Adona Marchiani., age 11

Who named the Hawaiian Islands?

Those eight Pacific islands were explored by the Spanish in 1555 but they did not get into the maps until Captain James Cook rediscovered them in 1778. Captain Cook named them the Sandwich Islands, for the English Earl of Sandwich, and lost his life there a year later in a battle over a stolen boat.

They were known as the Sandwich Isles for some years after the tragedy of Captain Cook but more and more ships stopped at the islands on trade routes between Asia and Europe. The traders came to know the islanders and understand their language.  Soon the island group was being called the: Hawaiians, from Hawaii which is the native name for the largest of the islands. The names for the other islands are also taken from the names given to them by the people who originally lived there.