Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Spice Trade

By many accounts, Britain was a quiet agricultural outpost in the Roman empire. The native inhabitants had a well-established growing system that prioritized crops such as broad beans, barley, oats, and wheat. Needless to say, Britons ate a lot of bread and drank a lot of beer.

Their livestock consisted of the usual range of domesticated animals: cattle, sheep, chicken, and pigs. Foraged foods included mushrooms, wild onions, and herbs such as mustard. Those who lived near the coast enjoyed seaweed, fish, and oysters. Rural life and food looked much the same as it does today, with a key exception — lack of spices.

The Romans brought a wealth of spices from all over their empire. The trade along the Spice Road had been good to them, and they introduced pepper, rosemary, thyme, coriander, mint, and garlic to Britons. Some of these herbs were dried and some were in plant form. Those plants that grew well in the Isles still remain a part of British cuisine.  (Cowen)

Many tall tales developed as to the origins of spices, but by the 13th century, travelers like Marco Polo (1254-1324 CE) and missionaries were beginning to improve Europe’s geographical knowledge of the wider world.

India seemed awash with black pepper. Sri Lanka was rich in cinnamon. Sandalwood came from Timor. China and Japan were getting spices like cloves, nutmeg, and mace from India, South East Asia, and the Maluku Islands or the Moluccas in what is today Indonesia – not for nothing were they nicknamed the Spice Islands.

Then, in 1453 came the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and so one of the principal land routes for spices into Europe was lost. (Cartwright)

One of the major motivating factors in the European Age of Exploration was the search for direct access to the highly lucrative Eastern spice trade. In the 15th century, spices came to Europe via the Middle East land and sea routes, and spices were in huge demand both for food dishes and for use in medicines.

The problem was how to access this market by sea.

Accordingly, explorers like Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) were sent to find a maritime route from Europe to Asia.

Columbus (who was looking for a new route to India, China, Japan and the ‘Spice Islands’ of Indonesia to bring back cargoes of silk and spices (ginger turmeric and cinnamon)) never saw the mainland United States, but the first explorations of the continental United States were launched from the Spanish possessions that he helped establish.

To the south, da Gama did round the Cape of Good Hope, sail up the coast of East Africa, and cross the Indian Ocean to reach India.

From 1500 onwards, first Portugal, and then other European powers, attempted to control the spice trade, the ports which marketed spices, and eventually the territories which grew them.  (Cartwright)

On November 28 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered the “Sea of the South” (which he later named the Pacific) and thereby open up to Spain the possibility of an alternative route between Europe and the spices of the Orient.”  (Lloyd)

Then, almost 50 years after the death of Christopher Columbus, Manila galleons finally fulfilled their dream of sailing west to Asia to benefit from the rich Indian Ocean trade.

“The Spanish Galleons were square rigged ships with high superstructures on their sterns. They were obviously designed for running before the wind or at best sailing on a very ‘broad reach.’”

“Because of their apparently limited ability to ‘beat their way to windward’ (sail against the wind), they had to find trade routes where the prevailing winds and sea currents were favorable.”  (Lloyd)

Starting in 1565, with the Spanish sailor and friar Andrés de Urdaneta, after discovering the Tornaviaje or return route to Mexico through the Pacific Ocean, Spanish galleons sailed the Pacific Ocean between Acapulco in New Spain (now Mexico) and Manila in the Philippine islands.

Once a year, gold and silver were transported west to Manila in exchange spices (pepper, clove and cinnamon), porcelain, ivory, lacquer and elaborate fabrics (silk, velvet, satin), collected from both the Spice Islands (Moluccas, Indonesia) and the Asian Pacific coast, in European markets.

