Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1840s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1840s – first Hawaiian Constitution, the ‘Paulet Affair,’ Whaling and Great Mānele. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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He ‘Ōlelo Lokomaikai

For a while the Islands were under the rule of the British commission set up by Lord George Paulet. Then, on July 31, 1843, Thomas declared the end of the Provisional Cession and recognized Kamehameha III as King of the Hawaiian Islands and the Islands to be independent and sovereign; the Hawaiian flag was raised – it was Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day. “Then succeeded the roar of the guns of the fort, Punch-bowl Battery, the admiral’s ship, Dublin, the United States’ ship, Boston, and others. The day was a day of rejoicing and congratulations”.

The King issued an edict: He ‘Ōlelo Lokomaikai – Act of Grace, “none of our Subjects shall be punished by our Authority, for any act committed by them or any of them to the injury of our Government between the 25th of February, 1843”, “all prisoners of every description, from Hawaiʻi to Niʻihau, be immediately discharged.” “All Government business will be suspended for ten days after this date, that all persons may be free to enjoy themselves in the festivities and rejoicings appropriate to the occasion.”

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Pūlaholaho

In former times, the area we now call downtown Honolulu was not called Honolulu; instead, each land section had its own name.  (A map in the album notes many of the different areas and their respective place names. ) ‘Kou’ was later used to describe the district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu […]

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The Feast

271 hogs, 482 large calabashes of poi, 602 chickens, 3 whole oxen, 2 barrels salt pork, 2 barrels biscuit, 3,125 salt fish, 1,820 fresh fish, 12 barrels luau and cabbages, 4 barrels onions, 80 bunches bananas, 55 pineapples, 10 barrels potatoes, 55 ducks, 82 turkeys, 2,245 coconuts, 4,000 heads of taro, 180 squid, oranges, limes, […]

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“Let them take the Islands”

“I wish to inform you that your King has surrendered recently the Kingdom due to the incessant demand to the Commander of the British battleship.  We have tried all means of settling the controversy, but in vain.” “And therefore, we were given the time to consider as to the matter of surrendering from the hours […]