Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Moku O Keawe

Moku O Keawe – The Island of Keawe recalls and honors a 17th-century chief, Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku (Keawe the One Chief of the Island,”) whose reign was ascribed “such peace and prosperity as the island of Hawai‘i had not enjoyed since the time of his ancestor Līloa”.  (Barrere, deSilva)

James Cook (1778) and George Vancouver (1793) both referred to the island as “Owhyhee.”  Today, we more commonly call it Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Island or the Big Island.

The following is a portion of Kūaliʻi’s chant (he was a chief from Oʻahu.)

Ua like; aia ka kou hoa e like ai,
‘O Keawe‘īkekahiali‘iokamoku,
‘O Keawe, haku o Hawai‘i

There is a comparison; here, indeed, is the one you resemble,
Keawe-i-Kekahi-alii-o-ka-moku,
Keawe, Lord of Hawaiʻi.
(Ka Inoa O Kūaliʻi, The Chant Of Kūaliʻi; Fornander; deSilva)

“Kūaliʻi’s chant devotes over a hundred lines in its own closing section to extolling his superiority; nothing on land, sea, or sky can compare to him; he is not like the hala, ‘ōhi‘a, or ʻaʻali‘i; nor is he like the porpoise, shark, or līpoa; nor is he like the ʻōʻō, nāulu rain, or mountain wind.”

“He can be compared to one thing only, the chant finally concedes; he finds an equal in his Hawai‘i island counterpart, the Hōnaunau-based chief Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku.”  (deSilva)

Keawe was believed to have lived from 1665 to 1725. He is sometimes referred to as King Keawe II, since prior to him there was already a King Keawenuiaumi. He was son of Keākealaniwahine, the ruling Queen of Hawaiʻi and Kanaloa-i-Kaiwilena Kapulehu.  Keawe was the great-grandfather of Kamehameha I.

Keākealaniwahine ruled from what is referred to as the Hōlualoa Royal Center, in Kona; it is split into two archaeological complexes, Kamoa Point/Keolonāhihi Complex and Keākealaniwahine Residential Complex.)

The Hōlualoa Royal Center had three major occupation sequences with various aliʻi: AD 1300 (Keolonāhihi), AD 1600 (Keākealaniwahine and Keakamahana (her mother)) and AD 1780 (Kamehameha I) – it appears very likely that the Hōlualoa Royal Center grew and changed over time.  (DLNR)

Prominent aliʻi in the Kona District who also may have resided at Hōlualoa include Keakealani-kane (father of Keakamahana,) Keawe, Keʻeaumoku-nui (son of Keawe) and Alapaʻi-nui (nephew of Keawe.)  (DLNR)

Keawe ruled along with his half-sister wife Kalanikauleleiaiwi who inherited their mother’s kapu rank. After his death, a civil war broke out over succession between his sons, Keʻeaumoku and Kalaninuiʻamamao, and a rival chief known as Alapaʻinuiakauaua (his nephew.)

Hale O Keawe, at the northern end of the eastern wing of the Great Wall at Puʻuhonua O Honaunau, was named after and either built by or for Keawe around 1700.

In ancient times the Heiau served as a royal mausoleum, housing the remains of deified high chiefs. The powerful mana (divine power) associated with these remains served to sanctify and validate the existence of the Puʻuhonua.

The earliest western accounts indicate that in the 1820s the structure was largely intact with thatched hale, wooden palisade, and multiple kiʻi (wooden images of gods.)  (NPS)

The only heiau allowed standing by Kaʻahumanu after the breaking of the kapu were Hale O Līloa (built by the High Chief Līloa in the 16th century) in Waipiʻo Valley and Hale O Keawe at Hoʻonaunau in Kona. These two edifices were the sacred repositories of the iwi of Hawai`i’s greatest chiefs. (Parker)

However, in December of 1828, Kaʻahumanu visited Hale O Keawe. She found to her dismay that someone had left hoʻokupu (gifts) inside to honor dead ancestors. She was so angry that she ordered the dismantling and destruction of both Hale O Keawe and Hale O Līloa in Waipiʻo.  (Parker)

Hale O Keawe was dismantled by Ka‘ahumanu in 1829; its bones were removed to Kaʻawaloa, its large timbers were used in the construction of a school and government house, and smaller pieces of its kauila wood framework were given as souvenirs to the missionaries.  (deSilva)

The pu‘uhonua was deeded to Miriam Kekāuluohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I, in the Māhele of 1848, and it was inherited, upon her death, by Levi Ha‘alelea, her second husband. In 1866, the property was auctioned by Ha‘alelea’s estate to Charles Kana‘ina, the father of William Charles Lunalilo.

Kana‘ina, however, did not pay the $5000 bid, and Charles Reed Bishop stepped in to purchase Ha‘alelea’s land for that same amount on April 1, 1867. In 1891, six years after Pauahi’s death, Bishop deeded the land to the trustees of the Bishop Estate who leased it to one of their members, SM Damon.