They also carried Chinese handicrafts, Japanese screens, fans, Japanese swords, Persian carpets, Ming dynasties and a myriad of other products. East Asia traded primarily with a silver standard, and the goods were bought mainly with Mexican silver. (Pascual)

The galleons leaving Manila would make their way back to Acapulco in a four-month long journey.  The goods were off-loaded and transported across land to ships on the other Mexican coast at Veracruz, and eventually, sent to European markets and customers eager for these exotic wares.  (GuamPedia)

In 1668 a royal decree required the galleons to stop in Guam in the Mariana Islands on their westward voyage from Acapulco to Manila. This allowed ships to replenish supplies and was the only means for communication between Spain and the Marianas colony.

The Manila Galleon Trade lasted for 250 years and ended in 1815 with Mexico’s war of independence.  More than 40-Spanish galleons were lost during this 250-year period. (Lloyd)

“‘The voyage from the Philippine islands to America may be call’d the longest, and most dreadful of any in the world; as well because of the vast ocean to be cross’d, being almost the one-half of the terraquous globe, with the wind always a-head; as for the terrible tempests that happen there, one upon the back of the other …”

“… and for the desperate diseases that seize people, in seven or eight months living at sea, sometimes near the line, sometimes cold, sometimes temperate, sometimes hot, which is enough to destroy a man of steel, much more flesh and blood, which at sea had but indifferent food.’” (Dr. Gemilli, Popular Science, 1901)

“The Spanish captains normally made their eastbound Pacific crossings between 31o N and 44o N latitude to insure that they would remain in the zone of the westerly winds. They would want to avoid the ‘horse latitudes’ (around 30o  N) and they would certainly want to remain well north of the northeast trade winds that would  drive their square rigged ships back to the Philippines.”

“This northerly route back to Acapulco would normally keep the galleons at least 1,000 miles north of Hawaii and it would not be surprising if little or no contact with the Hawaiian Island occurred during these difficult eastbound crossings of the North Pacific.”

“The westbound route from Acapulco offers an entirely different set of navigational considerations.  Friar Urdaneta’s route involved sailing down to 13° N latitude (or 14° N) and following that parallel all the way to Guam and on to the San Bernardino Strait in the Philippines.”

“Unknown to the Spanish navigators, the very favorable ocean currents mentioned above would position their ships much further along their westbound course than indicated by using their ship’s mechanical ‘log’ to measure their ship’s speed through the water.”  (Lloyd)

Some suggest the Spaniards came to the Hawaiian Islands a couple of centuries before Cook saw them.

“Old Spanish charts and a 1613 AD Dutch globe suggest that explorers from Spain had sighted Hawaiʻi long before Captain Cook.  When Cook arrived in 1778, galleons laden with silver from the mines of Mexico and South America had been passing south of Hawaiʻi for two centuries on annual round trip voyages of 17,000 miles between Acapulco and Manila.”  (Kane)

“It seems to be almost certain that one Juan Gaetano, a Spanish navigator, saw Hawaii in 1555 AD. A group of islands, the largest of which was called La Mesa, was laid down in the old Spanish charts in the same latitude as the Hawaiian Islands, but 10 degrees too far east.”  (Hawaiʻi Department of Foreign Affairs, 1896)

“There are undoubted proof of the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by the Spaniard, Juan Gaetano. This is the first known record of the islands among the civilized nations. There are evident references to this group in the legends of the Polynesians in other Pacific islands.”  (Westervelt 1923)

La Perouse noted, when he briefly visited the Islands (1786,) “In the charts, at the foot of this archipelago, might be written: ‘Sandwich Islands, surveyed in 1778 by Captain Cook, who named them, anciently discovered by the Spanish navigators.’”  (La Perouse, Fornander)

“By all the documents that have been examined, it is demonstrated that the discovery dates from the year 1555 and that the discoverer was Juan Gaetano or Gaytan. The principal proof is an old manuscript chart, registered in these archives as anonymous, and in which the Sandwich Islands are laid down under that name, but which also contains a note declaring that he called them Islas de Mesa”.  (Spanish Colonial Office letter to the Governor of the Philippines, The Friend May 1927)

