Sandwich Island Saga 53. Hawaii statehood

The Hawaiian island's flag, incorporates the Union Jack, reflecting their discovery by the UK's Captain Cook and former identity as the 'Sandwich islands'.  Sandwich, the inventor of the ubiquitous snack, was lord of the Admiralty i.e. Cook's boss. For a period after their discovery by the British, the islands were a Kingdom ruled by Polynesians. The island's strategic location meant that, in the 1800s, they became of great interest to many empires including those of the British, the Japanese and the Russians. The commercially dominant American missionaries and sugar barons, however, essentially engineered a take-over, so the islands became a US protectorate. Subsequently, in 1959, Hawaii became the 50th US state (at the same time Alaska was admitted to the union).