Around 1850, most Hawaiians could speak it and it was the language of instruction in public schools. There were Hawaiian-language newspapers, and around 90 percent of the Hawaiian population were literate in the language.
However, for economic and political reasons, English started to become a lot more important. Sugar plantations were big business, and they were mostly owned by American or British English speakers. As more immigrants started to arrive to work on the sugar plantations, particularly from China, Japan, and the Philippines, English came to be used for communication. Schools started to teach children in English, and children were not allowed to use Hawaiian.