“It is true that no document has been found in which Gaytan himself certifies to this fact, but there exist data which collectively form a series of proofs sufficient for believing it to be so. The principal one is an old manuscript chart … in which the Sandwich Islands are laid down under that name…” (The Friend May 1927)

Gaetano passed through the northern part of the Pacific and discovered large islands which he marked upon a chart as ‘Los Majos.’ The great mountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread out like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the islands “Isles de Mesa,” the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands. One of the islands was named “The Unfortunate.” Three other smaller islands were called “The Monks.”  (Westervelt 1923)

Fortunately, however, the Spanish made no use of this discovery, thus permitting the Hawaiians to escape the sad fate of the natives of the Ladrones and Carolines under Spanish dominion.  (White 1898)

Juan Gaetano may not have been the first Spaniard, here.  Stories suggest an earlier arrival of shipwrecked Spaniards at Keʻei, Kona Moku (district,) Island of Hawaiʻi.

There is fairly complete evidence that a Spanish vessel was driven ashore on the island of Hawai‘i in 1527, it being one of a squadron of three which sailed from the Mexican coast for the East Indies.  (White 1898)

“A well known Hawaiian tradition relates that in the reign of Keliiokaloa, son of Umi, a foreign vessel was wrecked at Keei, South Kona, Hawaii. According to the tradition, only the captain and his sister reached the shore in safety. From their kneeling on the beach and remaining a long time in that posture, the place was called Kulou (to stoop, to bow,) as it is unto this day.”  (Alexander 1892)

“The natives received them kindly and placed food before them. These strangers intermarried with the Hawaiians, and were the progenitors of certain well known families of chiefs, as for instance, that of Kaikioewa, former Governor of Kauai.“  (Alexander 1892)

Jarves expanded on the story, “In the reign of Kealiiokaloa, son of Umi, thirteen generations of kings before Cook’s arrival, which, according to the previous calculation, would bring it near the year 1620, a vessel, called by the natives Konaliloha, arrived at Pale, Keei, on the south side of Kealakeakua bay, Hawaii.”

“Here, by some accident, she was drawn into the surf, and totally wrecked; the captain, Kukanaloa, and a white woman, said to be his sister, were the only persons who reached the land. As soon as they trod upon the beach, either from fear of the inhabitants, or to return thanks for their safety, they prostrated themselves, and remained in that position for a long time.”

“The spot where this took place, is known at the present day, by the appellation of Kulou, to bow down. The shipwrecked strangers were hospitably received, invited to the dwellings of the natives, and food placed before them.”  (Jarves 1843)

One more thing, the first Hawaiian word written is ‘Hamaite’ – it was spoken to Captain Cook at the time he made contact with the Islands and he wrote it in his journal.

It was made in reference to iron.  Some suggest it refers to Hematite (ferric oxide – a mineral form of iron oxide – that is Hematita in Spanish.)  However, others suggest ‘Hamaite’ is actually a Hawaiian expression of He maita’i – good.  (Schutz)

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Europeans to America Prior to the Pilgrims

The first Europeans to arrive in North America were likely the Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is thought to have explored the northeast coast of what is now Canada and spent at least one winter there.

While Norse sagas suggest that Viking sailors explored the Atlantic coast of North America down as far as the Bahamas, such claims remain unproven. In 1963, however, the ruins of some Norse houses dating from that era were discovered at L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland, thus supporting at least some of the claims the Norse sagas make.

Christopher Columbus left Spain in August, 1492, sailed directly westward, and in October came upon an outlying island of the West Indies.  Although Columbus saw some of the other islands, he never touched the continent of North America.

In 1497, just five years after Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean looking for a western route to Asia, a Venetian sailor named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the British king.

Cabot’s journey was later to provide the basis for British claims to North America. It also opened the way to the rich fishing grounds off George’s Banks, to which European fishermen, particularly the Portuguese, were soon making regular visits.

