History of Hawaii#Discovery and settlement

{{Main|Ancient Hawaii}}

File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg

The date of the first settlements is a continuing debate.{{cite book | first1=Charles E.M. | last1=Pearce | first2=F. M. | last2=Pearce | title=Oceanic Migration: Paths, Sequence, Timing and Range of Prehistoric Migration in the Pacific and Indian Oceans | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhQxc4GW8soC&pg=PA167 | date=June 17, 2010 | publisher=Springer Science & Business Media | isbn=978-90-481-3826-5 | page=167 | access-date=March 27, 2017 | archive-date=February 26, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226050826/https://books.google.com/books?id=rhQxc4GW8soC&pg=PA167#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status=live }} Kirch's textbooks on Hawaiian archeology date the first Polynesian settlements to about 300, although his more recent estimates are as late as 600. Other theories suggest dates as late as 700 to 800. The most recent survey of carbon-dating evidence puts the arrival of the first settlers at around 940–1130.{{cite journal |last1=Athens |first1=J. S. |title=A paleoenvironment and archeological model-based age estimate for the colonization of Hawai'i. |journal=American Antiquity |date=2014 |volume=79 |issue=1 |pages=144–155|doi=10.7183/0002-7316.79.1.144 |s2cid=163179921 }}

The history of the ancient Polynesians was passed down through genealogy chants recited at formal and family functions. The high chiefs' genealogy traced back to the period believed to be inhabited only by gods. The pua aliʻi ("flower of royalty") were considered to be living gods.{{cite book| first=Frederick B. |last=Wichman |title=Nā Pua Ali{{'okina}}i O Kaua{{'okina}}i: Ruling Chiefs of Kaua{{'okina}}I |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=-Dfm-hieZNcC}}| date=2003 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press| page=IX| isbn=978-0-8248-2638-3}}

Tahitian priest Pā‘ao is said to have brought a new order around 1200. It included laws and a social structure that separated the people into classes. The aliʻi nui was the king, with his ʻaha kuhina just below them. The aliʻi were the royal nobles with the kahuna (high priest) below them, the makaʻāinana (commoners) next with the kauā as the lowest class.{{cite web|title=Heiau and Kapu|url=http://www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com/origins.asp|website=hawaiianencyclopedia.com|publisher=Mutual Publishing|access-date=December 20, 2014|archive-date=February 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201041543/http://www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com/origins.asp|url-status=live}}

The rulers (noho aliʻi o ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻAina) were independent rulers of geographic areas. Their genealogy traces to Hānalaʻanui and others.{{cite book |first=Samuel Manaiakalani |last=Kamakau |year=1992 |title=Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii |publisher=Kamehameha Schools Press |page=1 |url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/collect/chiefs/index/assoc/D0.dir/doc18.pdf |isbn=978-0-87336-015-9 |access-date=May 20, 2016 |archive-date=December 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220225927/http://www.ulukau.org/elib/collect/chiefs/index/assoc/D0.dir/doc18.pdf |url-status=live }} The aliʻi nui were responsible for making sure that people observed a strict kapu (code of conduct). The system governed many aspects of Hawaiian social order, fishing rights and even where women could eat.{{cite book|first=Thomas Kemper |last=Hitch|title=Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii's Economy |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=jhWW0SwDyv0C|page=22}}|year=1992 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1498-4|page=22}}

Regular voyages occurred between Tahiti and Hawaii for some time, but stopped around 1300 AD. Hawaii was thus isolated from the rest of the world for several centuries, until 1778 when Captain Cook made the first documented contact between Hawaii and European explorers.{{cite book |last1=Buck |first1=Alan |title=Vikings of the Sunrise |date=1938 |publisher=Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9781990042492 |page=262 }}^{(better source needed)}

The group of islands did not have a single name, and each island was ruled separately. The names of the islands recorded by Captain Cook reflect this fact.{{Cite book|last=Cook |first=James|title=The Journals|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2003|isbn=978-0-14-043647-1|pages=594|quote=These five Islands, Atoui [Kauai], Eneeheeou [Niihau], Orrehoua [Lehua], Otaoora [Kaula], and Wouahoo [Oahu], names by which they are known to the Natives, I named Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich. They are situated between the Latitude of 21*30' and 22*15' N and between the Longitude of 199*20' and 201*30' East. Wouahoo, which is the Easternmost and lies in the Latitude of 21*36' we knew no more of than that it is high land and inhabited.}} Kamehameha I, as ruler of the island of Hawaii, imposed the name Hawaiʻi on the whole island group when he unified them as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

File:Arago – Iles Sandwich - Vue du Morai du Roi a Kayakakoua.jpg

Individuals who were ungodly, godless, irreligious, wicked, unbelieving, or careless of observance of taboos, were known as ʻaiā.{{Cite book|last=Malo|first=David|url=http://www.ahamoku.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Malo-David-Hawaiian_Antiquities-Moolelo-Hawaii-translated-by-N-B-Emerson-Honolulu-Hawaiian-Gazette-Co-Ltd-1903.pdf|title=Hawaiian Antiquities|publisher=Hawaiian Gazette Co., Ltd|year=1903|location=Honolulu|chapter=Chapter 23|at=para. 15|access-date=January 23, 2022|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513194245/https://www.ahamoku.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Malo-David-Hawaiian_Antiquities-Moolelo-Hawaii-translated-by-N-B-Emerson-Honolulu-Hawaiian-Gazette-Co-Ltd-1903.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi |url=https://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.85/cgi-bin/hdict?a=p&p=home&l=haw&e=q-11000-00---off-0hdict--00-1----0-10-0---0---0direct-10-ED--4--textpukuielbert,textmamaka-----0-1l--11-haw-Zz-1---Zz-1-home-'aia--00-4-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-00-0utfZz-8-00&q= |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=wehewehe.org}} However, the dominant religion as in many other Polynesian societies, was the kapu/taboo religion. It had a theology, ritual, and a code of conduct.{{cite book|first=John |last=Mulholland| title=Hawaii's Religions| url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=HxjQAgAAQBAJ| page=12}}| date=June 10, 1970|publisher=Tuttle | isbn=978-1-4629-1253-7| page=12}} It included many gods and heroes that people worshiped in different ways. In one tradition, Wākea, the Sky Father, wed Papahānaumoku, the Earth Mother and from their union came all Hawaiians, including the other gods. In traditional Pu-anue genealogy, Kumukumu-ke-kaa and her husband Paia-a-ka-lani were the mother and father of the earth and heavens. Another genealogy declared that Ka-mai-eli and Kumu-honua were the mother and father.

The kapu religion in Hawaii was polytheistic, led by the gods Kāne, Kū, Lono, and Kanaloa. Other notable deities included Laka, Kihawahine, Haumea, Papahānaumoku, and, most famously, Pele. Each Hawaiian family is considered to have one or more guardian spirits or family gods known as ʻaumakua.{{cite book| first1=Luci |last1=Yamamoto| first2=Amanda C. |last2=Gregg| title=Lonely Planet Kauai| url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=KTNLx2gHMxIC| page=239}}| year=2009| publisher=Lonely Planet| isbn=978-1-74104-136-1 |page=239}} One such god is Iolani, the god of ali{{okina}}i.

One breakdown of the Kapu pantheon{{cite book |first=June |last=Gutmanis |title=Na pule kahiko: ancient Hawaiian prayers| url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=hecRAQAAIAAJ}} |date=November 1983 |publisher=Editions Limited |isbn=978-0-9607938-6-0}} noted the following groups:

• four major gods (ka hā) – Kū, Kāne, Lono, Kanaloa
• forty male gods or aspects of Kāne (ke kanahā)
• four hundred gods and goddesses (ka lau)
• a multitude of gods and goddesses (ke kini akua)
• spirits (na {{okina}}unihipili)
• guardians (na {{okina}}aumākua)

Another breakdownKauka, Jay. Religious Beliefs and Practices. consists of three major groups:

• four gods, or akua: Kū, Kāne, Lono, Kanaloa
• many lesser gods, or kupua, each associated with certain professions
• guardian spirits, {{okina}}aumakua, associated with particular families

Līloa was a legendary ruler of the island of Hawaii in the late 15th century.{{cite book|first1=Louis Claude|last1=Desaulses de Freycinet|first2=Marion|last2=Kelly|title=Hawaií in 1819: A Narrative Account|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HtAvAAAAMAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Department of Anthropology, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226050712/https://books.google.com/books?id=HtAvAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} His royal compound was in Waipiʻo Valley. His line traces to Hawaiian creation.{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=smIuAAAAYAAJ|page=288}}|title=The legends and myths of Hawaii: The fables and folk-lore of a strange people|last=Kalakaua|first=David (King of Hawaii)|publisher=C.L. Webster & Company|year=1888|pages=288–}}

Līloa had two sons; his firstborn Hākau from his wife/aunt Pinea, (his mother's sister), and his second son, ʻUmi a Līloa from his lesser wife, Akahi a Kuleana.{{cite book |first1=Charles |last1=Nordhoff |first2=Jules |last2=Remy |title=Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands |url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=f_dgAAAAcAAJ |page=235}} |year=1874| publisher=Harper| page=235}} Upon his death, Hākau became ruler and delegated religious authority to ʻUmi. Akahi a Kuleana was of a lesser line of chiefs who Līloa had fallen in love with when he discovered her bathing in a river. The couple met when Līloa was visiting Hamakua. He asserted his right to her as King and she accepted.

Līloa's Kāʻei is his sacred feathered sash, now kept at the Bishop Museum.{{cite book|first=E.S. Craighill |last=Handy|title=Ancient Hawaiian Civilization: A Series of Lectures Delivered at the Kamehameha Schools|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ}}|year=1965|location=Rutland, VT|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|isbn=978-1-4629-0438-9|oclc=754244}}{{Cite book |last1=Handy |first1=E. S. Craighill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |title=Ancient Hawaiian Civilization: A Series of Lectures Delivered at THE KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS |last2=Davis |date=December 21, 2012 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-0438-9 |language=en |access-date=February 22, 2024 |archive-date=April 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421215919/https://books.google.com/books?id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 |url-status=live }}{{rp|p. 120}}

Līloa was the first son of Kiha nui lulu moku who descended from Hāna laʻa nui.{{cite book|first=Davida |last=Malo|title=Hawaiian Antiquities: (Moolelo Hawaii)|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=o8XiAAAAMAAJ|page=341}}|year=1903|publisher=Hawaiian islands|page=341}} Līloa's mother, Waioloa, his grandmother, Neʻula and great-grandmother, Laʻa kapu were of the ʻEwa aliʻi lines of Oahu.{{cite book |first1=Henri J. M. |last1=Claessen|first2=Jarich Gerlof |last2=Oosten|title=Ideology and the Formation of Early States |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=rtwxaNSsMbUC|page=334}} |date=1996|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-10470-4|page=334}} Līloa's father ruled Hawaii as aliʻi nui and upon his death elevated Līloa. Kiha had had four other sons, Kaunuamoa, Makaoku, Kepailiula and Hoolana, whose descendants are the Kaiakea family of Molokai, distant relatives of Abraham Fornander's daughter.{{cite book|first1=Henri J. M.|last1=Claessen|first2=Jarich Gerlof|last2=Oosten|title=Ideology and the Formation of Early States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtwxaNSsMbUC&pg=PA75|date=1880|publisher=Trubner & Company|page=75|isbn=90-04-10470-4 |access-date=February 26, 2024|archive-date=November 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117200655/https://books.google.com/books?id=rtwxaNSsMbUC&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}

Just before his death, Līloa elevated Hākau as Chief, telling Umi that he was to serve as his "man" (Prime Minister) and that each was to respect the other and should either have issue with the other it would be for them to decide. At first a decent king, Hākau soon became brutal. To avoid his brother's anger, 'Umi exiled himself to another district.

