Portuguese immigration to Hawaii
 
Flags of the Azores and Madeira
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 4.3% of Hawaiians in 2008 claimed Portuguese Ancestry |
|
| Languages | |
| Portuguese, English, Hawaiian | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic |
Portuguese immigration to Hawaii began in 1878 when Portuguese residents made up less than 1% of the Island population. However, the migration that began that year of laborers from Madeira and the Azores to work in the sugarcane plantations rapidly increased the Portuguese presence in Hawaii, and by the end of 1911 nearly 16,000 Portuguese immigrants had arrived.
The Hawaiian census of 1878 showed that, out of a kingdom of 57,985 people, only 438 residents, which was less than 0.8% of the population, were Portuguese. Most of these Portuguese residents had been born in either the Cape Verde or Madeira Islands, and nearly all had arrived as sailors on whaling ships. Although a few of them brought, or had sent for, their wives, women made up only about one-eighth of this tiny immigrant community. Despite the fact that prior to 1878 so few Portuguese had made their way to the Hawaiian Islands, those that did found opportunity and tended to stay.
Conditions in Hawaii in 1878 were conducive to immigration. King Kalākaua, who had recently ascended the Hawaiian throne, encouraged closer ties with Europe, and a growing Hawaiian economy, due largely to increased sugar exports to California, created a demand for laborers to work the sugarcane plantations. Because the native Hawaiian workers had been decimated by disease, there were not enough laborers to supply the sugarcane plantations, which led in 1852 to the first importation of Chinese workers. So many Chinese were brought in that by 1878 they made up nearly 10% of the population. Although the Chinese worked hard, they were accused of gambling, prostitution and opium use, and a search began for alternate sources of labor. This led both the Hawaiian government and the plantation owners to offer incentives, and concessions not given the Chinese nor other Asian ethnic groups, to attract immigrants of European descent who were willing to work in the cane fields.
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Wikipedia