Native Hawaiians almost died out. When Europeans first came to the islands, there were at least 690,000 Native Hawaiians, by 1920, there were an estimated 22,600 left.
Beginning in 1893, Native Hawaiians’ extensive landholdings were taken by the federal government in the wake of its overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai’i. The loss of lands had actually begun earlier: As white people flocked to Hawaii in the late 19th century, they bought up huge swaths of land and established plantations. Low-paid workers also flocked to the island and Native Hawaiians were squeezed into crowded cities, dying of diseases for which they had no immunity, History.com reported.
The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 established a land trust for Native Hawaiians and allowed people of one-half Hawaiian ancestry by blood to lease homesteads from the federal government for 99 years at a time for a total of $1, History.com reported.
