The Polynesians arrived in the Hawai'i sometime after about 1100 A.C. They are believed to have encountered and settled first on the Big Island. They eventually inhabited the area now known as Hilo where they farmed and fished. Oral histories show that there was trading of goods as well. Some reports put the native “pre-contact” (prior to discovery of Hawai'i by the western world) population as larger than the current population.
In those times, Hilo was known for its rich land and thriving waterways which supported the population of native Hawaiians. The rivers rivers, streams, lands and coastline are well recorded in ancient meles. Contemporary musicians often sing of these same parts of Hilo's history. While much of the history, culture and dance of old Hawaii was lost with the arrival of the missionaries, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in this history and an incredible growth of new students of the unique aspects of the “old Hawaiian ways”.
By the late 1700's, King Kamehameha was the ruler and Hilo was the center of political activity and social growth. Hilo was used by the King to build his army of ships with the intent of conquering all the Hawaiian Islands. But that didn't mean that the native Hawaiians stayed on their home islands. By that time, Hawaiians had traveled as far as the United States and China. The King also met and became friends with many of the foreigners who traveled to the islands. With such considerable traveling, the Hawaiian way of life soon became influenced by products ranging from iron to livestock to non-native seeds.
With its large deep-water harbor, Hilo was a vital connection between the plantations and their agriculture and the rest of the world. While they are not in operation anymore, evidence of the railways that linked the plantations to the harbor can still be seen all over the east side of the island. Of course, not all traffic at the harbor was products leaving the island – much of it was food and supplies being brought onto the island for local use in the plantations and the town.
As with any bustling harbor, business and commerce soon centered around the town of Hilo. Former contract workers brought to the island to work the plantation, such as people of Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Filipino, Chinese and Japanese origin, soon caught the entrepreneurial “bug” and created many of the company that fueled the town's growth 
and continue to drive the local economy. This "melting pot" of people remains the foundation of today's “rainbow” of people, cultures and festivals. Hilo remains true to this cultural heritage in its building, businesses and people.
Of course, the native Polynesian culture, since the cultural renaissance of Hawaiian history and story, serves as the backdrop upon which each of these cultures expresses itself. The impact of the Hawaiian culture can never be underestimated on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Much of the credit for the revival or “renaissance” of Hawaiian culture is due to the impact of one man – King Kalakaua. King Kalakaua took the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1874 and reigned over his people until his death in 1891.
The missionaries that controlled the culture in Hawai'i had forbidden the study or practice of native Hawaiian culture since their arrival. Kalakaua broke those rules and, with essentially no support outside of the Native Hawaiian community, restored many of the cultural traditions of the Hawaiian people.
The people of ancient Hawai'i did not have a written language. Instead, their history and culture was based on the spoken word in the form of chants and the dance called hula. The chants (mele) and hula recorded Hawaiian genealogy, mythology, and prayers. Through the hula, the culture, history, stories and almost every aspect of Hawaiian life were preserved, expressed and passed down through the generations.
But all was not paradise in this time between the “old days” and modern Hilo. In the last 100 years, in 1946, and again in 1960,two destructive tsunamis swept Hilo's bayfront area causing many deaths and the relocation of Hilo's government and much of the commercial life. When the town was rebuilt, a large park and roadway were situated between the buildings and the shoreline to absorb future tidal waves.
Hilo and its historic architecture remain the best example of an old-style plantation town in the state. The local terms "mixed plate" or “kapakahi” (mixed up) describe the impact made by Polynesians, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Koreans, other Pacific Islanders and Europeans on Hilo's mixed-race culture of today. Besides being a rare surviving example of an Hawaiian plantation town, cultural diversity is one of Hilo's special charms. All these ethnic groups blend in the faces of the people who give Hilo its charm. Its diverse shopping opportunities, its small scale and its friendliness makes Hilo the perfect town in which to linger just a little longer.
(my apologies for the photos -- it was very cloudy today)
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