Which (then) country tried to join the British Empire but failed because the British Government thought it too expensive ? Hint: It had more success, in a way, regarding the US.

A hint may be necesary. With which continent is it associated now?

Don/t think a continent, but perhaps an/or group of Islands ????

Ah Ha.... missed the "associated with" bit....
Hummmm, my thinking is that it is not associated with any perticular "continent"....

It's an archipelago. It's in the Northern Hemisphere.It's really like home for an American.

Must be Hawaii.

The kingdom of Hawaii was taken over by American businessmen, who operated the Republic of Hawaii until the US elected a President (McKinley) who didn't care that the entire "revolution" was a fake. After the "revolution," Hawaii was run by Americans. Then it joined the US as a territory. The President of Hawaii was Sanford B. Dole, who became first governor of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900. (How do you like them pineapples?) At no time was annexation to any other country sought.

Hawaii was ceded to the British Empire on February 25th 1843. She was declared independent again a few months later, on November 28th 1843. This situation was ended because the British Government thought the whole affair far too costly. It appears to have been the scheme of one man, Vancouver.(He probably forgot to ask )

She was annexed by the United States on July 7th 1898.

To this day the state flag bears the Union Flag ( " Union Jack" ) of the United Kingdom, in the canton. In that it resembles the national flags of Australia and New Zealand. Whereas they have stars on, the Hawaii one has stripes to denote the eight principal islands of the archipelago.It was originally plain in the field. Attempts by the United States to have the 'stars and stripes' on, or as, the flag failed ( surely not on aesthetic grounds? ). Now , since 1959,she is but a tiny star !

One site , methinks Hawaiian sponsored , explains the flag by saying that it was chosen 'out of respect' for the British. A correspondent, in a letter to our Times, gives a more cynical explanation for Hawaii's enthusiasm for having and continuing with it:" It flew the Union Jack anyway to scare off potential attackers, as the Union Jack had that effect in those days".

By the way wasn't the Sandwich Islands a better name for the place? That's what islands once were, courtesy of Captain Cook ,who named them in honour of his friend Lord Sandwich.

Interesting. While I hadn't thought to think back that far, in the US, the teaching of Hawaii's history tells a slightly different story. Judging from the timeline below and considering the distance between Hawaii and England, and knowing that less than 30 years earlier, it took almost 3 weeks to get a message from Ghent, Belgium to New Orleans, USA, it seems that Great Britain reacted as soon as possible to repudiate the actions of Lord George Paulet. I see Hawaii's trying to join the British Empire as about the same as Kuwait asking to be part of Iraq after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Yes, Kamehameha III did cede his kingdom, but under duress from the H.M.S. Carysfort, whose guns were aimed at the city of Honolulu. The king immediately protested to the British government and Paulet's superior in the Britsih navy.


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1795
Kamehameha I unites the Hawaiian Archipelago under his rule (with the aid of Western weapons), has British "protection" until 1816, flies the British flag, which is, in 1816, incorporated into the Kingdom of Hawaii's flag.

1816

May 8, 1819
Kamehameha I dies, Liholiho, Kamehameha II, becomes Mo`i (King)

June 1819
Kapu system abolished

March 31, 1820
First American Calvanist Missionaries arrive

July 1824
Liholiho dies of measles in London

June 6, 1825
Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, become Mo`i
Ka`ahumanu becomes Kuhina Nui (Regent)

1826
America recognizes Hawaii's independence

1839 - France enters into treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation with the Kingdom of Hawaii.

October 8, 1840
First Constitution enacted by Kauikeauoli, Kamehameha III

1843 - Lord George Paulet seizes Hawaii in the name of England for 5 months. Admiral Thomas is dispatched to the islands to return the throne to Kamehameha III, who 'coins the phrase' Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono., which remains Hawaii's motto.

1843 - Great Britain and France agree to consider the Sandwich Islands an independent State and further that neither will take possession of the islands.

1846 - France and Great Britain enter into treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation with the Kingdom of Hawaii.

