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For some, it's a serious sport.

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For others, just a way to let loose.

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But despite its casual association
with fun and sun,

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surfing has a richer and deeper
history than many realize.

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What we today call surfing originated in

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the Polynesian islands 
of the Pacific Ocean.

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We know from various accounts

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that wave riding was done 
throughout the Polynesian Pacific,

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as well as in West Africa and Peru.

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But it was in the Hawaiian archipelago
in particular

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that surfing advanced the most,

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was best documented,

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and, unlike elsewhere in Polynesia,
persisted.

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And for the people of Hawaii,

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wave sliding was not 
just a recreational activity,

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but one with spiritual 
and social significance.

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Like much of Hawaiian society,

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nearly every aspect of surfing was
governed by a code of rules and taboos

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known as kapu.

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Hawaiians made offerings when selecting
a tree to carve,

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prayed for waves with the help
of a kahuna, or an expert priest,

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and gave thanks after surviving
a perilous wipeout.

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Certain surf breaks were strickly reserved
for the elite.

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But it wasn't just a solemn affair.

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Surfers competed and wagered
on who could ride the farthest,

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the fastest,

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or catch the biggest wave
with superior skill,

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granting respect,

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social status,

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and romantic success.

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Though it was later called
the sport of kings,

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Hawaiian men and women of all ages
and social classes participated,

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riding surfboards shaped from koa,

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breadfruit,

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or wiliwili trees.

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Many Hawaiians road alaia boards,

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which were thin, midsized,
and somewhat resemble today's shortboards.

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Some mounted paipo boards,

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short, round-nosed boards on which
riders typically lay on their stomachs.

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But only chieftains could ride
the massive olo boards,

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twice as long as today's longboards.

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Unlike most modern surfboards,

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all boards were finless,

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requiring surfers to drags their hands
or feet to turn.

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We don't know exactly when wave sliding
was invented,

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but we know that it had already
been practiced in Polynesia for centuries

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by the time it was described in 1777
by William Anderson,

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a surgeon on Captain Cook's ship
"Resolution."

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Although Anderson was in awe,

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most of the American Christian 
missionaries who arrived in Hawaii

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several decades later

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regarded surfing as sinful,

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and they discouraged it, along with
other aspects of native culture.

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The biggest threat to surfing, however,
was the threat to the natives themselves.

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By 1890, new illnesses introduced
by Europeans and Americans

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had decimated the Hawaiian people,
leaving fewer than 40,000

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from a pre-contact population 
that may have exceeded 800,000.

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At the same time, foreign influence grew

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with white settlers overthrowing 
the native monarchy in 1893,

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and the U.S. annexing 
the islands five years later.

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The end of Hawaii's independence coincided
with surfing's native-led revival,

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a revival soon exploited
by the American colonizers.

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But first, some Hawaiians 
took surfing overseas.

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In 1907, George Freeth,
the so-called Hawaiian Wonder,

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traveled to the west coast

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and gave surfing demonstrations 
in southern California.

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Then in 1914, Olympic swimmer
Duke Kahanamoku

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made his way to Australia and New Zealand,

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gliding across the southern Pacific waves

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and attracting rapt audiences 
wherever he went.

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Shortly before Freeth went to California,

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a South Carolinian named 
Alexander Hume Ford moved to Hawaii.

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After learning to surf, he became 
a champion of the pastime.

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But Ford may have had unsavory reasons

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for his enthusiastic efforts 
to boost the sport.

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Like many settlers, he wanted Hawaii
to become a U.S. state

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but was worried about its non-white
majority of natives and Asian workers.

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Ford thus promoted surfing
to attract white Americans to Hawaii,

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first as tourists, then as residents.

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He was helped by numerous writers
and filmmakers.

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Ford's demographic plan 
would fail miserably.

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Hawaii became a state in 1959

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and remains the most racially diverse 
state in the country.

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But the promotion of surfing
was a far greater success.

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Today, surfing is a multi-billion dollar
global industry,

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with tens of millions 
of enthusiasts worldwide.

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And though relatively few of these surfers
are aware of the once-crucial wave chants

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or board carving rituals,

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Hawaiians continue to preserve
these traditions

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nearly washed away by history's waves.