wealth, forcing them into manual labor under the terms of the contract and living in shacks with six to forty men to a room. This horrible treatment not only encourages workers to rebel, but also to seek relaxation by abusing opium. Even the colonists tried to separate the workers and diversify the groups of workers to eliminate further.