March 8, 1848
Mahele, land division - first private ownership of land

June 1850
First foreign ownership of land

December 15, 1854
Kauikeaouli dies and is succeeded by Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV

November 30, 1863
Liholiho dies and Lot Kapuaiwa, Kamehameha V, becomes Mo`i

August 20, 1864
New Constitution decreed by Lot

December 11, 1872
Lot dies

1873 - 74
William Lunalilo elected as King

February, 1874
King Lunalilo dies
David Kalakaua elected King

December, 1882
`Iolani Palace completed

July 7, 1887
"Bayonet Constitution" forced on King Kalakaua by all white Hawaiian League, stripping the power of the sovereign and Kanaka Maoli of their land rights

July, 1889
Robert Wilcox rebellion fails to overturn Bayonet Constitution

January, 1891
King Kalakaua dies in San Francisco
Lydia Kamaka`eha becomes Queen Lili`uokalani

January 17, 1893
Queen Lili`uokalani deposed by conspiracy of American businessmen with support of United States Marines and diplomatic representative,
"Provisional Government" established

December 18, 1893
President Cleveland sends a message to Congress calling for the restoration of Queen Lili`uokalani as sovereign

July 4, 1894
Republic of Hawai`i declared

January, 1895
Unsuccessful attempt by Royalists to restore the Queen, Lili`uokalani and 200 others arrested and tried, Queen abdicates throne under duress

July 7, 1898
President McKinley signs illegal resolution to annex Hawai`i

1900
Hawai`i becomes territory of the United States through the Organic Act imposed on Hawai`i

Those were the days ! Imagine telling your boss that you were pleased to report you'd just taken some islands and being told "Well, you just go straight back there and put them back , do you hear ? "
It's a sort of 'gun-boat diplomacy' in reverse .

So, if I am correctly following this....there was never any desire from Hawaii to join the B.E? Right?

While there may have been some (native) Hawaiians that wanted to join Great Britain, there was never enough to even be noticed, let alone be a majority.

The majority would go with their leaders;tribal societies with kings don't consult !

1793/4 explorer George Vancouver returns to Hawaii. 1794, February 21st, Kamehameha I holds council of chiefs and they place Hawaii under the protection of Great Britain whilst retaining the right to rule independently. This was a common device. (It didn't cost us British much ). Though, tactlessly, the naval Lieutenant there "took possession" of Hawaii in the name of the King,no secession was ever ratified in London and the place remained self-governing. The Hawaiian King continued to fly the British flag until 1816, whence the Hawaiian version, incorporating it, was flown.

All went fine thereafter until a consular agent of Britain, Richard Charlton, who had business interests in Hawaii, was appointed to oversee British interests in the region. He wanted Hawaii under British rule and in 1843 had persuaded the British to send Lord Paulet, in charge of a frigate, to investigate his stories that British interests (including his own ) were endangered and the French presented a threat. So Paulet told the Hawaiian King Kamehameha III that the French would attack Honolulu. The King , alarmed, ceded the kingdom temporarily. That was February 1843. As soon as the British top man in the region, Admiral Thomas, in Valparaiso, got to hear of this he set off to put an end to it. Apart from the excessive zeal, the lack of diplomacy and the upset to the Hawaiian King the move was unnecessary and ,what's more, would put Hawaii to British expense in perpetuity. That's bad business ! So on July 31 there was a ceremony to restore the Hawaiian kingdom and Hawaii remained independent thereafter

This strange saga came to a proper end when, to stop further alarm, the British and French governments signed a joint accord that each would recognise the continuing sovereignty of 'the Sandwich Islands' and neither would seek to end it. It took a bunch of American self-servers to do that, by forming a council of 13 which was to engineer the overthrow of the then Queen, used US military to do it, the Queen being condemned to permanent house arrest by the American Judge Advocate General. They then declared a republic , in the hope and expectation that the US would annex Hawaii. This is the fake revolution referred to elsewhere above. President Clinton signed into law a US Public Act to apologise for this behaviour. He didn't offer to give Hawaii its sovereignty back, though

See:

www.islander-magazine.com/british.html

Thanks, Fred. I was obviously mistaken about some of the events. While Hawaii had a constitution by 1843, it was hardly a constitutional monarchy as we know it today.

Kingdom of Hawai`i Constitution of 1840

It shall be the duty of the King to appoint some chief of rank and ability, to be his particular minister, whose title shall be Premier of the Kingdom.

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The following are the duties of the Premier: All business connected with the special interests of the kingdom, which the King wishes to transact, shall be done by the Premier under the authority if the King.

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There shall be four Governors over these Hawaiian Islands--one for Hawaii--one for Maui and the Islands adjacent--one for Oahu, and one for Kauai and the adjacent Islands. All the Governors, from Hawaii to Kauai shall be subject to the King.

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All the Governors, from Hawaii to Kauai shall be subject not only to the King, but also to the Premier.

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Below this, there was a House of Nobles, and below that, a representative body.

Timeline of Hawaiian History

That was a very interesting topic, Fred. For a while I got stuck in the "Samoan Islands".

Thanx for the links and research ,DG.