Native Hawaiians (Hawaiian: kānaka ʻōiwi, kānaka maoli, and Hawaiʻi maoli) are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants.[4] Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau report for 2000, there are 401,162 people who identified themselves as being "Native Hawaiian" alone or in any combination, but they are not considered Native Americans.[1] 140,652 people identified themselves as being "Native Hawaiian" alone.[2] The majority of Native Hawaiians reside in the State of Hawaiʻi (two-thirds), and the rest are scattered among other states, especially in the American Southwest, and with a high concentration in California.
The history of Native Hawaiians, like the history of Hawaii, is commonly classified into four major periods:
the pre-unification period (before c. 1800)
the unified monarchy and republic period (c. 1800 to 1898)
the US territorial period (1898 to 1959)
the US statehood period (1959 to present)