Hākau refused to help Nunu and Ka-hohe, his father's two favorites, ailing Kahuna who had requested food. This was considered highly insulting.{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=obTDDKJ-vRwC |page=97}}|title=Sacred Queens and Women of Consequence: Rank, Gender, and Colonialism in the Hawaiian Islands|last=Linnekin |first=Jocelyn|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1990 |isbn=0-472-06423-1|pages=97–}} The two were of Lono's priestly class. They resented their treatment and plotted to see the kingdom in someone else's hand.{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=eLPH_rTgi7YC|page=13}}|title=Hewa: The Wrong Way of Living |last=Chun|first=Malcolm Nāea|date=2009|publisher=CRDG|isbn=978-1-58351-052-0|pages=13–}} Hākau did not believe the priests to have any power and showed them no respect as 'Umi was the spiritual authority. In this period no King could defy a Kahuna. Many had a royal bloodline, land and could leave their temples as warriors when needed, but could never relinquish their spiritual responsibilities.{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=s00CYzXhuK8C&pg=RA1-PA235}} |title=Nordhoff's West Coast: California, Oregon, and Hawaii|last=Nordhoff|first=Charles |publisher=Routledge|year=1874|isbn=978-0-7103-0257-1 |pages=1–}} Through a messenger of Kaoleioku, of Waipunalei, the high-priest of the temple of Manini, the two priests contacted Umi's court at Koholalele. The two priests traveled to Waipunalei where they supported Umi's revolt.

When Hākau received news that his brother was preparing to war against him, he sent his main forces to prepare by seeking feathers to adorn their regalia. After the warriors had left and Hākau was undefended, Umi's warriors came forward claiming that they bore offerings for the king. They dropped the bundles and used the rocks within to stone Hākau to death.

File:Lei Niho Palaoa (Neck Ornament), 19th century, Carved sperm whale tooth, braided human hair, olona cordage.jpg

ʻUmi-a-Līloa was a ruling aliʻi ai moku (district high chief of Hawai'i). He became chief after his half brother's death{{cite book|first=Kent |last=Flannery|title=The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=yXYGjcSaARkC|page=341}}|date=May 15, 2012|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-06497-3|pages=341–}} and was considered a just ruler, religious{{cite book |first=Stacy L. |last=Kamehiro|title=The Arts of Kingship: Hawaiian Art and National Culture of the Kalākaua Era|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=oQCJ3NkS2ncC|page=120}}|year=2009 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3263-6|pages=120–}} and the first to unite most of the Hawaii Island.{{cite book|first=Greg |last=Ward|title=Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Kzwa23yEp1QC|page=223}}|year=2001|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-85828-738-6|pages=223–}} The legend of ʻUmi-a-Līloa is one of Hawaii's most popular hero sagas.{{cite book|first=Martha Warren |last=Beckwith|title=Hawaiian Mythology|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=BqElGaH4DiIC|page=389}}|year=1976 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-0514-2|pages=389–}}

ʻUmi's wife was Princess Piʻikea,{{cite news|last=Kamakau |first=Samuel Manaiakalani |newspaper=Ka Nupepa Kuokoa|date=September 23, 1865|title=Ka Moolelo O Hawaii Nei}} daughter of Piʻilani. They had one son, Kumalae{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Kumalaenui-a-Umi/6000000006757328357|title=Kumalaenui-a-Umi .|website=geni_family_tree|date=April 4, 2019|access-date=February 15, 2021|archive-date=October 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006070755/https://www.geni.com/people/Kumalaenui-a-Umi/6000000006757328357|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.kekoolani.org/Pages/Kekoolani%20Genealogy%20Database%20(PAF)/pafg54.htm|title=Kekoolani Genealogy of the Descendants of the Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii - pafg54 - Generated by Personal Ancestral File|access-date=May 20, 2016|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506055645/http://www.kekoolani.org/pages/kekoolani%20genealogy%20database%20(paf)/pafg54.htm|url-status=dead}} and one daughter, Aihākōkō.

Līloa told Akahi that, if she were to have a male child, she should present the boy to him along with royal tokens he gave her as gifts, to prove her boy was the son of the king. Akahi hid the tokens from her husband and later gave birth to a son. At the age of 15 or 16, his stepfather was punishing the boy when his mother intervened and told the man not to touch him because the boy was his lord and chief. She uncovered the tokens to present to her husband to prove the high treason he would have committed. Akahi gave her son the royal malo and lei niho palaoa given to her by 'Umi's biological father. Only high chiefs wore these items. She sent 'Umi to Waipiʻo Valley to present himself to the king as his son.

Līloa's palace was guarded and attended by several Kahuna. The entire enclosure was sacred. Entering without permission carried the death penalty. 'Umi entered the enclosure with attendants afraid to stop someone wearing the royal insignia and walked straight to Līloa's sleeping quarters, waking him there. When Līloa asked who he was, he said "It is I, 'Umi your son". He then placed tokens at his father's feet and Līloa proclaimed him to be his son. After learning of 'Umi, Hākau became upset. Līloa assured his first born that he would be king after his death and that his brother would serve him. 'Umi was brought to court on an equal footing with Hākau. 'Umi found great favor from his father, increasing Hākau's dislike.{{cite book|first=Moke |last=Kupihea |title=The Seven Dawns of the Aumakua: The Ancestral Spirit Tradition of Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=cSfG4BukamAC |page=27}} |date=March 3, 2004|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co|isbn=978-0-89281-144-1|pages=27–}}

In exile, 'Umi took wives and began building forces and followers. Chiefs began to see him as of the highest chiefly nature from signs they observed. He gave food to people and became known for caring for all.

After Hākau's death the other aliʻi claimed their districts for themselves. 'Umi took the advice of the two priests by marrying many women of high noble rank, including his half sister Kapukini and the daughter of the ruler of Hilo, where he had been given sanctuary during Hākau's reign. Eventually 'Umi conquered the entire island.

After unifying the island of Hawaii, 'Umi was faithful to those who had supported him, and allowed his three most faithful companions, and the two Kahuna who had aided him, to help him govern.

Aikāne relationships or (mostly male) homosexual or bisexual activity in the pre-colonial era was an accepted tradition.{{cite book|first=William |last=Kornblum|title=Sociology in a Changing World|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=DtKcG6qoY5AC|page=189}}|date=2011|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-111-30157-6|pages=189–}} These relationships were accepted as part of Hawaiian culture.{{cite book|first=Michael |last=Klarman|title=From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=e8by2JjCqaEC|page=56}}|date=October 18, 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-992210-9|pages=56–}} Such sexual relationships may have begun as teenagers and continued thereafter, even though they also had heterosexual partners. Cook and his associates provided extensive eyewitness accounts and analyses of such young men.{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Robert J. |date=September 10, 1990 |title=Aikāne |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j082v19n04_03 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=21–54 |doi=10.1300/j082v19n04_03 |pmid=2230108 |issn=0091-8369 |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226050725/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v19n04_03 |url-status=live }} These Aikane men were connected to chiefs whose functions were sexual, social, and political.{{cite book|first1=Carol R. |last1=Ember|first2=Melvin |last2=Ember|title=Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures Topics and Cultures A-K - Volume 1; Cultures L-Z -|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=XUAsskBg8ywC|page=207}}|date=December 31, 2003|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-306-47770-6|pages=207–}} The Hawaiian aikāne relationship was a part of Hawaiian noble life, including that of Kamehameha I. Some myths refer to women's desires and therefore some women may have been involved in aikāne relationships.{{cite book|first=Bonnie |last=Zimmerman|title=Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=0EUoCrFolGcC |page=358}} |year=2000 |publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8153-1920-7|pages=358–}} Līloa originated this practice{{cite book |last=Young |first=Kanalu G. Terry |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=JQLtAgAAQBAJ|page=53}} |title=Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past |date=February 25, 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-77669-7 |page=53}} among the ali{{okina}}i, which was then copied by the other classes. Warriors engaged in the practice. In many cases, the men involved felt it an honor and responsibility to honor their hana lawelawe.

Lieutenant James King stated that "all the chiefs had them" and recounted a tale that Cook was asked by one chief to leave King behind, as a great honor. American adventurer and sailor John Ledyard commented in detail about the tradition.{{cite book|first=Stephen O. |last=Murray|title=Homosexualities|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=GfH6Nc8HHFwC|page=99}}|date=June 1, 2002 |publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-55195-1|pages=99–}}

{{Main|Ahupuaʻa}}

Land was divided in accord with the wishes of the Ali‘i Nui. The system had four hierarchical levels:

• mokupuni (island)
• moku (subdivision of an island)
• ahupuaʻa (subdivision of moku)
• ʻili (two or three per ahupuaʻa, but Kahoolawe for example had eight)

Some oral history relates that ʻUmi a Līloa created the ahupuaʻa system.{{cite book |title=Ulukau: From the Mountains to the Seas - Early Hawaiian Life |url=http://ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=d-0english-000Sec--11en-50-20-frameset-book--1-010escapewin&a=d&d=D0.5&toc=0 |publisher=Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Studies Institute, 1994 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=June 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618134951/http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?e=d-0english-000Sec--11en-50-20-frameset-book--1-010escapewin&a=d&d=D0.5&toc=0 |url-status=live }}

Each ahupuaʻa included a lowland mala and upland forested region.Losch, Tracie, and Momi Kamahele, "Hawaii: Center of the Pacific" (Pearl City: University of Hawaii Leeward Community College, 2008){{rp|233}} The divisions typically went from the ridge top to the coast, often following the boundary of a stream. Ahupuaʻa varied in size depending on the economic means of the location and political divisions of the area. The system exploited the fact that communities were organized along stream systems. The community governance system of Kānāwai is attributed specifically to shared water usage.

Each ahupuaʻa was divided into ʻili that in turn were divided into kuleana, individual plots of land that were cultivated by commoners who paid taxes to the land overseer each week. These taxes went to support the chief.{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Ahupuaa |url=http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=299 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |website=hawaiihistory.org |archive-date=June 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605052446/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=299 |url-status=dead }} Possible reasons for this radial division include:

• travel: in many areas, it is easier to travel up- and downstream than from valley to valley.
• economy: having all climate and economic exploitation zones in each land division ensured that each could be self-sufficient for much of its needs.

"As the native Hawaiians used the resources within their ahupuaʻa, they practiced aloha (respect), laulima (cooperation) and malama (stewardship), which resulted in a desirable pono (balance)". The Hawaiians believed that the land, the sea, the clouds and all of nature were interconnected, which is why they used these resources to reach the desired balance in life.{{cite web |last=Andrade |first=Carlos |title=Ahupuaʻa: Sustainability |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/environment/ainakumuwai/html/sustainability.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111143257/http://www.hawaii.edu/environment/ainakumuwai/html/sustainability.htm |archive-date=November 11, 2011 |access-date=November 12, 2011}} Sustainability was maintained by the konohiki and kahuna (priests who restricted the fishing of certain species during specific seasons). They also regulated the gathering of plants.

Ahupuaʻa is derived from the Hawaiian words ahu (heap, cairn) and puaʻa (pig). Ahupuaʻa boundary markers were traditionally heaps of stones used to hold offers (typically a pig) to the island chief.

File:King Kalaniopuu Greeting Cook 1781.png

The Hawaiian agricultural system used both irrigated and rain-fed (dryland) systems. Irrigated systems mainly supported taro (kalo) cultivation. Rain-fed systems were known as the mala. There they cultivated uala (sweet potatoes), yams, and dryland taro{{cite web |title=The Ahupuaʻa of Puanui: A Resource for Understanding Hawaiian Rain-fed Agriculture |first1=Aurora K. |last1=Kagawa |first2=Peter M. |last2=Vitouse |url=http://www.pacificscience.files.wordpress.com/ |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226050722/https://pacificscience.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/cropped-ps541pl2banner.jpg |url-status=live }} along with niu (coconuts), ʻulu (breadfruit), maiʻa (bananas) and ko (sugarcane). The kukui tree (Aleurites moluccanus) was sometimes used as shade to protect mala.{{cite web |title=Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawaiʻi |url=http://www.canoeplants.com/contents.html |first=Lynton Dove |last=White |year=1994 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=October 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023111037/http://www.canoeplants.com/contents.html |url-status=live }} Each crop was cultivated in an area most suitable to its needs.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxBBjgEACAAJ&pg=PA241 |title=Hawai'i: Center of the Pacific |publisher=Copley Custom Textbooks |isbn=978-1-58152-579-3 |language=en |first1=Tracie |last1=Losch |first2=Momi |last2=Kamahele |year=2008 |page=241 |access-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224005134/https://books.google.com/books?id=WxBBjgEACAAJ&pg=PA241 |url-status=live }}

Hawaiians domesticated dogs, chickens, and pigs. They grew personal gardens at home. Water was important to Hawaiian life; it was used for fishing, bathing, drinking, and gardening, and for loko i'a (fishpond aquaculture systems).

