Native Hawaiians are members of the Polynesian ethnic group, the first Polynesians are believed to have arrived in Hawaii from the Marquesas Islands in 300 and from Tahiti a little later (in 1300 AD).

Most of the Hawaiian settlements were located near the sea, where they built their palm-roofed dwellings and fished by canoe. By the time the Hawaiian Islands were discovered by the English explorer James Cook, the population of the islands numbered about 300,000. They lived in large family communities, the ohana, which were divided into chiefs (alii) and communes (makaaina). Today, Hawaii is part of the United States, making it the 50th state.