TIMELINE OF CRITICAL POINTS
THESE MOMENTS IN TIME LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR A CITY...
When the volcanoes of Oahu erupted the basalt lava gave the topography its sloping ridges and valleys which have informed the value of land use, the richness of soil, and the location. Almost 2.7 million years later, the settlement of Oahu by Polynesian explorers brought a culture to Honolulu that would inform on language, culture, and ritual from the founding of the city to the present day. Almost 1000 years later in 1794, the European Discovery of Hawaii by Captain James Cook brought western military technology to the archipelago and with it the ability to unify the islands and stop years of inter-chieftain war. During the following years the Kingdom of Hawaii was built and in 1840 the Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii made the Kingdom both a protestant state, and solidified its standing as a sovereign nation to the imperialistic powers of the globe. This new protstantism allowed for the taking of land in what is described as the Great Mahele of 1848. Allowing westerners to own land allowed for the building of plantaions, such as the sugar barrens and Dole pineapple. To finance the government's coffers the American territory levied the General Excise Tax of 1931. It was used in a export based cash crop economy, and was used to emulate a sales tax. Some say it's a deterrent for bringing in high value industries into the city, and that it hurts the local government by not gathering the money from tourists through a higher sales tax. Once a tourism industry took hold there was a market for Japanese Investment. This came with the signing of the Plaza Accord in 1985, which artificially decreased the value of the dollar in relation to the yen, which allowed for the Japanese to heavily invest in Honolulu real estate.