The Kingdom was administered by an ali'i chief.{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/konohiki|title=konohiki|website=Merriam-Webster dictionary|publisher=Merriam-Webster, Incorporated|access-date=June 2, 2014|archive-date=June 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602194758/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/konohiki|url-status=live}} Divisions were under the control of other smaller chiefs and managed by a steward.{{cite journal |last1=Kircha |first1=P.V. |date=1990 |title=Monumental architecture and power in Polynesian chiefdoms: A comparison of Tonga and Hawaii |journal=World Archaeology |volume=22 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1990.9980141 |pages=206–222}} The headman of a land division or ahupua`a is a konohiki. Mokus were ruled by an aliʻi ʻaimoku. Ahupua'as were run by a headman or chief called a Konohiki.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 |title=Ancient Hawaiian Civilization: A Series of Lectures Delivered |isbn=978-1-4629-0438-9 |access-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426212122/https://books.google.com/books?id=PoXQAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 |url-status=live |last1=Craighill Handy |first1=E. S. |author2=Davis |date=December 21, 2012 |publisher=Tuttle }}{{rp|p. 71}}

{{Main|Konohiki}}

In the Keelikolani vs Robinson court case, kononiki is defined as land agent. In the Territory vs Bishop Trust Co. LTD. case, when the agent was appointed by a chief, they were referred to as konohiki. The term also referred to a designated area of land owned privately (not by the government).{{cite book|first=Paul Nahoa |last=Lucas|title=A Dictionary of Hawaiian Legal Land-Terms |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=nOYUAWISHxEC|page=57}}|date=1995 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1636-0 |pages=57–}} A konohiki retained life tenure on the land even when discharged from the position, but a head man overseeing the same land had no such protection.{{cite book|title=Hawaii Reports: Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=hdEzAQAAMAAJ|page=266}}|year=1883|publisher=Valenti Brothers Graphics|pages=266–}}

Often ali'i and konohiki are treated synonymously. However, while most konohiki were ali'i, not all ali'i were konohiki. A konohiki could also be a headman of a land division or to describe fishing rights. Kono means to entice or prompt. Hiki refers to something that can be done. The oversaw the property, managing water rights, land distribution, agricultural use and any maintenance. Konohiki also ensured that the right amounts of gifts and tribute were properly made at the right times.{{cite book|first=Carlos |last=Andrade|title=H__ena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=QoN6QG2QYRkC|page=74}}|year=2008 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3119-6|pages=74–}}

As capitalism was incorporated into the kingdom, konohiki became tax collectors, landlords, and fishery wardens.

Hawaiians overthrew the kapu theocracy in 1819 by themselves, before the missionaries' arrival. On October 4, 1819, Kamehameha II, dined with Queen Ka'ahumanu, Kamehameha I's favored wife, and his own mother, Queen Keopuolani. The prohibition on men and women eating together, the ‘ai kapu, was one of the most ancient kapu or prohibitions: the penalty for its violation was death. Queen Ka‘ahumanu, however, despised the prohibition as it prevented her from entering certain religious temples where men made decisions over meals. Queen Keopuolani also violated the prohibition even before the public breaking.{{sfn|Daws|1968|p=56}} Violating ‘ai kapu at a public dinner, as Kamehameha II did, was a clear signal that the kapu system was abolished. The guests at the dinner cried out ai noa! (free eating). Afterwards, Kamehameha II – with the support of his high priest Hewahewa – ordered the destruction of the heiau temples. Afterwards, Kamehameha I's nephew, Kekuaokalani launched a brief civil war. His forces were defeated by Kamehameha II's at Kuamo‘o, reinforcing the new way.{{Cite book|last=Malo|first=David|url=http://www.ahamoku.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Malo-David-Hawaiian_Antiquities-Moolelo-Hawaii-translated-by-N-B-Emerson-Honolulu-Hawaiian-Gazette-Co-Ltd-1903.pdf|title=Hawaiian Antiquities|chapter=Chapter 11|at=para. 10|access-date=January 23, 2022|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513194245/https://www.ahamoku.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Malo-David-Hawaiian_Antiquities-Moolelo-Hawaii-translated-by-N-B-Emerson-Honolulu-Hawaiian-Gazette-Co-Ltd-1903.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=The Last Stand|url=https://hanahou.com/20.5/the-last-stand|access-date=January 23, 2022|website=Hana Hou!|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123024918/https://hanahou.com/20.5/the-last-stand|url-status=dead}}

File:Manila-Accapulco galleon trade route, showing onward route to Spain.png

From 1565 to 1815, Spanish trading ships, or galleons, crossed the Pacific along a route from Acapulco in New Spain (modern Mexico) to Manila in Spanish Philippines. They made this trip once or twice yearly using a route kept secret to protect the Spanish trade monopoly against competing powers.Katharine Bjork, "The Link that Kept the Philippines Spanish: Mexican Merchant Interests and the Manila Trade, 1571–1815", Journal of World History 9, no. 1 (1998), 25–50. Some sources speculate that sightings of, or interaction with, Hawaii must have occurred.

{{blockquote|“It seems improbable that Spanish mariners could have made several hundred trips … without becoming Hawaii’s first European discoverers.”{{cite book| last = Kane| first = Herb Kawainui| author-link = Herb Kawainui Kane| editor = Bob Dye| chapter = The Manila Galleons| title = Hawaii Chronicles: Island History from the Pages of Honolulu Magazine| volume = I| publisher = University of Hawaiʻi Press| year = 1996| location = Honolulu| pages = 25–32| isbn = 978-0-8248-1829-6}}}}

By 1589, Ortelius was publishing the Maris Pacifici first ever Pacific map featuring an intriguing resemblance of the Hawaiian Islands "Los Bolcanes" and "La Farfania" in the middle of the Pacific by the Tropic of Cancer.https://damienchurchmolokai.org/wp/2020/06/03/excerpts-from-the-history-of-the-catholic-mission-in-the-hawaiian-islands-8 The islands would therefore have been sighted by visitors to the point of being roughly mapped long before official records would confirm.

In 1743, British Commodore George Anson captured a Spanish galleon on which he found a chart of the Pacific that depicted a group of islands at the same latitude as the Hawaiʻian islands but with a longitude ten degrees to the east. One of these islands is labeled La Mesa (‘the Table’). This is conjectured to be Hawaii Island since this “agrees very well with the appearance of Mauna Loa ... when seen at a great distance”.{{Cite book |last=Jarves |first=James Jackson |title=History of the Hawaiian Islands |date=1872 |publisher=Henry M. Whitney |location=Honolulu |page=47|

url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA47

}}

Many scholars have refuted claims of Spanish knowledge of Hawaii during this period.{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=John F.G. |title=Hawaii's Discovery by Spaniards; Theories Traced and Refuted |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001873423 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |location=Honolulu, HI |date=1939}}By Oliver, Douglas L. (1989). The Pacific Islands. University of Hawaiʻi Press. page 45. {{ISBN|0-8248-1233-6}}{{cite journal |last=Coulter |first=John Wesley |title=Great Britain in Hawaii: The Captain Cook Monument |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=130 |issue=2 |pages=256–261 |year=1964 |jstor=1794586 |doi=10.2307/1794586|bibcode=1964GeogJ.130..256C }} However, based on accounts from native Hawaiian oral tradition, Oscar Spate leaves open the possibility of one-way contact and that it is “likely that Spanish castaways reached Hawaii and survived”.{{Cite book |last=Spate |first=Oskar Hermann Khristian |title=The Spanish lake |date=2004 |publisher=ANU E Press |isbn=978-1-920942-17-5 |series=The Pacific since Magellan |location=Canberra |pages=108–109}}

{{Main|Battle of Kealakekua Bay|Death of James Cook}}

File:John Cleveley the Younger, Views of the South Seas (No. 4 of 4).jpg and HMS Discovery. On February 14, 1779, Capt. James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii.]]

Between 1768 and 1779, Captain James Cook led three voyages to chart unknown seas for Great Britain.{{cite book|first= James|last= Cook|title= The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World. ...|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ|year= 1821|publisher= Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown|access-date= May 4, 2022|archive-date= February 26, 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240226050842/https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ|url-status= live}} While crossing the Pacific on his third voyage, he serendipitously encountered the Hawaiian Islands on January 18, 1778, the first documented contact by a European explorer.{{Cite book|last= Cook|first=James|title= The Journals |date=April 2000 |publisher= Penguin Books|isbn= 978-0-14-043647-1|quote= Morning of the 18th when an island was discovered bearing NEBE and soon after we saw more land bearing North and intirely ditatched from the first; both had the appearance of being high land.}}{{cite book|first= James L.|last= Erwin|title= Declarations of Independence: Encyclopedia of American Autonomous and Secessionist Movements|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pYrlk8fDC50C&pg=PA62|year= 2007|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn= 978-0-313-33267-8|page= 62|access-date= May 4, 2022|archive-date= February 26, 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051138/https://books.google.com/books?id=pYrlk8fDC50C&pg=PA62|url-status= live}} He first anchored off the coast of Kauai and met local inhabitants to trade and obtain water and food for his onward voyage. On February 2, 1778, Cook continued on to the North American continent, searching for a Northwest Passage for approximately nine months. After failing to find any passage, he decided to use the Hawaiian Islands as a base to over-winter and resupply before a second attempt the next season. His two ships first encountered the coast of Maui in November 1778, and eventually anchored in Kealakekua Bay on the west coast of Hawaii Island in mid January. Initially, the reception of the local people was respectful, friendly and accommodating. The expedition departed Kealakekua on Feb 4, but was forced to return again after a few days to make essential repairs after a storm severely damaged a mast. Relations with the local people now grew hostile and Cook was among those killed when a dispute led to violence.{{Cite book |last=Hough |first=Richard |title=Captain James Cook: a biography |date=1997 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-31519-6 |location=New York |pages=311–354}}

After Cook's visit and the publication of several books relating his voyages, the Hawaiian Islands attracted many European and American explorers, traders, and whalers, who found the islands to be a convenient harbor and source of supplies. This began to influence the trajectory of Hawaiian history. The introduction of sexually transmitted diseases are attributed with certainty to the voyages of Cook,{{cite book |last=Gulick |first=Luther Halsey |author-link=Luther Halsey Gulick Sr. |title=The Climate, Diseases and Materia Medica of the Hawaiian Islands |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7wm57d05 |publisher=Holman & Gray, Printers |publication-place=New York |year=1855 |oclc=967511183 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7wm57d05?urlappend=%3Bseq=18 16]–[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7wm57d05?urlappend=%3Bseq=19 17] |hdl=2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t7wm57d05 |via=HathiTrust}} However, after the first visits of the Discovery and Resolution to "Mowee (Maui) and Ouwhyee (Hawaii)" and finding "that the venereal disease was not unknown to the natives," Cook himself believed "that the disease was not left at these islands by our ships."{{cite book |last=Samwell |first=David |title=A Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook: To Which are Added Some Particulars, Concerning His Life and Character. And Observations Respecting the Introduction of the Venereal Disease into ohe Sandwich Islands |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34634/34634-h/34634-h.htm |year=1917 |orig-year=1779 |oclc=1110246333 |page=[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34634/34634-h/34634-h.htm#Page_22 22–24] |via=Project Guttenberg}}

The Kingdom of Hawaii lasted from 1795 until its overthrow in 1893 with the fall of the House of Kalakaua.{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=jbBvWQ8LGKEC|page=220}}|title=Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America's First Imperial Adventure|last=Siler|first=Julia Flynn|date=January 2012|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=978-0-8021-2001-4|pages=220–}}

File:Kamehameha I.png, founder of the Kingdom of Hawaii]]

The first king to unite the Hawaiian Islands was Kamehameha I, founder of the House of Kamehameha and the Kingdom of Hawai{{okina}}i.{{cite book|first1=Margaret |last1=Homans| first2=Adrienne |last2=Munich |title=Remaking Queen Victoria |url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=yC4n0FfjVB0C| page=147}} |date=October 2, 1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57485-3 |pages=147–}}