Columbus (who was looking for a new route to India, China, Japan and the ‘Spice Islands’ of Indonesia to bring back cargoes of silk and spices (ginger turmeric and cinnamon)) never saw the mainland United States, but the first explorations of the continental United States were launched from the Spanish possessions that he helped establish.

The first of these took place in 1513 when a group of men under Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the Florida coast near the present city of St. Augustine.

With the conquest of Mexico in 1522, the Spanish further solidified their position in the Western Hemisphere. The ensuing discoveries added to Europe’s knowledge of what was now named America – after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote a widely popular account of his voyages to a “New World.”

By 1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic coastline from Labrador to Tierra del Fuego had been drawn up, although it would take more than another century before hope of discovering a “Northwest Passage” to Asia would be completely abandoned.

Among the most significant early Spanish explorations was that of Hernando De Soto, a veteran conquistador who had accompanied Francisco Pizzaro during the conquest of Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De Soto’s expedition landed in Florida and ranged through the southeastern United States as far as the Mississippi River in search of riches.

Another Spaniard, Francisco Coronado, set out from Mexico in 1540 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. Coronado’s travels took him to the Grand Canyon and Kansas, but failed to reveal the gold or treasure his men sought.

However, Coronado’s party did leave the peoples of the region a remarkable, if unintended gift: enough horses escaped from his party to transform life on the Great Plains. Within a few generations, the Plains Indians had become masters of horsemanship, greatly expanding the range and scope of their activities.

After the Spaniards came the French explorers and adventurers. Three things these adventurers sought in the New World – precious metals, the fountain of perpetual youth, and a passage to the East Indies.

They had no idea how far westward the continent extended, and wherever they came upon a deep bay or a wide river, they hoped that by following it up they should come out on the other side. (Johnson)

While the Spanish were pushing up from the south, the northern portion of the present-day United States was slowly being revealed through the journeys of men such as Giovanni da Verrazano. A Florentine who sailed for the French, Verrazano made landfall in North Carolina in 1524, then sailed north along the Atlantic coast past what is now New York harbor.

A decade later, the Frenchman Jacques Cartier set sail with the hope – like the other Europeans before him – of finding a sea passage to Asia. Cartier’s expeditions along the St. Lawrence River laid the foundations for the French claims to North America, which were to last until 1763.

Following the collapse of their first Quebec colony in the 1540s, French Huguenots attempted to settle the northern coast of Florida two decades later. The Spanish, viewing the French as a threat to their trade route along the Gulf Stream, destroyed the colony in 1565.

Ironically, the leader of the Spanish forces, Pedro Menendez, would soon establish a town not far away – St. Augustine. It was the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States.

The great wealth which poured into Spain from the colonies in Mexico, the Caribbean and Peru provoked great interest on the part of the other European powers. With time, emerging maritime nations such as England, drawn in part by Francis Drake’s successful raids on Spanish treasure ships, began to take interest in the New World.

The English were slowest of all to think of profiting by Columbus’s discovery, and nearly a century rolled by after that event before ships from England crossed the Atlantic for discovery and conquest.

But when they did turn their attention to the New World, while they still hoped to find there a passage to India, and to gather mineral treasures, they went with the idea of planting colonies, which the Spaniards and the French had not dreamed of. And this, which is the only sure conquest, finally gave them possession of the largest and fairest part of the new continent. (Johnson)

About 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with a small fleet and a few colonists, landed in the harbor of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and claimed the whole island as British territory. But on the return voyage all the vessels were lost except one, and Sir Humphrey himself perished.

Sir Humphrey’s half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, made the earliest practical and determined effort to plant an English colony on this continent. In 1584 he obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter “for the discovery and planting of new lands in America.”

This gave him “free liberty and license from time to time, and at all times forever hereafter, to discover, search, find out, and view such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him, his heirs and assigns, and to every or any of them, shall seem good; and the same to have, hold, occupy, and enjoy for ever.” (Johnson)

This expedition was only for discovery and exploration, and in a few weeks the ships returned to England, taking with them two Indians.