Damon was responsible for the 1902 restoration work on the Great Wall and the stone platforms of two heiau, Hale o Keawe and ‘Ale‘ale‘a. The County of Hawai‘i took over Damon’s lease in 1921. That lease expired in 1961 when the then County Park was acquired by the US National Park Service.  (deSilva)

Further reconstruction consisted of four terraces and a passage between the southern end of the platform and the northern end of the Great Wall. In 1966-67 Edmund J Ladd directed the excavation and re-stabilization of the Hale o Keawe platform.

Ladd’s excavations in addition to historical accounts indicated that the platform did not originally have multiple tiers; therefore, the 1967 work restored the platform to its more authentic form that joins the Great Wall on its south side.

After the platform was restored, the thatched hale, wooden palisade, and kiʻi were also rebuilt on the site. Since the time of Ladd’s initial reconstruction, the Hale o Keawe structure and carved wooden kiʻi have been replaced on two occasions with the most recent efforts being completed in 2004.  (NPS)

The image shows the ahupuaʻa of Moku O Keawe. In addition, I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kauai

Poetically the island is reportedly called, “Manōkalanipō”, or “Kauai a Manō” after the ancient chief who was largely responsible for elevating Kauai’s ancient society to sophisticated heights of advancement and productivity.  (NativeKauai)

Geologically, Kauai is the oldest of the main inhabited islands in the chain. It is also the northwestern-most island, with Oʻahu separated by the Kaʻieʻie Channel, which is about 70-miles long. In centuries past, Kauai’s isolation from the other islands kept it safe from outside invasion and unwarranted conflict.

Kauai was traditionally divided into 5 moku (districts) including: Koʻolau, Haleleʻa, Nā Pali, Kona and Puna. (Common district names that are universally used across of the Hawaiian archipelago include “Koʻolau” marking the windward sides of the islands; “Kona” – the leeward sides of the islands; and “Puna” – indicating regions where springs and fresh water abound.)

The whole of the northwest coast (Napali) show the remains of extensive agricultural work and a fairly extensive population; the Mana region had clusters of house sites in the dry valleys that cut through the cliffs. Nearly all the great river valleys are thoroughly terraced and show evidence of population.

The principal location of the house sites is on the shore line, especially near the mouths of the river valleys where the taro was growing; in the mountains are some house sites and small villages.

The principal cultivated products on Kauai were taro, sweet potatoes, yams and gourds among the vegetables, and banana, breadfruit, coconut palm and paper mulberry among the trees.  (Bennett)

Malo notes that the “cultivation of kula lands is quite different from that of irrigable lands. The farmer merely cleared of weeds as much land as he thought would suffice. If he was to plant taro (upland taro), he dug holes and enriched them with a mulch of kukui leaves, ashes or dirt, after which he planted the taro.”

“In some places they simply planted without mulch or fertilizer … If a field of potatoes was desired, the soil was raised into hills, in which the stems were planted; or the stems might merely be thrust into the ground anyhow, and the hilling done after the plants were grown.”

The boundaries of the five moku on Kauai were changed in the late-1800s to reflect the present day judicial land districts, Kawaihau, Hanalei, Waimea, Kōloa and Līhuʻe.

In 1877, Hanalei and Līhuʻe shared a common boundary.  Kawaihau was set apart by King Kalākaua, who gave that name to the property lying between the Wailua River and Moloaʻa Valley.  A bill was introduced into the legislature and the eastern end of Hanalei District was cut out and Kawaihau became the fifth district on the island of Kauai.

Though comprising only 547-square miles, Kauai is large enough to have figured at all times as a major influence on Hawaiian culture. Together with Niʻihau it forms a group which is considerably isolated from the other Hawaiian islands.  (Bennett)

Fornander notes, “the ruling families of Kauai were the highest tapu chiefs in the group is evident from the avidity with which chiefs and chiefesses of the other islands sought alliance with them. They were always considered as the purest of the “blue blood” of the Hawaiian aristocracy; … But of the exploits and transactions of most of the chiefs who ruled over Kauai during this period, there is little preserved to tell.”

He further notes that during the “nine generations from Laamaikahiki (about the 14th century – he reportedly came from Tahiti,) the island of Niihau bore about the same political relation to the mōʻi (king) of Kauai as the island of Lanai did to the mōʻi of Maui – independent at times, acknowledging his suzerainty at others. … Springing from and intimately connected with the Kauai chiefs, there was a community of interests and a political adhesion which, however strained at times by internal troubles, never made default as against external foe.”

Then things changed for Kauai and the rest of the Islands.  In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)  He first landed at Waimea, Kauai.

“The height of the land within, the quantity of clouds which we saw, during the whole time we staid, hanging over it, and frequently on the other parts, seems to put it beyond all doubt, that there is a sufficient supply of water; and that there are some running streams which we did not see, especially in the deep valleys, at the entrance of which the villages commonly stand.”  (James Cook Journal)

“From the wooded part to the sea, the ground is covered with an excellent sort of grass, about two feet high, which grows sometimes in tufts, and though not very thick at the place where we were, seemed capable of being converted into plentiful crops of fine hay. But not even a shrub grows naturally on this extensive space.”  (James Cook Journal)

Throughout their stay the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.  The natives were permitted to watch the ships’ blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained information of practical value about the working of iron. (Kuykendall)

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.  On February 14, 1779, at Kealakekua Bay, Cook and some of his men were killed.