His lineage can be traced to half brothers, Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Keōua. Kalaniʻōpuʻu's father was Kalaninuiʻīamamao while Keōua's father was Kalanikeʻeaumoku, both sons of Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku. They shared a common mother, Kamakaʻīmoku. Both brothers served Alapaʻinui, the ruling King of Hawaii Island. Kamehameha I was born to Keōua and Kekuʻiapoiwa II, a granddaughter of Keaweʻīkehakialiʻiokamoku. Hawaiian genealogy leaves the possibility that Kahekili II might have actually been Kamehameha I's biological father.{{cite book |first=Sheldon |last=Dibble |title=History of the Sandwich Islands. [With a map.] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Em5ZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA54 |year=1843 |publisher=Press of the Mission Seminary |pages=54– |access-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051158/https://books.google.com/books?id=Em5ZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA54#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} However, Keōua acknowledged him as his son and this relationship is recognized by official genealogies.{{cite book |first1=George H. |last1=Kanahele |first2=George S. |last2=Kanahele |title=Pauahi: The Kamehameha Legacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaLOAAAACAAJ |year=1986 |publisher=Kamehameha Schools Press |page=5 |isbn=978-0-87336-005-0 |access-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051510/https://books.google.com/books?id=IaLOAAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}

The date of Kamehameha I's birth is uncertain. The traditional ole chant of Keaka, wife of Alapaʻinui, indicates that Kamehameha I was born in ikuwā (winter) around November.{{cite book| last=Hawaiian Historical Society|title=Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=onLxAAAAMAAJ| page=15}}| year=1936| publisher=The Hawaiian Historical Society |page= 15}} Kamehameha was allegedly born during the passing of Halley's Comet. In Hawaiian culture a comet indicated an important birth.{{Cite book |last=Morrison |first=Susan Keyes |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Nfj9CLAmf4MC|page=11}}|title=Kamehameha: The Warrior King of Hawaii |date=August 8, 2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2700-7 |language=en}} Samuel Kamakau, wrote, "It was during the time of the warfare among the chiefs of [the island of] Hawaii which followed the death of Keawe, chief over the whole island, that Kamehameha I was born". However, his general dating was challenged.{{sfn|Kamakau|1992|page=66}} Abraham Fornander wrote, "when Kamehameha died in 1819 he was past eighty years old. His birth would thus fall between 1736 and 1740, probably nearer the former".{{cite book |last=Fornander |first=Abraham| author-link=Abraham Fornander |editor-last=Stokes |editor-first=John F. G. |title=An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origins and Migrations, and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I |url= {{google books |plainurl=y |id=tcQNAAAAQAAJ| page=136}}| volume=2 |year=1880 |publisher=Trübner & Company| location=London |page=136}} William De Witt Alexander listed the birth year as 1736.{{cite book|first=William De Witt |last=Alexander|title=A brief history of the Hawaiian people|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=VfIXAAAAIAAJ|page=324}} |year=1891 |publisher=American Book Co.|page=324}} He was first named Paiea but took the name Kamehameha, meaning "The very lonely one" or "The one set alone".{{cite book|first=Jim |last=Noles|title=Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America-One State Quarter at a Time|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=DPpEaOLoIdMC|page=296}}|year=2009 |publisher=Perseus Books Group|isbn=978-0-7867-3197-8 |pages=296–}}{{cite book |first1=Jake |last1=Goldberg|first2=Joyce |last2=Hart |title=Hawai'i|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=qZV-2bAE0ooC |page=128}}|year=2007|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0-7614-2349-2|pages=128–}}

File:Kuka'ilimoku.jpg by his uncle Kalaniʻōpuʻu]]

Hawaiian prophecy said that this baby would one day unite the islands. Alapaʻi gave the young Kamehameha to his wife Keaka and her sister Hākau to care for.{{cite book|title=I-H3, Halawa Interchange to Halekou Interchange, Honolulu: Environmental Impact Statement|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=GqE1AQAAMAAJ}} |year=1973 |page= 483}}{{cite book |first=Albert Pierce |last=Taylor |title=under hawaiian skies |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=_2CmsAMr75wC |page=79}}| year=1922| page=79}} Kamehameha's uncle Kalaniʻōpuʻu raised him after Keōua's death. Kalaniʻōpuʻu ruled Hawaii as had his grandfather Keawe. He had advisors and priests. When word reached the ruler that chiefs were planning to murder the boy, he told Kamehameha:

{{Blockquote|"My child, I have heard the secret complaints of the chiefs and their mutterings that they will take you and kill you, perhaps soon. While I am alive they are afraid, but when I die they will take you and kill you. I advise you to go back to Kohala." "I have left you the god; there is your wealth."}}

After Kalaniʻōpuʻu's death in 1782, Kīwalaʻō took his father's place as first born and ruled the island, while Kamehameha I became the religious authority. Some chiefs preferred Kamehameha I and war broke out to overthrow Kīwalaʻō. Kīwalaʻō was killed in the Battle of Mokuʻōhai. This marked the start of a 15-year-long military campaign by Kamehameha I to conquer not only the island of Hawaii from Keōua and Kīwalaʻō's uncle Keawemaʻuhili, but all the Hawaiian islands from the various chiefs who ruled them.{{cite book|first=Ralph Simpson |last=Kuykendall |title=The Hawaiian Kingdom|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ndDe5Un57x0C}}|date=1938 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-87022-431-7 |pages=32–50}}

File:Hawaiian unification.gif, from the death of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's death in 1782 to Kaumaliʻi's submission in 1810]]

In 1791, after Keōua killed Keawemaʻuhili and claimed his territory, Kamehameha I sent envoys for Keōua and his brother Kaōleiokū to meet with him. Keōua and Kaōleiokū arrived in separate canoes. Keōua came to shore first where a fight broke out and he and all aboard were killed. Before the same could happen to the second canoe, Kamehameha I intervened. With the death of Keōua, Kamehameha I became king of the entire island.

On February 25, 1794, during his voyage of exploration, Captain George Vancouver negotiated with Kamehameha what the British understood to be the cession of the island of Hawaii to Great Britain though historians have argued that the Hawaiians regarded the agreement as the establishment of a protectorate. At that time, Kamehameha - who was king of Hawaii Island - also sought military help in the ongoing war against Maui and the other islands; the British were already assisting him with the construction of a warship. Vancouver presented Kamehameha with a British flag which flew unofficially as Hawaii's flag until 1816.{{Cite book |last=Bown |first=Stephen R. |title=Madness, betrayal and the lash: the epic voyage of Captain George Vancouver |date=2008 |publisher=Douglas and McIntyre |isbn=978-1-55365-339-4 |location=Vancouver |pages=190–191}} The modern Flag of Hawaii retains a Union Jack in the top-left corner as a legacy of this time.{{Cite web |title=Flag of Hawaii | United States state flag |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802204106/https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Hawaii |archive-date=August 2, 2021 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}

In 1794, Kahekili II, the king of Maui and Oahu and suzerain of Kauai, died and left his territory to his brother Kāʻeokūlani and his son Kalanikūpule. A civil war between the two broke out, which ended when Kalanikūpule killed Kāʻeokūlani, taking control of Maui and Molokaʻi. This initiated a succession crisis on Kauaʻi, which had previously been ruled by Kāʻeokūlani. Seeing an opportunity, Kamehameha I invaded Kalanikūpule. He quickly took Maui and Molokai before moving onto Oahu. Here he defeated the remainder of Kalanikūpule's forces at the decisive Battle of Nuʻuanu.

He thus extended his kingdom to encompass all of the main islands except Kauai and Niihau (both part of the Kingdom of Kauai). For his first royal residence, the new King built the first western-style structure in the Hawaiian Islands, known as the "Brick Palace".{{cite book|first1=Lonely |last1=Planet |first2=Sara |last2=Benson|first3=Amy C. |last3=Balfour |first4=Adam |last4=Karlin |first5=Adam |last5=Skolnick |first6=Paul |last6=Stiles |first7=Ryan |last7=Ver Berkmoes|title=Lonely Planet Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=SRuDAAAAQBAJ|page=732}}|date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=Lonely Planet Publications|isbn=978-1-74321-788-7|pages=732–}} The location became the seat of government until 1845.{{cite book|first1=Glenda |last1=Bendure|first2=Ned |last2=Friary|title=Lonely Planet Maui|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ghhZwsXa6koC|page=244}}|year=2008|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74104-714-1|pages=244–}}{{cite book|first1=Trudy |last1=Ring|first2=Noelle |last2=Watson|first3=Paul |last3=Schellinger|title=The Americas: International Dictionary of Historic Places|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=zTL_AQAAQBAJ |page=315}} |date=November 5, 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25930-4|pages=315–}} The structure was built at Keawa'iki point in Lahaina, Maui.{{cite book|title=Lahaina Watershed Flood Control Project: Environmental Impact Statement|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Cu43AQAAMAAJ}}|year=2004|page= 214}} Two ex-convicts from Australia's Botany Bay penal colony built the home.{{cite book|first=Rich|last=Budnick|title=Hawaii's Forgotten History: 1900–1999: The Good...The Bad...The Embarrassing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2nxAAAAMAAJ|date=2005|publisher=Aloha Press|page=154|isbn=978-0-944081-04-4|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051511/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2nxAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} It was begun in 1798 and was completed in 1802.{{cite book|first=Jeanette |last=Foster|title=Frommer's Maui 2013|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=6ZfNoKimebIC |page=144}} |date=July 17, 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-33145-3|pages=144–}}{{cite book |first=Patrick Vinton |last=Kirch|title=Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=WpmY7h7cVQ8C|page=318}}|date=1997 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1938-5|pages=318–}} The house was intended for Kaʻahumanu,{{cite book|first1=David |last1=Thompson|first2=Lesa M. |last2=Griffith |first3=Joan |last3=Conrow|title=Pauline Frommer's Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=S4WhLI5teG4C|page=284}}|date=July 14, 2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-06984-4|pages=284–}} but she rejected it in favor of an adjacent, traditional home.

After two failed attempts to invade Kauai (in 1795 and 1804), in 1810 Kamehameha negotiated the peaceful absorption of Kauai into his kingdom. The king of Kauai, Kaumualiʻi, agreed to recognize Kamehameha as his suzerain, and in exchange was allowed to continue administering Kauai. Thus concluded the unification of the Hawaiian islands.

Kamehameha I had many wives, but held two in the highest regard. Keōpūolani was the highest ranking aliʻi of her time{{cite book|first1=Helen |last1=Wong|first2=Ann |last2=Rayson|title=Hawaii's Royal History|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=sY8iLDyCltMC|page=69}}|year=1987|publisher=Bess Press|isbn=978-0-935848-48-9|pages=69–}} and mother to his sons, Liholiho and Kauikeaouli. Kaʻahumanu was his favorite. Kamehameha I died in 1819, succeeded by Liholiho.{{cite book|first=Rita |last=Ariyoshi|title=Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=_T88rS0xKBkC|page=29}}|year=2009|publisher=National Geographic Books|isbn=978-1-4262-0388-6|pages=29–35}}

File:Their Majesties King Rheo Rhio, Queen Tamehamalu, Madame Poke.jpg

After Kamehameha I's death, Liholiho left Kailua for a week and returned to be crowned king. At the ceremony, attended by commoners and nobles, he approached the circle of chiefs, as Kaʻahumanu, the central figure in the group and Dowager Queen, said, "Hear me O Divine one, for I make known to you the will of your father. Behold these chiefs and the men of your father, and these your guns, and this your land, but you and I shall share the realm together". Liholiho agreed officially, which began a unique system of dual-government consisting of a King and co-ruler similar to a regent.{{cite book|first=Ralph Simpson |last=Kuykendall |title=The Hawaiian Kingdom|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ndDe5Un57x0C|page=64}}|date=1938 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-87022-431-7 |pages=64–}}

Kamehameha II shared his rule with his stepmother, Kaʻahumanu. She defied Hawaiian kapu by dining with the young king, leading to the end of the Hawaiian religion (the period known as ʻAi Noa). Some Hawaiian leaders opposed the efforts to abolish the Hawaiian religion. A faction led by Keaoua Kekuaokalani, a nephew of Kamehameha I, revolted against Kamehameha II and his court. Despite gathering some support, the rebels were defeated at the Battle of Kuamo'o in December 1819.Daws, Gavan (1968). Shoal of Time. pp. 54–56

Kamehameha II died, along with his wife, Queen Kamāmalu in 1824 on a state visit to England, succumbing to measles. He was King for 5 years.

The couple's remains were returned to Hawaii by Boki. Aboard the ship The Blond, his wife Liliha and Kekūanaōʻa were baptized as Christians. Kaʻahumanu also converted and became a powerful Christian influence on Hawaiian society until her death in 1832.{{cite book|first=John |last=Garrett|title=To Live Among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=b7HYexAnWCoC|page=52}}|date=1982|publisher=editorips@usp.ac.fj|isbn=978-2-8254-0692-2 |pages=52–}} Since the new king was only 12 years old, Kaʻahumanu reigned as senior ruler and named Boki as her Kuhina Nui.