They gave such glowing accounts of the country – which henceforth was called Virginia – that plans were laid at once for sending out a colony. All was ready by the next spring, and a fleet of seven vessels sailed in April, 1585, “with one hundred householders and many things necessary to begin a new state.” (Johnson)

In 1585 Raleigh established the first British colony in North America, on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. the first act was to restore to their friends the two Indians who had been taken to England.

The colony was later abandoned. Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out another colony, which sailed in the spring of 1587; the second effort also proved a failure.

The failure that attended all these efforts of the hopeful and energetic Raleigh was probably due, if not wholly, to the fact that he did not himself accompany and command any of his expeditions.

And, the main reason that he did not go with the ships was, that he was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, and she was not willing to let him risk himself in such adventures.  (Johnson)

It would be 20 years before the British would try again. This time – at Jamestown in 1607 – the colony would succeed, and North America would enter a new era. (Alonzo L Hamby)

Then, on September 6 (September 16), the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America.  The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6 (September 16), until Cape Cod was sighted on November 9 (November 19), 1620.

As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on November 9 (November 19).  The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation.   However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked.

The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod.  They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor.  The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation.  (Mayflower History, Caleb Johnson)

In contrast to the colonization policies of other countries and other periods, the emigration from England was not directly sponsored by the government but by private groups of individuals whose chief motive was profit. (Alonzo L Hamby)

Click the following link to a general summary about Europeans to America Prior to the Pilgrims:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Europeans-to-America-Prior-to-the-Pilgrims.pdf

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First Foreigners to the Islands?

“The Pacific, the largest ocean in the world, extending over more than one third of the surface of our globe, was discovered in the year 1513, by Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, a courageous and enterprising Spaniard, governor of the Spanish colony of Santa Maria in the isthmus of Darien.”

“The desire of finding a more direct communication with the East Indies had prompted Columbus to the daring voyage which resulted in the discovery of the new world.”

“In that immense and unexplored region, his followers pursued their career of enterprise, until Balboa, by discovering the great South Sea, accomplished what Columbus, notwithstanding his most splendid achievements, had in vain attempted.”

“Magellan, a Portuguese, despatched by the court of Spain … sailed along the eastern coast of South America, discovered the straits that bear his name; and, passing through them, first launched the ships of Europe in the Southern Sea.”

“Several distinguished Spanish, Dutch, and British navigators followed the adventurous course of Magellan across the waters of the Pacific, and were rewarded by the discoveries they made in that part of the world, which, under the appellation of Polynesia, from a Greek term signifying ‘many islands’”. (Ellis)

“There is no locality in the Hawaiian Islands which has so many associations with its early history as Kealakekua Bay and its surroundings. The two villages on its shore, Ka‘awaloa, and Kakua, now called Napo‘opo‘o, are mentioned in nearly all the books and journals written by explorers and traders, from the death of Captain Cook in 1779 onward, but as far as I know there has been no collection of historic data relating to this district.”

“The first circumstance, which I believe to be authentic, is connected with the landing of seven men at Kealakekua Bay at a period less remote in point of time, than the reputed landing of other foreigners.”

“The Rev. William Ellis, who came to Hawaii in 1822, and remained here over two years, was soon proficient in the Hawaiian language, as he had lived in Tahiti for six years, where a variation of the Polynesian dialect is spoken.”

“He heard as he journeyed about the Hawaiian group, several stories of the landing of foreigners, but they varied greatly as to the place and details. One story he heard from different men, on many occasions, and all who told it agreed as to the number of men, the description of the boat in which they came, the clothes they wore, etc.”

“Shortly before Liholiho left for England he gave Mr. Ellis a detailed account of the occurrence, which is as follows:”

“‘In the days of Kahoukapu, King of Kaawaloa, seven foreigners arrived at Kealakekua Bay. They came in a painted boat, with an awning over the stern, but without mast or sails.”’”

