Flag of Hawaii#Kānaka Maoli flag

File:Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707–1800).svg (1707–1800)]]

Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy visited the Hawaiian Islands on three occasions during his 1791 to 1795 expedition. At this time, the Hawaiian Islands were divided among several warring chiefdoms. In February 1794, while at anchorage in Kealakekua Bay off the island of Hawaii, Vancouver reached a diplomatic agreement with the king (or aliʻi) of that island, Kamehameha, who would later unite all the Hawaiian islands and become the first ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Vancouver believed that the agreement reached meant Hawaii Island was being ceded to Great Britain but historians have argued that the Hawaiians saw the agreement as establishing a protectorate.{{Cite book |last=Bown |first=Stephen R. |title=Madness, betrayal and the lash: the epic voyage of Captain George Vancouver |date=2008 |publisher=Douglas and McIntyre |isbn=978-1-55365-339-4 |location=Vancouver |pages=190–191}} After the proceedings on Vancouver's vessel, a British flag was presented, taken ashore and raised. The flag was either a British Union Jack,{{Cite web |date=2024-10-01 |title=Flag of Hawaii {{!}} Meaning, History & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}{{cite book| first1= Donald T. |last1= Healy| first2= Peter J.| last2= Orenski|title=Native American Flags|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzReCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA279|date=January 12, 2016|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-5575-3|page=279| via= Google Books}} or a Red Ensign as used by the Royal Navy, which features a Union Jack in the canton.{{Cite web |last=Fisher |first=Lynn |title=Hawaii |url=https://usflags.design/hawaii/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=US Flags [dot] Design |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-08-09 |title=The Story Of Hawaii - Story Of Hawaii Museum: 'THE HAWAIIAN FLAG' |url=https://storyofhawaiimuseum.com/the-story-of-hawaii/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=storyofhawaiimuseum.com |language=en-US}}{{efn|Vancouver's journal ambiguously describes the presented flag as "the British colours".{{Cite book |last=Vancouver |first=George |title=A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World, Volume 3 |date=1798 |location=London |pages=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-hKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA56}} }} In 1801, the British Union Jack added a Saint Patrick's Cross when Ireland joined with Great Britain in a political union. Both pre- and post-1801 versions of the Red Ensign served as the unofficial flag of the Hawaiian Kingdom until 1816.

There is an unverified anecdote that, during the War of 1812 (fought between the United Kingdom and the United States from 1812 to 1815), Kamehameha became aware of the nationalist meaning of flags. To avoid offending either side, he designed a new flag for his kingdom which combined elements of both the British Union Jack and the flag of the United States at that time.{{Cite book |last=Golovnin |first=Vasily |url=https://archive.org/details/aroundworldonkam0000golo |title=Around the world on the Kamchatka, 1817–1819 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |year=1979 |isbn=0824806409 |location=Honolulu}}{{rp|p=197}}

File:Civil_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg|Red Ensign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

File:Star-Spangled Banner flag.svg | Flag of the United States in 1815 with 15 red and white stripes

File:Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg ]]

File:Flag of Hawaii (1816).svg

In April 1816, Kamehameha purchased a brig from Scottish Captain Alexander Adams, and arranged for Adams to take command of the ship, which was renamed {{lang|haw|Kaahumanu}}. As part of the transfer ceremony, Adams wrote that he was "honored to take command under the Flag of His Majesty" though he does not describe the flag. The next year, in March 1817, the {{lang|haw|Kaahumanu}} became the first Hawaiian vessel to sail to a foreign port (Canton, China) under a "distinct" Hawaiian flag.{{cite book |author= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHM0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA427 |title=Native Hawaiians Study Commission: Hearings Before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session, on the Report of the Native Hawaiians Study Commission |publisher=Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, US Senate; US Government Printing Office |year=1985 |page=427}} In one source, this is described as: "A St. George and St. Andrews Cross in the corner filled in with blue, with field consisting of red and white stripes" which virtually matches the ensign of the East India Company though another source describes “red, white and blue stripes added to a Union Jack”.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Whitney |title=The flag book of the United States |publisher=William Morrow |year=1975 |isbn=0688029779 |location=New York |pages=130–131 |url=https://archive.org/details/flagbookofunited0000smit/page/130/mode/2up}}

The Russian navigator Vasily Golovnin, based on a visit to Oahu in 1818, describes seeing a "national flag" which "consists of seven stripes: red, white, blue, red, white, blue and red, with the English Union Jack in the corner”.{{rp|p=185}}

Until 1845, visitors to the Hawaiian Islands reported various versions of the flag with different numbers of stripes and colors.{{cite book |last=Ballou |first=Howard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ol7GL0CNCH4C |title=Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society: The Reversal of the Hawaiian Flag |publisher=Hawaiian Gazette Co Ltd |year=1906 |isbn=0-8028-5088-X |location=Honolulu |pages=5–11}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwU-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA36 |title=The Friend |date=February 1921 |pages=36, 43 |via=Google Books}}

File:Flag of Hawaii.svg

In 1843, either as an inadvertent mistake, or as a symbolic “reversal” gesture in the wake of the Paulet affair - a five-month-long, unofficial occupation of Hawaii by a British naval officer - the flag design was specified to have eight stripes: a white stripe on top followed by the sequence red, blue, white, red, blue, white, red. This new flag was officially unfurled May 25, 1845 at the opening of the legislative council and remains the same design as used today.