Boki left Hawaii on a trip to find sandalwood to cover a debt and was lost at sea. His wife, Liliha took the governorship of Maui and unsuccessfully attempted to revolt against Kaʻahumanu, who upon Boki's departure, had installed Kīnaʻu as a co-governor.

File:Kaahumanu with servant.jpg]]

Kaʻahumanu was born on Maui around 1777. Her parents were aliʻi of a lower-ranking line. She became Kamehameha's consort at fourteen. George Vancouver states: "[O]ne of the finest woman we had yet seen on any of the islands".{{cite book|first=Edward |last=Joesting|title=Kauai: The Separate Kingdom|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=GfWj0Pt3cwoC|page=97}}|date=February 1, 1988 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1162-4|pages=97–}} To wed the young woman, Kamehameha had to consent to make her children his heirs, but she had no issue.

Before his death, Kamehameha selected Kaʻahumanu to rule along with his son. Kaʻahumanu adopted the boy.{{cite book|first=Sherry B. |last=Ortner|title=Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=XoeDtwMT8zIC |page=163}}|year=1997|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-4633-3|pages=163–}} She became the senior ruler. A portrait artist remarked of her: "This Old Dame is the most proud, unbending Lady in the whole island. As the widow of [Kamehameha], she possesses unbound authority and respect, not any of which she is inclined to lay aside on any occasion whatsoever".{{sfn|Vowell|2011|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=QRPXBXsU7UIC|page=32}} 32–]}} She was one of Hawaii's most influential leaders.{{cite book|first=Alan Robert |last=Akana|title=The Volcano Is Our Home|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=beclAwAAQBAJ|page=68}}|date=March 18, 2014 |publisher=Balboa Press|isbn=978-1-4525-8753-0|pages=68–}}

On March 30, 1820, fourteen American Protestant missionaries (the Pioneer Company) arrived in Hawaii. They were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 180-men and women sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in twelve Companies served in Hawaii. They converted Hawaiian people to the Christian faith, developed the written form of Hawaiian language, and encouraged the spread of English on the islands. But many Hawaiians blame the missionaries for discouraging many Hawaiian cultural practices.[https://historichawaii.org/2020/06/19/bicentennial-of-the-arrival-of-abmc-missionaries-and-establishment-of-three-historic-churches/ Bicentennial of the Arrival of ABMC Missionaries and Establishment of Three Historic Churches][https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2023-04-20/reflecting-on-the-200-year-history-of-missionaries-in-hawaii Reflecting on the 200-year history of Protestant missionaries in Hawaiʻi ]

In April 1824, Kaʻahumanu publicly acknowledged her conversion to Protestant Christianity and encouraged her subjects to be baptized into the faith.{{cite book|last=Kirk|first=Robert W.|title=Paradise Past: The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520–1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klglH_7KkxsC&pg=PA113|year=2012|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-9298-5|oclc=817224972|page=113}} She took it upon herself to enforce Christian policies with her power, banning of the Hawaiian Dance hula in 1830.{{Cite web|title=Missionaries and the Decline of Hula – Hawaii History – Hula|url=http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=253|access-date=2021-09-14|website=www.hawaiihistory.org|archive-date=April 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418204720/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&CategoryID=253|url-status=dead}}

File:Kamehameha_III_in_military_uniform.jpg

Kauikeaouli was the second son of Kamehameha I and was born in Keauhou Bay on the island of Hawai'i.{{Cite journal |last1=Kam |first1=Ralph Thomas |last2=Duarte-Smith |first2=Ashlie |date=November 2018 |title=Determining the Birth Date of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hjh.2018.0000 |journal=Hawaiian Journal of History |volume=52 |pages=1–25 |doi=10.1353/hjh.2018.0000|s2cid=188003409 |hdl=10524/63168 |hdl-access=free }} Kauikeaouli's birthdate is not known, but historians estimated it to be on March 17, 1814, making him about 14 years younger than Liholiho. After his birth, Kuakini refused to take him, because Kauikeaouli appeared to be lifeless.{{Cite journal |last=Sinclair |first=Marjorie |date=1971 |title=Sacred Wife of Kamehameha I |hdl=10524/371 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10524/371 |language=en-US |journal=Hawaiian Journal of History |volume=5 |access-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051533/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/assets/evols/images/header-right.jpg |url-status=live }} However, the prophet of another chief declared that the baby would live. They cleaned him and put him on a sacred area where the seer fanned him and sprinkled him with water while reciting a prayer. The baby started to move and make sounds. Kaikioewa was chosen as the baby's guardian and raised him in a remote location.

Kauikeaouli became King after Liholiho's death in 1824. Kamehameha III began the writing of Hawaii's first formal laws and created a governmental structure. He replaced indigenous traditions with Anglo-American common law.{{cite book |last1=Merry |first1=Sally Engle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0Te1rZtKRcC&pg=PA4 |title=Colonizing Hawai'i: The Cultural Power of Law |date=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00932-2 |location=Princeton |page=4 |access-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206234415/https://books.google.com/books/?id=I0Te1rZtKRcC&pg=PA4 |url-status=live }} The action was prompted from increasing threat of colonizing forces who were intrigued by the location of the islands.{{Cite book |last=Merry |first=Sally Engle |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=I0Te1rZtKRcC|page=78}}|title=Colonizing Hawai'i: The Cultural Power of Law |date=January 10, 2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00932-2 |language=en}} Kamehameha III was advised by William Richards, a former missionary. Richards travelled to the United States in an attempt to learn more about its politics and government structure. He taught Kamehameha III his findings and together they created the first constitution of Hawaii in 1840. Kamehameha III enacted laws that recognized human rights and established a new system for land ownership called Mahele.{{Cite web |date=July 31, 2017 |title=Kamehameha III - Hawaii History - Monarchs |url=http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=400 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731151031/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=400 |archive-date=July 31, 2017 }} Another major decision was to move the capital from Lahaina to Honolulu.{{Cite journal |date=1997 |title=Translation of the Constitution and Laws of the Hawaiian Islands, Established in the Reign of Kamehameha III |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wlehist10&div=14&id=&page= |journal=Western Legal History |volume=10 |access-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509011834/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wlehist10&div=14&id=&page= |url-status=live }}

File:Kamehameha_III_Family.webp

In 1843, for a five-month period, Kamehameha III allowed British captain Lord George Paulet to control the islands.{{Cite journal |last1=Beamer |first1=Kamanamaikalani |author-link=Kamanamaikalani Beamer |last2=Duarte |first2=T. Ka'eo |date=2006 |title=Mapping the Hawaiian Kingdom: A Colonial Venture? |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hawjolp2&div=3&id=&page= |journal=Hawaiian Journal of Law and Politics |volume=34 |access-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509013334/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/hawjolp2&div=3&id=&page= |url-status=live }} Kamehameha III wrote a letter to the British government informing them of Paulet's actions. Great Britain then reestablished the islands independence on July 31, 1843, and Kamehameha III uttered what became the Hawaiian motto, "Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono," meaning, "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." The day became a national holiday known as Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea.{{Cite news |last=Humanities |first=National Endowment for the |date=July 31, 1893 |title=The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, July 31, 1893, Image 2 |pages=2 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1893-07-31/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=March 22, 2023 |issn=2165-915X |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330173434/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1893-07-31/ed-1/seq-2/ |url-status=live }}

Kamehameha III married Queen Kalama on February 14, 1837. Kamehameha had one son with his mistress Jane Lahilahi who survived to adulthood, Albert Edward Kūnuiakea. He had two boys with Queen Kalama who died young: Prince Keaweaweʻulaokalani I and Prince Keaweaweʻulaokalani II.{{Cite web |title=His Majesty King Kamehameha III |website=Royal Family of Hawaii Official Website |url=https://www.crownofhawaii.com/kam3sov |access-date=March 23, 2023 |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822195403/https://www.crownofhawaii.com/kam3sov |url-status=dead }} Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha III's nephew, was taken in by the King and pronounced as heir to the throne.{{Cite book |title=Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV: To the Hawaiian Legislature ... |date=1861 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1U8gU7VqaY4C |publisher=Printed at the Government Press |access-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051850/https://books.google.com/books?id=1U8gU7VqaY4C |url-status=live }} In 1854 he became king as a result of a sudden death of Kamehameha III, likely by stroke.

File:Kamehameha_IV_(PP-97-8-006).jpg

Alexander Liholiho was born on February 9, 1834, in the capital of the country, Honolulu. 21 years later he took the throne and the name Kamehameha IV. He studied at the Chiefs' Children's School and learned French from Protestant missionaries.{{Cite web |title=Kamehameha IV {{!}} king of Hawaii {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamehameha-IV |access-date=March 28, 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=May 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513041458/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamehameha-IV |url-status=live }} The princes did not have a happy experience at the school and were often sent to bed hungry.{{Cite journal |last=Adler |first=Jacob |date=1968 |title=King Kamehameha IV's Attitude towards the United States |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25167939 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |volume=3 |pages=107–115 |doi=10.1080/00223346808572127 |jstor=25167939 |issn=0022-3344 |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329200005/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25167939 |url-status=live }} Liholiho left the school when he was 14 and began studying law. In his late teens, Liholiho began traveling with his brother, Lot Kapuāiwa, in an attempt to establish Hawaii's presence as an independent nation. They travelled to nations such as the United States, France, and Panama. After an 1849 French attack by Admiral de Tromelin, Liholiho was tasked with trying to improve relations with France. Liholiho and Kapuaiwa were accompanied by Gerrit P. Judd to France with hopes of a treaty.{{cite book |last=Dyke |first=Jon M. Van |chapter=5. The Government Lands |title=Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai'i? |date=2007 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6560-3 |pages=54–58 |doi=10.1515/9780824865603-007 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824865603-007/html |access-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329200004/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824865603-007/html |url-status=live }} After three months they ultimately failed and returned to the islands. Following his return he was appointed to Kamehameha III's privy council in 1852.{{Cite web |title=Liholiho, Alexander |url=http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH01b6/7554983a.dir/Liholiho,%20Alexander.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007004055/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH01b6/7554983a.dir/Liholiho,%20Alexander.jpg |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |access-date=March 28, 2023 |website=Hawaii State Archives}}

File:Queen_Emma_of_Hawaii,_retouched_photo_by_J._J._Williams.jpg

After taking the throne in 1855, Kamehameha IV's main goal was to limit Anglo-American influence. He ended negotiations over the American annexation of Hawaii. that had been started by Kamehameha III. In 1856 Kamehameha IV had an Anglican wedding with Emma Rooke. Emma Rooke was the great-grandniece of King Kamehameha I and was an ali'i. Queen Emma was very pro-British due to her British adoptive parents. In 1858 the Queen and King had their only child, Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha. The prince died in 1862, but was described as kind and cheerful. Kamehameha IV established the Anglican church in Hawaii. The cause of death for the prince is believed to have been appendicitis.{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Alfred D. |date=1994 |title=Death of the Prince of Hawai'i: A Retrospective Diagnosis |hdl=10524/395 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10524/395 |language=en-US |journal=Hawaiian Journal of History |volume=28 |access-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051845/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/config/properties/google.analytics.key |url-status=live }} Kamehameha IV blamed himself for the death. As a result, the Queen and the King prioritized healthcare, because diseases like leprosy and influenza were destroying the Hawaiian people. The king's plan was struck down because a healthcare plan had been part of the Constitution of 1852.

The King's rule came to an end on November 30, 1863, when he died from chronic asthma.{{Cite news |last=Humanities |first=National Endowment for the |date=December 3, 1863 |title=The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, December 03, 1863, Image 2 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015418/1863-12-03/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=March 29, 2023 |issn=2332-0656 |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329200005/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015418/1863-12-03/ed-1/seq-2/ |url-status=live }} The King had been experiencing deteriorating health for several months before dying. Kamehameha IV was succeeded by his brother Lot who became Kamehameha V. Queen Emma remained involved in politics until she ultimately lost the race to become the Kingdom's ruling monarch to David Kalakaua.

