Hawaii State Flag

The design traces to a British naval visit. Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy visited the Hawaiian Islands three times between 1791 and 1795. In February 1794, he reached a diplomatic agreement with King Kamehameha I at Kealakekua Bay and presented a British flag — either a Union Jack or a Royal Navy Red Ensign. That flag served as the informal standard of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi until around 1816.

The first distinctly Hawaiian flag emerged during the War of 1812. With Britain and the United States at war, Kamehameha I faced pressure from both sides. The flag he commissioned — documented by Scottish captain Alexander Adams, who took command of the brig Kaʻahumanu in 1816 — combined the Union Jack with horizontal stripes modeled on the American flag. In March 1817, the Kaʻahumanu became the first Hawaiian vessel to sail to Canton, China, under a distinct Hawaiian flag. Russian navigator Vasily Golovnin described it in 1818 as seven stripes of red, white, and blue with the English Union Jack in the corner. The exact number and arrangement of stripes varied between observers until 1845.

The Paulet Affair forced standardization. In February 1843, British Captain Lord George Paulet seized control of Hawaii, lowered the Hawaiian flag, and raised the British Union Flag. The occupation lasted five months. On July 31, 1843, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas restored Hawaiian sovereignty in a ceremony that became a defining moment in Hawaiian national identity. King Kamehameha III responded by formally standardizing the flag: on May 25, 1845, at the opening of the Legislative Council, the eight-stripe design was officially unfurled. It has not changed since.

The flag survived every government transition that followed. It flew under the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi until the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. It flew under the Republic of Hawaiʻi from 1894 to 1898. It flew under the Territory of Hawaiʻi from 1900 to 1959. When Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959, the same flag became a U.S. state flag — no modification required. Governor John Waiheʻe proclaimed July 31 as Lā Hae Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Flag Day, in 1990, marking the date of the Paulet Affair's resolution.

The Union Jack was not imposed on Hawaii — it was chosen. Kamehameha I's diplomatic position in the early 19th century depended on maintaining good relations with both Britain and the United States, the two naval powers competing for influence in the Pacific. A flag that incorporated both countries' visual language was a political statement: Hawaii was allied with neither exclusively. The Union Jack in the canton and the American-style stripes in the field were the two halves of that message.

Hawaii was never a British colony. Britain exercised no formal sovereignty over the islands. The Union Jack on the flag reflects a diplomatic relationship, not a colonial one. The Paulet Affair in 1843 — when a British officer briefly occupied Hawaii without authorization — was repudiated by the British government itself. Rear Admiral Thomas restored Hawaiian sovereignty and later apologized. The flag kept the Union Jack anyway.

The eight stripes represent the eight major Hawaiian islands: Hawaiʻi, Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, and Niʻihau. Before 1845, the stripe count varied — visitors reported seven, eight, or nine stripes depending on the version they saw. Kamehameha III fixed it at eight to match the island count.

Hawaii's flag uses red, white, and blue — the same three colors present in both the Union Jack and the United States flag. Hawaii statute does not specify exact Cable or Pantone values for any element of the flag.

The absence of statutory color specifications means shades can vary by manufacturer. The red and blue in the stripes and canton have no legally defined values in Hawaii law.