James Cook and his crew were the first Europeans to visit the Hawaiian Islands

Cook once more piloted HMS Resolution on his final expedition, while Captain Charles Clerke piloted HMS Discovery. The public was persuaded to believe that the purpose of the trip was to repatriate the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti. The main objective of the expedition was to find a Northwest Passage around the American Continent. Cook left Omai behind in Tahiti and continued north before making the first official contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Cook gave the archipelago the name "Sandwich Islands" in honor of the fourth Earl of Sandwich, the acting First Lord of the Admiralty, after his initial landing at Waimea Harbour on Kauai in January 1778.

Cook's arrival in Kealakekua Bay in January 1779 sparked joyous festivities among the Hawaiians, and with good reason: the explorer's arrival coincided with a yearly festival honoring the Hawaiian fertility god Lono. The Indians treated Cook as their deity and showered him with feasts and present because they had never seen white people or large sailing ships like Cook's. When one of Cook's sailors suffered a stroke, the natives learned the curiously attired Europeans weren't immortals after all. As a result, the Europeans retaliated by rapaciously pillaging Kealakekua of food and supplies. Cook's relationship with the Hawaiians deteriorated worse after that.