File:Kingdavidkalakaua dust.jpg]]

The legislature decided to hold a public referendum and to choose who the public voted for. Queen Emma and David Kalākaua both declared their candidacy. Kalākaua won the 1874 election. While the legislature was formally voting to certify Kalākaua as King, Queen Emma's supporters descended on the capitol and attacked the legislators. 13 legislators supporting Kalākaua were injured, including one who died after he was tossed from a window. The monarchy had no army and the police deserted, leading the government to request the support of American troops to quell the riot.{{cite book |last1=MacLeod |first1=Roy M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WKeTzKo_9QC&pg=PA494 |title=Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific |last2=Rehbock |first2=Philip F. |date=1994 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1613-1 |location=Hawaii |page=494 |access-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030201008/https://books.google.com/books?id=8WKeTzKo_9QC&pg=PA494#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}

The new ruler was pressured by the U.S. government to surrender Pearl Harbor to the Navy. Kalākaua was concerned that this would lead to annexation by the U.S. and to violating the traditions of the Hawaiian people, who believed that the 'Āina was fertile, sacred and not for sale.

{{Main|Whaling in the United States}}

In 1816, the populations of Honolulu was around 3,000, almost all Hawaiians, although 16 Americans lived on Oahu, all before whaling. As whaling grew, the population grew with it, reaching 23,000 in 1890. One ship arrived in Honolulu in 1820, 62 visited in 1822, 98 in 1829, and 110 in 1833. In Lahaina, 17 whaleships anchored in 1824, 62 in 1830 and 80 in 1832. The crews typically numbered around 30 men. They visited once or twice/year, to restock supplies.{{Cite web |last=Downey |first=Kirstin |date=2024-02-22 |title=The Last Stop For Whalers And Sailors |url=https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/02/the-last-stop-for-whalers-and-sailors/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |website=Honolulu Civil Beat |language=en |archive-date=February 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225172054/https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/02/the-last-stop-for-whalers-and-sailors/ |url-status=live }} US whaling peaked in the 1850s, and was mostly over by the end of the Hawaiian Kingdom.US Bureau of the Census, 1960, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957, p.445.

{{Main|Ford Island|Reciprocity Treaty of 1875|Great Māhele}}

File:CharlesReedBishop05.jpg, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Hawaii)]]

The first permanent sugar plantation began in Kauai in 1835. William Hooper leased 980 acres of land from Kamehameha III. Within thirty years plantations operated on all four main islands. Sugar upended Hawaii's economy.{{cite book|first=Robin Santos|last=Doak|title=Hawaii: The Aloha State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtso2AIEMxgC&pg=PA11|date=2003|publisher=World Almanac Library|isbn=978-0-8368-5149-6|page=11|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051829/https://books.google.com/books?id=vtso2AIEMxgC&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Deerr |first=Noel |title=The History of Sugar, Volume 1 |publisher=Chapman and Hall Ltd |year=1949 |place=London |oclc=833266489}}

American influence in Hawaiian government began when U.S. plantation owners demanded a say in Kingdom politics. Pressure from these plantation owners was felt by the King and chiefs as demands for land tenure. Kamehameha III responded to the demands with the Mahele, distributing land to all Hawaiians as advocated by missionaries including Gerrit P. Judd.{{cite book |first=Haunani-Kay |last=Trask|title=From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=YJX0oxsu174C|page=7}}|date=1999 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2059-6|page=7}}

During the 1850s, the U.S. import tariff on sugar from Hawaii was much higher than the tariffs Hawaiians were charging the U.S. Kamehameha III sought reciprocity.{{sfn|Pratt|1939|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=y0VCAAAAIAAJ}} 249]}} The monarch wished to lower U.S. tariffs and make Hawaiian sugar competitive with other foreign suppliers. In 1854 Kamehameha III's proposal of reciprocity between the countries died in the U.S. Senate.{{cite book|title=The Psychologists of Prejudice and Discrimination|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=cFyumt--jwIC|page=1}}|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-275-98234-8|page=1}}

U.S. control of Hawaii was considered vital for the defense of its west coast. The military was especially interested in Pu'uloa, Pearl Harbor.{{cite book |last=Dye |first=Bob |location=Hawaii |title=Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains: Afong and the Chinese in Hawai'i |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NETf7njQoocC&pg=PA115 |date=1997 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |page=115 |isbn=978-0-8248-1772-5 |access-date=November 17, 2023 |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030201008/https://books.google.com/books?id=NETf7njQoocC&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} The sale of one harbor was proposed by Charles Reed Bishop, a foreigner who had married into the Kamehameha family, had risen to be Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs and owned a country home near Pu'uloa. He showed two U.S. officers around the lochs, although his wife, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, privately disapproved of selling Hawaiian lands. As monarch, Kamehameha, was content to let Bishop run most business affairs, but the ceding of lands was unpopular with Hawaiians. Many islanders thought that all the islands, rather than just Pearl Harbor, might be lost and opposed any cession. By November 1873, Lunalilo canceled negotiations, but he died on February 3, 1874.

From 1874 through 1875, Kalākaua made a state visit to Washington DC to gather support for a new treaty.{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Donald Dalton |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Ia_BsTz4PU4C|page=105}} |title=The United States in the Pacific: Private Interests and Public Policies, 1784–1899 |date=1995 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-95055-2 |page=105}}{{sfn|Van Dyke|2008|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=IjZPcGb2R08C|page=118}} 118]}} Congress agreed to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 for seven years in exchange for Ford Island (Pearl Harbor).{{sfn|Pratt|1939|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=y0VCAAAAIAAJ|page=260}} 261]}}{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=Catherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X88mGgAACAAJ&pg=PA218PAGE=218 |title=Builders of Hawaii |publisher=The Kamehameha Schools Press |year=1966 |location=Hawaii |asin=B00285NRCI |access-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702102025/https://books.google.com/books?id=X88mGgAACAAJ&pg=PA218page=218 |url-status=live }} After the treaty, sugar production expanded from 12,000 acres to 125,000 acres in 1891.{{cite book |last=Calhoun |first=Charles W. |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=hfNuAAAAQBAJ|page=316}} |title=The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America |date=September 11, 2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-0-7425-8168-5 |pages=316– |author-link=Charles W. Calhoun}} At the end of the seven-year term, the treaty lapsed given little interest in the United States.{{sfn|Pratt|1939|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=y0VCAAAAIAAJ|page=260}} 260]}}

{{Main|Hawaiian rebellions (1887–1895)|1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom}}

On January 20, 1887, the United States began leasing Pearl Harbor. Shortly afterwards, a group of mostly non-Hawaiians calling themselves the Hawaiian Patriotic League began the Rebellion of 1887.{{cite book|first=Anne |last=Lee|title=The Hawaii State Constitution|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=UvdoAgAAQBAJ|page=7}}|location=New York|date=March 18, 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-987796-6|page=7}} They drafted a constitution,{{sfn|Van Dyke|2008|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=IjZPcGb2R08C|page=123}} 123]}} written by Lorrin Thurston, the Hawaiian Minister of the Interior who used the Hawaiian militia to threaten Kalākaua.{{cite book|last=Mirza Ph.D|first=Rocky M.|title=American Invasions: Canada to Afghanistan, 1775 to 2010: Canada to Afghanistan, 1775 to 2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4wHBI7mZGIC&pg=PA80|date=September 2, 2010|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4669-5688-9|page=80|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=October 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030201008/https://books.google.com/books?id=c4wHBI7mZGIC&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Kalākaua was forced to dismiss his cabinet ministers and sign the constitution, lessening his power. It became known as the Bayonet Constitution due to the threat of force.

File:LorrinAndrewsThurston.jpg, Minister of the Interior (Hawaii)]]

Grover Cleveland was president at the time, and his secretary of state Thomas F. Bayard instructed American minister George W. Merrill that in the event of another revolution in Hawaii, the priority was to protect American commerce, lives and property. Bayard specified, "the assistance of the officers of our Government vessels, if found necessary, will therefore be promptly afforded to promote the reign of law and respect for orderly government in Hawaii."{{cite book|author=John Bassett Moore|title=A Digest of International Law|url=https://archive.org/details/digestofinternat03mooriala |year=1906 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=[https://archive.org/details/digestofinternat03mooriala/page/493 493]}} In July 1889, a small scale rebellion ensued, and Minister Merrill landed Marines to protect Americans; the State Department explicitly approved this action. Merrill's replacement, minister John L. Stevens, followed those instructions in his controversial actions of 1893.{{Cite book |title=The Transformation of American Foreign Relations, 1865-1900 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim050120002 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |series=The SHAFR Guide Online |first=Charles S. |last=Campbell |year=1976 |pages=178–79 |doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim050120002 |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051843/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/the-shafr-guide-online/*-SIM050120002 |url-status=live }}

Although Kalākaua's signature alone had no legal power, the constitution allowed him to appoint cabinet ministers, but stripped him of the power to dismiss them without approval from the Legislature.{{sfn|Van Dyke|2008|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=IjZPcGb2R08C |page=152}} 152]}} Eligibility to vote for the House of Nobles was altered, requiring that both candidates and voters own property valued three thousand dollars or more, or have an annual income of six hundred dollars or more.{{sfn|Vowell|2011|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=QRPXBXsU7UIC|page=90}} 90]}} This disenfranchised two thirds of native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups who had previously been eligible to vote.{{cite book|first=John H. |last=Chambers|title=Hawaii|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=HZpfH2LJoJoC|page=184}}|year=2009|publisher=Interlink Books|isbn=978-1-56656-615-5|pages=184–85}} This constitution benefited the foreign plantation owners. With the legislature now responsible for naturalizing aliens, Americans and Europeans could retain their home country citizenship and vote as citizens of the kingdom.{{sfn|Morgan|2011|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=5DNDrjSAlPoC|page=57}} 57]}} Along with voting privileges, Americans could hold office and retain their US citizenship, something not afforded in any other nation{{cite book|first=James|last=Bradley|title=The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RW-mWK_XYZ4C&pg=PA110|date=November 24, 2009|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-03966-6|page=110|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051836/https://books.google.com/books?id=RW-mWK_XYZ4C&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} and even allowed Americans to vote without becoming naturalized.{{cite book|first=Noenoe K.|last=Silva|title=Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-G4TZ_hDVfsC&pg=PA126|date=September 7, 2004|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-3349-X|page=126|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051830/https://books.google.com/books?id=-G4TZ_hDVfsC&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Asian immigrants were no longer able to acquire citizenship or vote.{{cite book|first=Florencia|last=Mallon|title=Decolonizing Native Histories: Collaboration, Knowledge, and Language in the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyzXIfq-uEQC&pg=PA31|date=December 30, 2011|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-5152-8|page=31|access-date=November 17, 2023|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226051842/https://books.google.com/books?id=SyzXIfq-uEQC&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

File:Iolani Palace Barracks.jpg

The Wilcox Rebellion of 1888 was a plot to overthrow King David Kalākaua and replace him with his sister in a coup d'état. This was in response to increased political tension between the legislature and the king.{{cite book |url=https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html |author=Liliuokalani |title=Hawaii's Story |publisher=Tothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. |year=1898 |chapter=Chapter 4 |quote=Soon after our marriage, Prince Lot invited my husband and myself, with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Davis, who were married about the same time, to accompany him on a trip to Hawaii, the largest island of the group, *from which its name is taken*. |access-date=January 23, 2022 |archive-date=October 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005234033/https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/liliuokalani/hawaii/hawaii.html |url-status=live }}

Kalākaua's distant cousin, a native Hawaiian officer and veteran of the Italian military, Robert William Wilcox returned to Hawaii{{cite book |author=Liliuokalani |title=Hawaii's Story |url=https://archive.org/details/hawaiisstorybyh00goog| publisher=Tothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.| year=1898| page= [https://archive.org/details/hawaiisstorybyh00goog/page/n234 195]}} in October 1887 when the funding for his study program stopped. Wilcox, Charles B. Wilson, Princess Lili{{okina}}uokalani, and Sam Nowlein plotted to overthrow Kalākaua and replace him with Lili{{okina}}uokalani. 300 Hawaiian conspirators hid in Iolani Barracks and an alliance was formed with the Royal Guard, but the plot was accidentally discovered in January 1888, less than 48 hours before the revolt.{{cite book |title= Foreign Relations of the United States 1894: Affairs in Hawaii |url=https://archive.org/details/foreignrelations0000unit |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1895| pages= [https://archive.org/details/foreignrelations0000unit/page/670 670]}} No one was prosecuted, but Wilcox was exiled. On February 11, 1888, Wilcox left Hawaii for San Francisco, intending to return to Italy with his wife.

