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The Sandwich Islands was the name given by Captain James Cook to Hawaii on his discovery of the islands on January 18, 1778. The name was given in honour of one of his sponsors, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was at the time the First Lord of the Admiralty and Cook's superior officer. During the late 19th century, the name fell into disuse.
The Sandwich Islands should not be confused with the South Sandwich Islands, an uninhabited British dependency in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
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