The Hawaiian Archipelago is a chain of eight major islands and around 137 smaller islands and islets. The oldest of these is roughly 28 million years old, while the youngest, Hawaii, is relatively young at 400,000 years old. “Hawaii” is how the group of islands is often referred to, including by Michener, though the largest of the islands is also named Hawai’i. It is believed that the first Polynesians initially landed on the south coast of this island, though later than 817 CE, as was thought at the time of Michener’s writing.

Hawaii is a novel that uses fictional characters to portray Hawaii’s history, with a primary focus on events occurring between the early 19th and mid-20th centuries. Michener’s book covers the basics of Hawaii’s period of sovereignty followed by its annexation by the United Sates but doesn’t present more details of this political transition, which are useful to help frame the context of the novel’s events and cultural impact.

From 1795 until the late 19th century, the Hawaiian Islands were united under the central rule of the dynasty of King Kamehameha. This lineage destabilized during the 1870s as Hawaii transitioned from one short-lived monarch to another.