Princess Lili{{okina}}uokalani was offered the throne several times by the Missionary Party who had forced the Bayonet Constitution on her brother, but she rejected the offers.{{cite book |author=Liliuokalani |title=Hawaii's Story |url= https://archive.org/details/hawaiisstorybyh00goog| publisher=Tothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.| year=1898| page=[https://archive.org/details/hawaiisstorybyh00goog/page/n171 186]}} In January 1891, Kalākaua traveled to San Francisco for his health, staying at the Palace Hotel. He died there on January 20.{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vpBT-kEmcQEC|page=76}} |title=The Palace Hotel |last=Harned |first=Richard |date=February 11, 2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-3655-8 |page=76}} Lili{{okina}}uokalani then ascended the throne. She called her brother's reign "a golden age materially for Hawaii".{{cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=QrTCvcy0sE4C}} |title=Hawaii's story by Hawaii's queen, Liliuokalani|date=July 25, 2007|publisher=Lee and Shepard, reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC|isbn=978-0-548-22265-2|page=233|author=Liliʻuokalani (Queen of Hawaii)|orig-year=1898}}

{{Main|Proposed 1893 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom}}

File:Frontispiece photograph from Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliuokalani (1898).jpg]]

Lili{{okina}}uokalani assumed the throne in the middle of an economic crisis. The McKinley Act had crippled the Hawaiian sugar industry by removing the duties on sugar imports from other countries into the US, eliminating Hawaii's advantage.{{cite book|first1=Paul R.|last1=Spickard|first2=Joanne L.|last2=Rondilla|first3=Debbie Hippolite|last3=Wright|title=Pacific Diaspora: Island Peoples in the United States and Across the Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnIYIXyIP8QC&pg=PA316|date=2002|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2619-2|page=316|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052227/https://books.google.com/books?id=lnIYIXyIP8QC&pg=PA316#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Many Hawaii businesses and citizens lost revenue; in response Lili{{okina}}uokalani proposed a lottery and opium licensing.{{cite book|first=Eric Tyrone Lowery |last=Love|title=Race Over Empire: Racism and U.S. Imperialism, 1865–1900|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Jho9ySvKDr4C|page=107}} |year=2004|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-5565-2|pages=107–}} Her ministers and closest friends were all opposed to this plan; they unsuccessfully tried to dissuade her from pursuing these initiatives, both of which came to be used against her in the brewing constitutional crisis.{{cite book|last=United States. Department of State|title=Foreign Relations of the United States|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Yfv3ueHyoWgC|page=496}}|year=1895|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=496}}

Lili{{okina}}uokalani's chief desire was to restore power to the monarch by abrogating the 1887 Bayonet Constitution and promulgating a new one.{{google books|plainurl=y|id=rKpZAAAAYAAJ|p=67|quote=She ... defended her act[ions] by showing that, out of a possible 9,500 native voters in 1892, 6,500 asked for a new Constitution}} The 1893 Constitution would have extended suffrage by reducing some property requirements. It would have disenfranchised many non-citizen Europeans and Americans. The Queen toured several islands on horseback, talking to the people about her ideas and receiving strong support, including a lengthy petition. However, when the Queen informed her cabinet of her plans, they withheld their support, because of what they expected to be her opponent's likely response.{{harvnb|Daws|1968|p=271}}: The Queen's new cabinet "had been in office less than a week, and whatever they thought about the need for a new constitution... they knew enough about the temper of the queen's opponents to realize that they would endure the chance to challenge her, and no minister of the crown could look forward... to that confrontation."

Lili{{okina}}uokalani's attempt to promulgate a new constitution on January 14, 1893, precipitated the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii three days later.{{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom, Volume 3 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1967|isbn=0-87022-433-6|page=582|author-link=Ralph Kuykendall}} The conspirators' stated goals were to depose the queen, overthrow the monarchy, and seek US annexation.{{cite book |last=Kuykendall |first=Ralph |author-link=Ralph Kuykendall |title=The Hawaiian Kingdom, Volume 3 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1967 |pages=533 & 587–588 |isbn=0-87022-433-6}} From Kuykendall, p. 587-588: "W.D. Alexander (History of Later Years of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Revolution of 1893, p. 37) gives the following as the wording of Thurston's motion [to launch the coup]: 'That preliminary steps be taken at once to form and declare a Provisional Government with a view to annexation to the United States.' Thurston later wrote that his motion was 'substantially as follows: "I move that it is the sense of this meeting that the solution of the present situation is annexation to the United States."'(Memoirs, p. 250) Lt. Lucien Young (The Boston at Hawaii, p. 175) gives the following version of the motion: 'Resolved, That it is the sense of this committee that in view of the present unsatisfactory state of affairs, the proper course to pursue is to abolish the monarchy and apply for annexation to the United States.'"{{cite book |last=Russ |first=William Adam |title=The Hawaiian Revolution (1893–94) |publisher=Associated University Presses |year=1992 |isbn=0-945636-53-9 |page=90}}

{{Main|Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom}}

The overthrow was led by Thurston, who was the grandson of American missionaries{{cite book|first1=James L. |last1=Roark|first2=Michael P. |last2=Johnson|first3=Patricia Cline |last3=Cohen|first4=Sarah |last4=Stage |first5=Susan M. |last5=Hartmann |title=The American Promise, Combined Volume: A History of the United States|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=Lxb3wbMdRwoC|page=660}}|date=January 9, 2012|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|isbn=978-0-312-66312-4|page=660}} and derived his support primarily from the American and European business class and other supporters of the Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Most of the leaders of the 13-member Committee of Safety that deposed the queen were American and European citizens who were Kingdom subjects.{{cite book|first=Vernon M.|last=Briggs|title=Mass Immigration and the National Interest: Policy Directions for the New Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjyF-5NZGGAC&pg=PA72|date=2003|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-0934-2|page=72|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052232/https://books.google.com/books?id=KjyF-5NZGGAC&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book|first=Vernon M.|last=Briggs|title=Immigration and American Unionism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsqVLgReBh4C&pg=PA58|year=2001|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0-8014-8710-2|page=58|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052228/https://books.google.com/books?id=GsqVLgReBh4C&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book|first1=Tom|last1=Ginsburg|first2=Rosalind|last2=Dixon|title=Comparative Constitutional Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5AETTkgsyQC&pg=PA181|date=2011|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-0-85793-121-4|page=181|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052228/https://books.google.com/books?id=x5AETTkgsyQC&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} They included legislators, government officers, and a Supreme Court Justice.{{cite book |last=Andrade |first=Ernest Jr. |title=Unconquerable Rebel: Robert W. Wilcox and Hawaiian Politics, 1880–1903 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |year=1996 |isbn=0-87081-417-6 |page=130}}

File:johnlstevens.jpg

On January 16, the Marshal of the Kingdom, Charles B. Wilson was tipped off by detectives of the planned coup. Wilson requested warrants to arrest the 13 Council members and put the Kingdom under martial law. Because the members had strong political ties with U.S. Government Minister John L. Stevens, the requests were repeatedly denied by Attorney General Arthur P. Peterson and the Queen's cabinet. They feared that the arrests would escalate the situation. After a failed negotiation with Thurston,{{cite book |last=Twombly |first=Alexander |title=Hawaii and its people |publisher=Silver, Burdett and company |year=1900 |page=333}} Wilson began to collect his troops. Wilson and Captain of the Royal Household Guard Samuel Nowlein rallied a force of 496 troops to protect the Queen.{{cite book |last=Young |first=Lucien |author-link=Lucien Young |title=The Real Hawaii |url=https://archive.org/details/realhawaiiitshi01youngoog |publisher=Doubleday & McClure company |year=1899 |page=[https://archive.org/details/realhawaiiitshi01youngoog/page/n302 252]}}

{{cn span|The overthrow began on January 17, 1893. A policeman was shot and wounded while trying to stop a wagon carrying weapons to the Honolulu Rifles, the Committee's paramilitary wing. The Committee feared the shooting would bring government forces and stop the coup before it could begin. The Committee of Safety initiated the overthrow by organizing the Honolulu Rifles made of about 1,500 armed non-native men. The Rifles garrisoned Ali'iolani Hale across the street from ʻIolani Palace and waited for the Queen's response.|date=January 2025}}

File:Boston USS cruiser c1891 LOC cph 3b39622.jpg]]

The coup efforts were supported by Stevens.{{cite book|first=Jack|last=Utter|title=American Indians: Answers to Today's Questions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yh9j9Dd5uoAC&pg=PA414|year=2001|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3309-6|page=414|access-date=September 14, 2016|archive-date=February 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052229/https://books.google.com/books?id=yh9j9Dd5uoAC&pg=PA414#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} The coup placed the queen under house arrest at Iolani Palace. Advised about supposed threats to non-combatant American lives and property by the Committee,{{Cite journal |title=Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim190070009 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |website=The SHAFR Guide Online |last=Kinzer |first=S. |year=2006 |page=30 |doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim190070009 |quote=[Minister Stevens] "certainly overstepped his authority when he brought troops ashore, especially since he knew that the 'general alarm and terror' of which the Committee of Safety had complained was a fiction. |url-access=subscription |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052225/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/the-shafr-guide-online/*-SIM190070009 |url-status=live }} Stevens summoned a company of U.S. Marines from the USS Boston and two companies of U.S. sailors to take up positions at the U.S. Legation, Consulate, and Arion Hall on January 16. 162 armed sailors and Marines aboard the USS Boston in Honolulu Harbor came ashore under orders of neutrality. The sailors and Marines did not participate, but their presence intimidated royalist defenders. Historian William Russ states, "the injunction to prevent fighting of any kind made it impossible for the monarchy to protect itself."{{cite book |last=Russ |first=William Adam |title=The Hawaiian Revolution (1893–94) |publisher=Associated University Presses |year=1992 |isbn=0-945636-43-1 |page=350}}

File:Well, I hardly know which to take first! 5-28-1898.JPG{{Expand section|date=April 2025}}

In March 1897, William McKinley, a Republican expansionist, succeeded Democrat Grover Cleveland as U.S. president. He prepared a treaty of annexation but it lacked the needed 2/3 majority in the Senate given Democratic opposition. A joint resolution, written by Democratic Congressman Francis G. Newlands to annex Hawaii passed both the House and Senate; it needed only majority support. The U.S. Supreme Court gave tacit recognition to the annexation in De Lima v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 1, 196 (1901).{{sfn|Van Dyke|2008|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=IjZPcGb2R08C |page=212}} 212 n. 86]}} The Spanish–American War had broken out and many leaders wanted control of Pearl Harbor to help the United States become a Pacific power and protect the West Coast. Kalākaua was concerned over a possible United States seizure and in Kalākaua's 1881 world tour, he met secretly with the Japanese Emperor to discuss bringing Hawaii under Japan's protection. He proposed to unite the two nations with an arranged marriage between his 5-year-old niece Princess Kaʻiulani and 13-year-old Prince Yamashina Sadamaro. Japan rejected his proposal over concerns that this would worsen relations between Japan and the United States.{{cite web | url=https://shiodome.co.jp/hawaii/archives/867 | title=ハワイと日本の歴史的関係～ハワイ王国・アメリカ編入・太平洋戦争etc | access-date=August 6, 2022 | archive-date=August 6, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806094746/https://shiodome.co.jp/hawaii/archives/867 | url-status=live }} In 1897 Japan sent warships to Hawaii to oppose annexation. This made the decision more urgent, especially since the islands' fourth-largest population was of Japanese heritage. They were largely aligned with Japan.{{sfn|Morgan|2011|pp=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=5DNDrjSAlPoC|page=213}} 213–16]}}

McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii on July 7, 1898, creating the Territory of Hawaii. On February 22, 1900, the Hawaiian Organic Act established a territorial government. Annexation opponents held that this was illegal, claiming the Queen was the only legitimate ruler. McKinley appointed Sanford B. Dole as territorial governor. The territorial legislature convened for the first time on February 20, 1901. Hawaiians formed the Hawaiian Independent Party, under the leadership of Robert Wilcox, Hawaii's first congressional delegate.{{Cite journal |title=The Hawaiian Republic, 1894-98, and Its Struggle to Win Annexation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim080190137 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |website=The SHAFR Guide Online |first=William Adam |last=Russ |publisher=Susquehanna U Press |year=1992 |doi=10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim080190137 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226052600/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/the-shafr-guide-online/*-SIM080190137 |url-status=live }}

{{Big Five Hawaii}}

Sugarcane plantations in Hawaii expanded during the territorial period. Some companies diversified and dominated related industries such as transportation, banking and real estate. Economic and political power was concentrated in what were known as the "Big Five".

