Honolulu has many beautiful parks. Ala Moana and Kapiolani parks offer a variety of recreational facilities. Trained dolphins and other marine animals perform at Sea Life Park. The City and County of Honolulu has a mayor-council form of government. The voters elect the mayor and the nine members of the council to four-year terms.
Property taxes provide about half of the government's revenue.
Honolulu was a small Polynesian village when an English seaman, Captain William Brown, sailed into its harbor in 1794. Other ships started to use the harbor, and Honolulu became an important port. During the 1800's, Honolulu flourished first as a center for the sandalwood trade and later as the major Pacific whaling base. In 1820, Protestant missionaries from New England came to Honolulu. They built schools and churches and converted many Hawaiians to Christianity.