“‘They were all dressed, the color of their clothes was white or yellow, and one of them had a pahi (that is a long knife, or sword) by his side, and had a feather in his hat.’”

“‘The natives treated them kindly. They married native women, were made chiefs, and ultimately became very powerful in the Island of Hawaii’”.

“Liholiho had no idea whence they came. I am inclined to believe that they may have been deserters from the Dutch ship Hope.” (Restarick)

“June 27, 1598, a fleet, consisting of the Hope, 500 tons; Faith, 320 tons; Charity, 300 tons; Fidelity, 220 tons and the yacht Merry Messenger, 150 tons, sailed from Rotterdam, under command of Admiral De Weert, ‘being provided with all manner of provisions and ammunition, with cannon, money, merchandise and all necessaries whatever for a long voyage.’”

“It proceeded through the Straits of Magellan, thence across the Pacific, and home by way of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Rotterdam May 13, 1600.” (Clark)

“(The Hope) in company with the Charity, sailed from Chili taking a north-west course until they reached 27 degrees north. When about 16 degrees north they passed an island, and seven men took the ship’s pinnace and made for the land, and were not seen again.”

“The course of the Hope would have taken her near Hawaii, and according to the log of the pilot Will Adams, they would have been here in February, 1600.” (Restarick)

“The first Dutch ships to cross the Pacific east-west were the Hope, Charity and Faith (the Hoop, Liefde and Trouw) the surviving vessels of an expedition of five ships led by Jacques Mahu in 1598.”

The Hope and Charity intended to sail from Peru to the Moloccas … In 1600, the Charity disappeared north of Hawai‘i. The Hope sighted several islands, probably Johnston Atoll and the Marianas, before reaching Japan in April 1600, where the surviving crew were imprisoned.”

“The expedition was a failure, (lead merchant) died before rounding Cape Horn … and the Hoop (Hope) (was) lost off Hawai‘i.” (Quanchi & Robson)

“It was late November 1599 when the (Hope and Faith) sailed westwardly for Japan. On their way, the two ships made landfall in ‘certain islands’ (possibly the islands of Hawai‘i) where eight sailors deserted the ships. Later during the voyage, a typhoon claimed the Hoop with all hands, in late February 1600. (Luscombe)

“I am aware that this is only a theory, but I have seen no refutation of it which has been satisfactory to me. From the description, the men would seem to have been Europeans. In any event this is the first chronicled event connected with Kealakekua Bay.” (Restarick)

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Dutch Fleet to Japan
Dutch Fleet to Japan

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America

Lots of things were happening in the Islands when Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

About that time, four major leaders ruled over various Islands in the Hawaiian Islands: Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, ʻUmi-a-Līloa on Hawaiʻi, Piʻilani on Maui and Kukona on Kauaʻi.

Early in his reign, Māʻilikūkahi moved to Waikīkī and was probably one of the first chiefs to live there (prior to that, Oʻahu chiefs typically lived at Waialua and ‘Ewa.)  Waikīkī remained the Royal Center of Oʻahu aliʻi, until Kamehameha I moved the seat to Honolulu.

What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries) that Mā’ilikūkahi set up around the Island.  This system of land divisions and boundaries enabled a konohiki (land/resource manager) to know the limits and productivity of the resources that they managed.

ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, also moved the Hawaiʻi Island Royal Center about this time, from Waipi‘o to Kona.  He, too, started to divide the lands following the mauka-makai orientation.

ʻUmi started a significant new form of agriculture in Kona; archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.” (These are long, narrow fields that ran along the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai; farmers then planted different crops, according to the respective rainfall gradients.

Piʻilani’s reign showed a boom in construction of heiau, fishponds, trails and irrigation systems.  Famed for his energy and intelligence, Piʻilani constructed the West Maui phase of the noted Alaloa, or long trail (also known as the King’s Highway;) his son, Kihapiʻilani laid the East Maui section and connected the island.