A 1909 strike by Japanese farm workers led to a brief experiment importing Russian laborers, mostly from Siberia. False promises of land grants by a recruiter named A.W. Perelstrous resulted in strikes among the Russian workers. Hardships included a measles outbreak, lack of ability to communicate with Hawaiians, and culture clashes. Most Russians ended up moving to California, New York, or back to Russia (mostly after the 1917 Russian Revolution).{{cite web |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-01-28/group-siberians-hawaii-was-far-being-tropical-paradise |title=For a group of Siberians, Hawaii was far from a tropical paradise |date=January 28, 2015 |author=Alina Simone |publisher=The World in Words |access-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430091431/https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-01-28/group-siberians-hawaii-was-far-being-tropical-paradise |url-status=live }}

{{Further|Pacific Islands home front during World War II}}

{{Main|Attack on Pearl Harbor}}

File:Pearlharborcolork13513.jpg]]

Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, by the Imperial Japanese Navy, killing almost 2,500 people and sinking the main Pacific battleship fleet. Fortuitously for the Americans, the four Pacific aircraft carriers were at sea and escaped damage. Hawaii was put under martial law until 1945.

Unlike the Pacific Coast where 100,000 ethnic Japanese-American citizens were interned, the Japanese-American population in Hawaii avoided internment, although hundreds of pro-Japan leaders were arrested.

Pearl Harbor was the U.S.' main forward base for the Pacific War. The Japanese planned to attack in summer 1942 but were defeated at the Battle of Midway. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen passed through the islands. The islands were used for training and bivouac throughout the war.{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=DeSoto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7uvQgAACAAJ |title=Hawaii Goes to War: Life in Hawaii from Pearl Harbor to Peace |date=1989 |publisher=Editions Limited |isbn=978-0-915013-12-8 |language=en |first2=Anne |last2=Ellett |access-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224005129/https://books.google.com/books?id=n7uvQgAACAAJ |url-status=live }}

Hawaii residents formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a U.S. Army infantry regiment. The regiment was composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry. It fought primarily in Italy, southern France and Germany. The 442nd Regiment was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in American history. Its 4,000 members had to be reinforced nearly 2.5 times to replace casualties. In total, about 14,000 Hawaiians served in the regiment, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (five in one month). Twenty-one of its members, including Hawaii's former U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, were awarded Medals of Honor. Its motto was "Go for Broke".{{cite web |title=European Theater of Operations – 100/442d Regimental Combat Team |date=May 2006 |work=Patriots Under Fire: Japanese Americans in World War II |author=Kathryn Shenkle |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/apam/patriots.html |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623035411/http://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/apam/patriots.html |archive-date=June 23, 2013}}

{{Main|Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954}}

Initially, the Hawaii Republican Party dominated territorial politics. However, in 1954 a series of non-violent industry-wide strikes, protests and other civil disobedience transpired. In the territorial elections of 1954 the Democratic Party of Hawaii gained the majority and lobbied for statehood. The labor force unionized, hastening the plantations' decline.

File:Hawaiivotesinset.JPG

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act on March 18, 1959, which created the means for Hawaiian statehood. After a referendum in which over 93% of Hawaiian citizens voted in favor of statehood, Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state on August 21, 1959.{{Citation needed|date=December 2016}}

From contact through to annexation, the number of Native Hawaiians in Hawaii declined. Bottom was reached in the first census conducted by the United States in 1900 at 37,656. Thereafter the Native Hawaiian population in Hawaii increased with every census.

For many Native Hawaiians, the relationship between the islands and the mainland is problematic, in part because of how Hawaii lost its independence. By contrast the ultimate step of becoming a U.S. State was done properly.

The 1960s Hawaiian Renaissance led to renewed interest in the Hawaiian language, culture and identity.

Congress passed the Apology Resolution (US Public Law 103-150) and it was signed by President Bill Clinton on November 23, 1993. This resolution apologized "to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893... and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination." The implications of this resolution have been debated.{{cite news |date= December 30, 2004 |newspaper= West Hawaii Today |author= Carolyn Lucas |url= http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2004/12/30/local/local09.prt |title= Law expert Francis Boyle urges natives to take back Hawaii|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102230210/http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2004/12/30/local/local09.prt|archive-date=January 2, 2005|access-date=June 4, 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=https://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles3/AkakaHawaiiDividedFeinJune2005.pdf |title=Hawaii Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand |first=Bruce |last=Fein |author-link=Bruce Fein |date=June 6, 2005 |work=Angelfire on Lycos |publisher=Lycos |location=Waltham, MA, USA |access-date=September 4, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205112419/http://www.hawaiireporter.com/file.aspx?Guid=aefef5f6-a533-486a-9459-691138355dd1 |archive-date=February 5, 2007 }} The resolution's description of Hawaiian history has been criticized,{{Cite book|last=Twigg-Smith|first=Thurston|url=https://bigfiles90.angelfire.com/HawnSovDoFactsMatterTTS.pdf|title=Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter?|publisher=Goodale Publishing|year=1998|isbn=0-9662945-1-3|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|pages=271|access-date=January 23, 2022|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123045657/https://bigfiles90.angelfire.com/HawnSovDoFactsMatterTTS.pdf|url-status=live}} for example, for ignoring the fact that the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was led by Hawaiian citizens on the Committee of Safety. The resolution also does not explain why it applies only to people descended from persons living in pre-contact Hawaii, as opposed to all subjects of the Kingdom at the time of the overthrow.{{Cite journal|last=Hanifin|first=Patrick|date=1982|title=Hawaiian Reparations: Nothing Lost, Nothing Owed|journal=Hawaii Bar Journal|volume=XVII|issue=2|url=https://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles/HanifinReparations1982.pdf|access-date=January 23, 2022|archive-date=February 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221194719/https://www.angelfire.com/hi5/bigfiles/HanifinReparations1982.pdf|url-status=live}}

In 2000, Senator Daniel Akaka proposed what was called the Akaka Bill to extend federal recognition to those of Native Hawaiian ancestry as a sovereign group similar to Native American tribes. The bill did not pass.{{cite news |title= Aloha, Apartheid: A court strikes down a race-based policy in Hawaii, while Congress considers enshrining one |newspaper= Wall Street Journal |date= August 8, 2005 }}

{{Portal|History|North America|United States|Hawaii}}

• Colonial epidemic disease in Hawaii
• Legal status of Hawaii
• List of conflicts in Hawaii
• List of Missionaries to Hawaii
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii
• Timeline of Honolulu
• Women's suffrage in Hawaii

{{clear}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Beechert, Edward D. Working in Hawaii: A labor history (University of Hawaii Press, 1985).
• Craig, Robert D. Historical dictionary of Honolulu and Hawaiʻi (Scarecrow Press, 1998).
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• Fuchs, Lawrence H. Hawaii Pono: 'Hawaii the Excellent': An Ethnic and Political History. (1961).
• Haley, James L. Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii (St. Martin's Press, 2014).
• {{Cite book |last1=Kuykendall |first1=Ralph Simpson |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=W7Nb1uj0SLgC|page=16}} |title=A History of Hawaii |date=1926 |publisher=Macmillan |language=en|first2=Arthur Grove |last2=Day}}
• La Croix, Sumner. Hawai’i: Eight Hundred Years of Political and Economic Change (U of Chicago Press, 2019) 309 pp. [https://eh.net/book_reviews/hawaii-eight-hundred-years-of-political-and-economic-change/ EH.net online review by Lee J. Alston]
• La Croix, Sumner. "Economic history of Hawai‘i." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance (2021)
• Tabrah, Ruth M. Hawaii: a history (WW Norton & Company, 1984).
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• Aquino, Belinda. [http://hdl.handle.net/10125/15382 The Filipino Century in Hawaii: Out of the Crucible] (2006).
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• Greenlee, John Wyatt. "Eight Islands on Four Maps: The Cartographic Renegotiation of Hawai'i, 1876-1959." Cartographica 50, 3 (2015), 119–140. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/593186/pdf online]
• MacLennan, Carol A. Sovereign Sugar, Industry and Environment in Hawaii (2014).
• Mak, James. "Creating 'Paradise of the Pacific': How Tourism Began in Hawaii." (No. 2015-1. 2015) [http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/WP_15-3.pdf online]. 82pp
• Melendy, Howard Brett, and Rhoda E.A. Hackler. Hawaii, America's Sugar Territory, 1898–1959 (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999).
• Melendy, Howard Brett. Walter Francis Dillingham, 1875–1963: Hawaiian Entrepreneur and Statesman (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996).
• Morgan, William Michael. "The Anti-Japanese Origins of the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty Of 1897" Diplomatic History. (1982) 6#1 pp. 23–44.
• {{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=William Michael |title=Pacific Gibraltar: U.S.-Japanese Rivalry Over the Annexation of Hawai'i, 1885-1898 |date=2011 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-529-5 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=5DNDrjSAlPoC}}}} See [https://www.angelfire.com/big09/PacificGibraltarBookReview.html online review by Kenneth R. Conklin, PhD]
• {{cite book|title=In Hawaii: A Hundred Years|last=Pratt |first=Helen G.|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|year=1939|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=y0VCAAAAIAAJ}} |oclc=12372595}}
• Rohrer, Judy. Haoles in Hawai'i (2010), 124ff.; scholarly survey
• Russ, William Adam. The Hawaiian Revolution (1893-94) (1992)
• Russ, William Adam. The Hawaiian Republic (1894–98) and its struggle to win annexation (Susquehanna U Press, 1992).
• Schmitt, Robert C. Historical Statistics of Hawaii (University Press of Hawaii, 1977).
• Schmitt, Robert C. "Religious statistics of Hawaii, 1825-1972." Hawaiian Journal of History (1973), Vol. 7, pp 41–47.
• Schmitt, Robert C. Demographic Statistics of Hawaii." Demographic Statistics of Hawaii (University of Hawaii Press, 2021).
• Siler, Julia Flynn. Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America's First Imperial Adventure (2012).
• Sumida, Stephen H. And the View from the Shore: Literary Traditions of Hawai'i (University of Washington Press, 2015).
• Teodoro, Luis V., ed. Out of this struggle: The Filipinos in Hawaii (U. University of Hawaii Press, 2019).
• Tregaskis, Richard. The warrior king: Hawaii's Kamehameha the Great (1973).
• {{cite book|first=Jon M. |last=Van Dyke|title=Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai'i?|year=2008|publisher=U of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-3211-7 |url=https://freiherrvonquast.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/van-dyke-j.m.-2009.-who-owns-the-crown-lands-of-hawaii.pdf}} [{{google books |plainurl=y |id=IjZPcGb2R08C}} Via Google Books]
• Wilson, Rob. "Exporting Christian Transcendentalism, Importing Hawaiian Sugar: The Trans-Americanization of Hawai'i." American Literature 72#.3 (2000): 521–552. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_literature/v072/72.3wilson.html online]

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213180958/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=11472&admin=34 Audio of Dwight D. Eisenhower Hawaii Statehood Proclamation Speech]
• [http://www.alohaquest.com/archive/apology_full.htm Public Law 103-150]
• [http://www.newworldcelts.org/scotland_and_hawai.htm Scots in Hawai`i] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517231542/http://www.newworldcelts.org/scotland_and_hawai.htm |date=May 17, 2008 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080928200619/http://www.islander-magazine.com/spanish.html How Spain Cast Its Spell On Hawai'i], by Chris Cook in The Islander Magazine
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060128101616/http://www.islander-magazine.com/port.html History of Hawaii: The Pokiki: Portuguese Traditions] in The Islander Magazine
• [http://www.clickhistoryhawaii.com/ Today in Hawai`i History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509164143/http://www.clickhistoryhawaii.com/ |date=May 9, 2008 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=273&PageLayout=Print |title= Russians in Hawai'i |work= Hawaii History Community Learning Center |access-date= November 12, 2014 |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064833/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=273&PageLayout=Print |url-status= dead }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=284&PageLayout=Print |title= The French in Hawai'i |work= Hawaii History Community Learning Center |access-date= November 12, 2014 |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064830/http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?PageID=284&PageLayout=Print |url-status= dead }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.hawaiianhistory.org/ref/chron.html |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |title=Significant Dates in the History of Hawaiʻi |access-date=November 12, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124141942/http://www.hawaiianhistory.org/ref/chron.html |archive-date=January 24, 2010 }}

{{Hawaii}}

{{U.S. political divisions histories}}

{{Authority control}}