The Hawaiian Islands are at the same time one of the most isolated spots on the globe and one of the most cosmopolitan. Travel guides and most authoritative studies of Hawai'i often gloss over these critical contours of the state's landscape. While isolation is becoming a less useful term to distinguish cultural characteristics in this global village of satellite relays and facsimile communications, the geographic position of Hawai'i in the Pacific basin has shaped the history of the islands from their discovery and first settlement over 1,500 years ago up to the present day.