{{cite book |last1=Quaife |first1=Milo |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunited00quai |title=The History of the United States Flag |last2=Weig |first2=M. J. |last3=Appleman |first3=R. E. |publisher=Harper |year=1961 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofunited00quai/page/154 154] |url-access=registration}}

File:Flag-of-hawaii-flying.jpg]]

The canton of the flag of Hawaii contains the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, prominent over the top quarter closest to the flag mast. The field of the flag is composed of eight horizontal stripes, symbolizing the eight major islands (Hawai{{okina}}i, Maui, Kaho{{okina}}olawe, Lāna{{okina}}i, Moloka{{okina}}i, O{{okina}}ahu, Kaua{{okina}}i, and Ni{{okina}}ihau). The color of the stripes, from the top down, follows the sequence: white, red, blue, white, red, blue, white, red. The colors "red", "blue" and "white" are not explicitly defined. Despite resembling the flags of British Overseas Territories, the Hawaiian flag is proportioned differently – the Union Jack in the canton is in a 7:16 ratio.

File:Flag of Hawaii.svg| {{FIAV|normal}} Official version of the Hawaiian Flag

File:Flag of Hawaii (UK proportions and colors).svg| {{FIAV|noflag}} Non-standard variant using a 1:2 canton and the U.K. standard colors, similarly to the official flags of British Overseas Territories

In 2001, a survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) placed Hawaii's flag 11th in design quality, out of the 72 U.S. and Canadian provincial, state, and territorial flags ranked.{{cite web|url=https://nava.org/digital-library/design/surveys/2001-State-Provincial-Flag-Survey.pdf|title=2001 State/Provincial Flag Survey|work=nava.org}}

In 1990, Governor of Hawaii John Waihee proclaimed July 31 to be {{lang|haw|Lā Hae Hawaiʻi}}, the Hawaiian Flag Day. It has been celebrated each year since then.{{Cite web|title=Ka Hae Hawai'i – The Hawaiian Flag|url=https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/community-calendar/event/515390|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Hawaii Public Radio}} It is the same date as {{lang|haw|Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea}}, Sovereignty Restoration Day, a holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom that is celebrated by proponents of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

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{{See also|Flags of governors of the U.S. states}}

The flag used by the governor of Hawaii is a red and blue bi-color. In the middle of the eight white stars appears the name of the state in all capital letters. During the time Hawaii was a United States territory, the letters in the middle of the flag were "TH", which stood for "Territory of Hawaii".{{cite web |url=http://www.hawaii.gov/hidocs/hawaiinames.html#governor |title=Name and Insignia of Hawaii – Governor's Flag |access-date=October 25, 2007 |date=March 1, 2006 |publisher=Hawaii State Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070511012617/http://www.hawaii.gov/hidocs/hawaiinames.html#governor |archive-date=May 11, 2007 |url-status=dead }}

{{gallery|mode=nolines|align=center|whitebg=y|height=100

|Flag of the Governor of Hawaii pre-1959.svg|Standard of the governor before statehood in 1959

|Flag of the Governor of Hawaii.svg|Standard of the governor of Hawaiʻi

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File:Kanaka Maoli flag.svgThe {{Lang|haw|Kānaka Maoli}} ('true people' in the Hawaiian language) design is purported by some to be the original flag of the Hawaiian Kingdom, though this claim is unverified and widely disputed.{{Cite web |date=2008-10-21 |title=What's the Story Behind Hawaii's Flag? |url=https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/whats-the-story-behind-hawaiis-flag/ |access-date=2022-09-21 |website=Hawaii Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Pulse |first=Big Island |date=2019-08-20 |title=Kanaka Maoli Flag – Hawaii's Original Flag or Clever Marketing? |url=https://bigislandpulse.com/community/kanaka-maoli-flag-hawaiis-original-flag-or-clever-marketing/ |access-date=2022-09-21 |website=Big Island Pulse |language=en-US}} It was introduced to the public by Gene Simeona in 2001.{{Cite web |date=2008-10-21 |title=What's the Story Behind Hawaii's Flag? |url=https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/whats-the-story-behind-hawaiis-flag/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Hawaii Magazine |language=en-US}} It has nine alternating stripes of green, red, and yellow defaced with a green shield with a {{Lang|haw|puela}} (strip of kapa bark cloth insignia flown atop the double hulled canoe of the chief) crossed by two paddles.

