King Kalākaua leaves Hawaiʻi on a trip around the world in 1881 to study the matter of immigration and to improve foreign relations.

He also wants to study how other monarchs rule.

In his absence, his sister and heir, Princess Liliʻuokalani, rules as regent (Prince Leleiohoku, the former heir, had died in 1877).

The King had first traveled to San Francisco, where he had received a royal welcome, then sailed to the Empire of Japan, where he had met with the Meiji Emperor.

He had continued through Qing Dynasty China, Siam under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), Burma, British Raj India, Egypt, Italy, Belgium, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the French Third Republic, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and back through the United States before returning to Hawaiʻi.

During this trip, he had met with many other crowned heads of state, including Pope Leo XIII, Umberto I of Italy, Tewfik, Viceroy of Egypt, William II of Germany, Rama V of Siam, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, and Queen Victoria.

In this, he has become the first king to travel around the world.

Kalākaua also builds ʻIolani Palace (the only royal palace that exists on American soil today) at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars—a sum unheard of at this time.

Many of the furnishings in the palace had been ordered by Kalākaua while he was in Europe.