Missionaries Richards, Andrews and Green noted in 1828, “a pavement said to have been built by Kihapiʻilani, a king … afforded us no inconsiderable assistance in traveling as we ascended and descended a great number of steep and difficult paries (pali.)” (Missionary Herald)

Kukona, on Kauaʻi became a symbol of the very highest ideals of chivalry in battle.  He once captured all four chiefs of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui and Molokaʻi and had the opportunity to kill them all.  However, he preferred peace and allowed them to return safely home with a promise that they never again make war on Kauaʻi.

As noted by Fornander: “The war with the Hawaii chief, and the terrible defeat and capture of the latter, as well as Kukona’s generous conduct towards the four chiefs who fell into his hands after the battle, brought Kauai back into the family circle of the other islands, and with an eclat and superiority which it maintained to the last of its independence.”

Back to Columbus and America …

Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices.

Columbus called all the people he met in the islands Indians because he was sure that he had reached the Indies. When Columbus reached Cuba, he thought it was the mainland of Japan.

“At no time during the life of Columbus, nor for some years after his death, did anybody use the phrase ‘New World’ with conscious reference to his discoveries. … It was supposed that he had found a new route to the Indies by sailing west, and that in the course of this achievement he had discovered some new islands.”  (Fiske)

“At the time of his death their true significance had not yet begun to dawn upon the mind of any voyager or any writer.”  Still believing that he had found a new route to the East Indies, Columbus died in 1506.

It wasn’t until 1499, when an Italian an explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer, Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512,) sailed back to the area Columbus ‘discovered.’

Columbus found the new land; but Vespucci, by travelling down the coast, came to the realization that it was not India at all, but an entirely new continent.

What should they call it?

It wasn’t until a German clergyman and amateur geographer (Martin Waldseemüller) and his Alsatian proofreader (Matthias Ringmann) reportedly put the name “America” on the new land mass (April 25, 1507 – the first written use of America.)  (They made up the name, using a feminized Latin version of Vespucci’s first name.)

Waldseemüller and Ringmann were at work on a reproduction of Ptolemy’s treatise on geography, to which they were adding a preface entitled ‘Cosmographiae Introductio.’  They determined to incorporate the story of Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages into this work, and Ringmann, who was acting as editor, wrote an introduction.

“Now, these parts of the earth have been more extensively explored and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci.  Inasmuch as both Europe and Asia received their names from women, I see no reason why any one should justly object to calling this part Amerige, i.e., the land of Amerigo, or America, after Amerigo, its discoverer, a man of great ability.” (Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller)

“(T)he name America was, for the time  being, restricted to the southern part of the  New World. After the lapse of three decades, however, another German cartographer applied the name America to the northern portion of the Western Hemisphere.”  (Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller)

But the new name didn’t completely catch on, at first.

The Pilgrims, in signing the Mayflower Compact (1620,) noted they were headed to Virginia.  The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628) and its initial laws Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) reference being in New England.  In the mid-1700s, the British Colonies were referenced into the New England Colonies (northern,) Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies.

The earliest recorded use of this term in English dates to 1648, in Thomas Gage’s The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies.

It wasn’t until 1740, in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (a fight between Britain and Spain in what is now known as Columbia,) that the British colonists on the continent were called ‘Americans’ for the first time (about 3,600-colonial troops supported the British effort – the Spanish won.)  (nih-gov)

The name ‘United States of America’ appears to have been used for the first time in the Declaration of Independence (1776.) (At least no earlier instance of its use in that precise form has been found.)  (Burnett)

Back to Columbus … President Franklin D Roosevelt created the first federal observance of Columbus Day in 1937; Richard Nixon established the modern holiday by presidential proclamation in 1972.  Columbus Day is observed the second Monday in October; it’s a federal holiday, it is not a State holiday in some states.

The image shows a portion of the map prepared by Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann, noting ‘America.’ In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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