Year Adopted: 1816, revised 1843

Flag colors: Red, white, blue

Hawaii’s flag was first designed in 1816 for King Kamehameha I, with the number of stripes increased to 8 in 1843. The horizontal stripes represent the 8 major Hawaiian Islands. The stripes are alternating colors of white, red, and blue starting with white at the top and ending with red at bottom.

The flag incorporates the British Union Jack on the upper hoist side, representing the time when Hawaii was under the protection of Great Britain. The British Union Jack flew unofficially over Hawaii from 1793 until 1816. Captain James Cook, a commander in the British Royal Navy, made possibly the first European visit to the Hawaiian Islands in January 1778. He named the island group the Sandwich Islands in honor of John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich, one of his exploration patrons. Captain Cook was eventually killed by islanders on his third visit to Hawaii 1779.

American business interests supported an overthrow of the Hawaiian government in 1893 proclaiming it the Hawaiian Republic in 1894 and adopted the existing flag. Hawaii became a U.S. territory August of 1898, and was admitted to the Union as the 50th state in 1959. The former national flag of the Hawaiian kingdom and republic was adopted unchanged, by both the territory and the state.