Hawaii is one of fifty states that, together with Washington D. C., form the United States of America. Its capital and most populated city is Honolulu. It is located in the western region of the country, Pacific division, located in the archipelago of Hawaii, the northernmost group of islands of Polynesia, in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States. With 28 311 km² it is the eighth least extensive, ahead of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, the least extensive. He was the last to be admitted to the Union, on August 21,1959. It is the only insular and extracontinental state in the country.
Due to its location in the middle of the Pacific, Hawaii presents diverse American and Asian influences, along with its native culture. It has one million permanent residents, as well as occasional visitors and personnel of the US Navy. Its capital is Honolulu, on the island of O'ahu. The state covers almost the entire Hawaiian archipelago, consisting of hundreds of islands along 2,400 km. In the extreme southeast are the eight main islands, which are, from northwest to southeast, Ni'ihau, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Moloka'i, Lāna'i, Kaho'olawe, Maui and Hawai'i. The latter is by far the largest, so it is called The Big Island,"Big Island" to avoid confusion with the toponym of the state as a whole. Geographically and ethnologically, the archipelago is part of the Polynesian sub-region of Oceania.
Hawaii is the eighth largest US state, the eleventh least populated but the thirteenth with the highest population density of fifty in the nation. The Hawaiian coast is 1210 km long, the fourth longest in the United States after those of Alaska, Florida and California.