Gene Simeona claims to have unearthed the Kānaka Maoli flag in 1999. Simeona said he encountered a descendant of Lord George Paulet who told him about an earlier flag. Simeona claims to have found evidence of the {{Lang|haw|Kanaka Maoli}} flag in the state archives, though any sources he may have used have not been identified.{{Cite web |last=Anwar |first=Yasmin |date=2001-02-12 |title='Original' flag raises debate |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Feb/12/212localnews29.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604121426/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Feb/12/212localnews29.html |archive-date=2007-06-04 |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=Honolulu Advertiser}} Subsequent efforts to verify Simeona's claim have been unsuccessful. Critics of the claim have pointed to evidence of the widely accepted Hawaiian flag being in existence before the Kanaka Maoli flag.{{Cite news |last=Kingdom |first=Hawaiian |date=2014-12-13 |title=Origin of the Hawaiian Kingdom Flag |url=https://hawaiiankingdom.org/blog/the-origin-of-the-hawaiian-kingdom-flag/ |access-date=2022-09-22 |website=Hawaiian Kingdom Blog |language=en-US}}{{Original research inline|date=September 2022}}

File:Loui Agard Hawaiian Flag.svgLouis "Buzzy" Agard had proposed a Hawaiian flag design in 1993 which featured nine alternating stripes and the same charge as on the {{Lang|haw|Kanaka Maoli}} flag,{{Cite book |last=Agard |first=Louis "Buzz" |title=He Alo a He Alo – Hawaiian Voices on Sovereignty |publisher=American Friends Service Committee |year=1993 |isbn=9780910082259 |location=Honolulu |pages=108–110}} leading many to believe it is where Simeona drew his inspiration.

Despite the lack of verification about its historic use, the design is popular among those who prefer its lack of apparent colonial imagery.

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File:Standard of the King Kalakaua.svg|Personal Standard of King Kalakaua

File:Flag of Princess Kaiulani (1875–1899).svg|Personal Standard of Princess Kaiulani

File:Naval ensign of the Kingdom of Hawaii.svg|Naval Ensign of the Hawaiian Kingdom, with the only known use of this flag being on the Kaimiloa

File:Naval Jack of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1887.jpg|Naval Jack of the Hawaiian Kingdom, flown on the bowsprit of the Kaimiloa

File:Kuhina Nui flag.svg|Flag of the Kuhina Nui in the Hawaiian Kingdom

File:Flag of Hawaii Hawaiian sovereignty.svg|The inverted Hawaiian flag represents the Hawaiian Kingdom in distress and has served as the main symbol of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement

File:Ka Lahui Hawai Flag.svg|Flag of Hawaiian people used in Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

File:Nation of Hawaii-Hawaii Independence Movement Flag v2.svg|Flag of Nation of Hawaiʻi

File:Hawaiian Islands. Johnson's new chart of national emblems, 1868.jpg|1868 flag chart

File:Ku'u Hae Aloha (My Beloved Flag), Hawaiian cotton quilt from Waimea, before 1918, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg|Hawaiian quilt from Waimea, before 1918

File:49 star American flag.jpg|Proposed 49 star American flag from 1941{{Cite web |title=Imperial Valley Press 16 June 1941 — California Digital Newspaper Collection |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=IVP19410616.2.2&srpos=15&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-State+flag+banner+------- |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}

File:Hawaii Bicentennial 13c 1976 issue.jpg|The Hawaii state flag as depicted in a 1976 Bicentennial Series postage stamp

File:Hawaii 3rd Regiment of Infantry flag (1916).png|Digital reconstruction of the flag carried by Hawaii's National Guard, 1916{{Cite news |last=Humanities |first=National Endowment for the |date=1916-07-14 |title=The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, July 14, 1916, Image 1 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014689/1916-07-14/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1756&sort=date&rows=50&words=arms+banner+coat+flag&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=35&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=Coat+of+arms+flag+banner&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |access-date=2025-05-07 |issn=8750-457X}}

==See also==

{{Portal|Hawaii|Heraldry}}

• Coat of arms of the Hawaiian Kingdom
• Seal of Hawaii
• List of flags by design
• List of Hawaii state symbols
• List of U.S. state, district, and territorial insignia

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{{Commons category|Flags of Hawaii}}

• [http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol01_ch0001-0042f/hrs0005/hrs_0005-0019.htm Constitutional Provisions for the Display of Ka Hae Hawaii]
• {{FOTW|id=us-hi|title=Hawaii}}

{{Hawaii}}

{{US state flags}}

{{Union Flag}}

{{Oceania topic|Flags of}}

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Category:Symbols of Hawaii

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