puerto rico: Hawaii with its rich culture and far away from the mainland became a state in 1959, yet its habitants are very american, their language is mainly english, etc. Puerto Rico on the other hand is closer, has been a commonwealth since the 1900's and has more in common with western culture, yet language is mainly spanish and in every aspect is very culturally independent.|||It was the fur trade between the Pacific Northwest and Canton that made the Hawaiian Islands a desirable way station and a convenient stopover between trading seasons. The arrival of the first Puritan missionaries from New England and the introduction of the first whaling ships to Hawaii's harbors. Their arrival accelerated the revolution in Hawaiian life that had been inaugurated by Cook's arrival, the main features of which would be: (1) the transition from a society in which wealth, power, and status were based on land to one in which they were increasingly measured in money; (2) the increasing control of that monetary economy鈥攁nd the wealth and power and status associated with it鈥攂y Westerners rather than by the Hawaiians ; (3) the transition from a rural, largely subsistence lifestyle to an urban, consumerist one, with the accompanying rise of individualism at the expense of the traditional communalism; (4) the replacement of the traditional religion and its related social controls by a religion ill-suited to the Hawaiians in the form of Calvinist Christianity; (5) the introduction of Western laws, practices, and institutions that were easily understood by the Westerners, but which increasingly placed the Hawaiians at a disadvantage in coping with these alien devices; (6) and the integration of Hawaii into the global economy, with the accompanying globalization of Hawaiian culture and daily life.. The ratification by the United States in 1875 of a reciprocity treaty with the Kingdom of Hawaii enormously accelerated the growth of the sugar industry. A provisional government was established under Sanford B. Dole and a mission was dispatched to Washington, D.C., to negotiate a treaty for annexation of the islands by the United States. On 12 August 1898 the flag of the United States was raised over Iolani Palace in Honolulu. http://www.answers.com/topic/hawaii#ixzz鈥?/a> The Spanish sought to displace the "pagan" religion of the Indians with their own "true" Catholic religion. They believed God was on their side; and they had a sense of mission that made them very intolerant. They transferred to America a system known as the encomienda, a system very similar to a Feudal fief in Europe. Under this system, army officers who had won favor became privileged landowners often controlling several groups of Indian villages. They were to protect the villages and also to support missionary priests. In turn, they collected tribute and labor from the Indians. The Spanish had no understanding or tolerance for Indian culture. Indian men had been hunters and warriors, who did not labor daily. The Spanish considered them lazy and indolent, and forced them to work in silver and gold mines and also to work the fields. This was women's work for the Indians, and as a result, thoroughly demoralized them. Additionally, the Spanish considered them expendable, and frequently worked them to death. This cruel treatment, together with the onset of European diseases, was disastrous. By 1500, Indians in the West Indies were practically extinct. In all of Spanish America, Indian population declined from 50 million to 4 million in less than one hundred years. Although this article refers to Mexican colonization the same rules and regulations were applird throughout the Spanish colonies. It is evident the Spanish system was vastly different from that of the U. S. People in New Spain were organized into a caste system, by law. This caste system was based on race. Those at the top lived very well. Those at the bottom lived very harsh lives. The Peninsulares or Gauchapine, (European born whites) considered themselves superior to the Criollos or Creoles (Colonial born whites) and were supported in this belief by royal decrees from Spain. Both castes were, by law, politically and socially above the mixed bloods, the Mestizo and Mulattos, who were socially and legally superior to the Indians, who were socially superior to the Negroes. Parents wanted their children to marry into a higher caste if possible, or at least within their own caste. As a result, many Criollo women (Colonial born whites) married Gauchipine men (European born whites). This caused a shortage of wives for Criollo men in their own caste, and forced them to marry women from lower castes, which affected their childrens. The Criollo men (Colonial born whites) were already angry, as they were prevented by law from holding the highest ranking positions in the church and the government, positions their parents held, simply because their parents had been born in Europe and they had been born in New Spain. This created a great deal of jealously and discontent. In order to ensure their children were Gauchipine mothers would board a Spanish ship to give birth because the ship is considered to be Spain. http://www.answers.com/topic/mexico-91 gatita Degree in History and Spanish, New Mexico State U. 1990|||A plausible reason would be preutoricans were more civilized in the1900s than the hawains and had already adapted Spanish culture. No culture has influenced the hawaii islands more strongly than the American culture mainly because of its location.Had it been civilized by the european nations,it would have developed its own culture different than the American mainland.|||cause they aren't lazy and all that kinda of people.