who discovered hawaii

The Hawaiian Islands were originally discovered and settled by Polynesian people between 940 and 1200 AD through ocean navigation using the stars. The first recorded European to encounter Hawaii was British naval captain James Cook, who arrived in the islands in 1778 during his third voyage of exploration. Cook named the islands the "Sandwich Islands" and made contact with the native Hawaiians, marking the first documented European discovery of Hawaii. However, there are claims that a Spanish explorer, Juan Gaetano, may have discovered Hawaii earlier, around 1555, though this is less certain and not widely accepted as the official discovery date.