page_title: Sugar plantations in Hawaii
section_title: Decline of plantations in Hawaii
hierarchical_section_title: Sugar plantations in Hawaii / Decline of plantations in Hawaii
caption_attribution_description: English: Graph illustrating the trend of tourism in Hawai`i
context_page_description: Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaii by its first inhabitants and was observed by Captain Hegwood upon arrival in the islands in 1841 Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growth in the islands with 337,000 people immigrating over the span of a century. The sugar grown and processed in Hawaii was shipped primarily to the United States and, in smaller quantities, globally. Sugarcane and pineapple plantations were the largest employers in Hawaii. Today both are gone, production having moved to other countries.
context_section_description: Sugar plantations suffered from many of the same afflictions that manufacturing market segments in the United States continue to feel.  Labor costs increased significantly when Hawaii became a state and workers were no longer effectively indentured servants.  The hierarchical caste system plantation managers sought to maintain began to break down, with greater racial integration of the sugarcane plantations.  Workers began to discover they had rights, and in 1920 waged the first multi-cultural strike. Global politics played a large role in the downfall of Hawaiian sugar.  Shifting political alliances between 1902 and 1930 permitted Cuba to have a larger share of the United States sugar market, holding 45% of the domestic quota while Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico shared 25%.
  The Big Five slowed the production of sugar as cheaper labor was found in India, South America and the Caribbean and concentrated their efforts on the imposition of a tourism-based society.  Former plantation land was used by the conglomerates to build hotels and develop this tourist-based economy which has dominated the past 50 years of Hawaiian economics. Hawaii’s last working sugar mill, in Puunene, Maui, produced the final shipment of sugar from Hawaii in December 2016. The mill was permanently closed soon thereafter and the last 375 employees of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company were laid off.
caption: As the prevalence of sugarcane in Hawaii deteriorated, tourism was promoted to take its place.
exif: {}