At the time of Cook’s arrival, the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauai and Niʻihau, and her husband (Kāʻeokūlani (Kāʻeo)) was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaiʻi. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood. So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.”  (Kalākaua)

Kaumuali‘i was the only son of Kamakahelei and Kāʻeo; he was born in 1778 at Holoholokū, a royal birthing heiau specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children.  Kaumuali‘i became ruling chief of Kauai upon the death of his parents.

In 1784, Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.  King Kamehameha I launched his first invasion attempt on Kauai in April of 1796, having already conquered the other Hawaiian Islands, and having fought his last major battle at Nuʻuanu on O‘ahu in 1795.

Kauai’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kauai and Ni‘ihau.)  Kamehameha’s two attempts at invading Kauai were foiled (by storm and sickness.)

The island was never conquered; in the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha. The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.

After King Kamehameha I died in 1819, Kaumuali‘i pledged his allegiance to Liholiho, Kamehameha’s son and successor.    Kaumuali‘i settled in Honolulu and became a husband of Kaʻahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I.

Hiram Bingham was on a preaching tour of the island of Kauai in 1824, shortly before King Kaumuali‘i died.  Kaumuali‘i had been living on Oahu for three years.  Bingham spoke to him just before coming to Kauai.

Bingham writes:
“We found Kaumuali‘i seated at his desk, writing a letter of business.  We were forcible and pleasantly struck with the dignity and gravity, courteousness, freedom and affection with which he rose and gave us his hand, his hearty aloha, and friendly parting smile, so much like a cultivated Christian brother.”

When the king died, Bingham said a gloom fell over Kauai.

Kaumuali‘i was buried at Waine‘e Church (Wai‘ola Church,) on Maui (he wanted to be buried near Keōpūolani, another of Kamehameha’s wives – mother of Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III.))  (King Kaumuali‘i’s granddaughter Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) married King Kalākaua.)

The image shows a map of the island of Kauai, noting moku (districts) and ahupuaʻa. I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani

Solomon Lehuanui Kalaniomaiheuila Peleioholani (also called Peleioholani the 4th or Lehuanui, or simply, Peleioholani) (1843-1916) was the son of Peleioholani (uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V) and Piikeakaluaonalani (mother.)

His great grandfather was the high chief Keʻeaumoku (father of Kaʻahumanu,) one of the ablest supporters of Kamehameha I.

Keʻeaumoku distinguished himself in the battle of Mokuʻōhai, (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 in which Kamehameha won and put the island of Hawaiʻi under his control – this led to his ultimate control of all the islands.)

Keʻeaumoku killed Kiwalaʻo in a hand-to-hand combat; however, Keʻeaumoku’s mamo ʻahuʻula (feather cape) was bloodstained in that fight.  The cape, named “Eheukani” was later passed down through generations to Peleioholani.

Solomon LK Peleioholani, one of the highest surviving Hawaiian chiefs, was the man who stood before Lunalilo when he was crowned King of the Hawaiian Islands, wearing the famous cape, helmet and necklace, and also stood before Kalākaua at his coronation.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

Unfortunately, “Eheukani” was later lost and presumed destroyed, along with other chiefly regalia and precious possessions belonging to Solomon LK Peleioholani, during the great Chinatown Fire of 1900.

As a boy, Peleioholani was the protégé of Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma and the companion of their son Prince Albert (“Ka Haku O Hawaiʻi, “The Lord of Hawaiʻi.”)

During the short life of the little Prince, Peleioholani was his playmate, and both were treated with utmost respect by all they met. During this time, Peleioholani lived at the residence of Kekūanāo’a (hānai father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop.)  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

After the Prince’s death, Peleioholani traveled; for five years, he made voyages visiting the South Seas, Japan, Manila and the Indian Ocean.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

One day, a steamer came into port and Peleioholani was given an opportunity to go with her to Australia. He remained there, became a British subject, drilled with the Australians who were to do service for the Queen in Africa, and he went in a transport to the eastern coast of South Africa, arriving there as a sub-officer.

He was a Hawaiian Chief who fought in Africa.

“Destiny seems to have called him to become a soldier as his ancestors were warriors in the service of Kamehameha I. The blood of brave men flowed through his veins and from his infancy he had heard almost daily the tales of the deeds done by his great grandfather”.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

The blacks were on the shore that day, October 22, 1869, when the troops commenced to land. The ships opened fire upon them and attempted to land men in launches. Seven of the latter were disabled.

From one of them Peleioholani was forced to swim back to the ship, carrying nothing but his sword and belt.  He obtained another launch and thus from 2 until 5:30 o’clock in the afternoon the landing went on, the troops finally driving the enemy back.  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

When they went to England, Queen Victoria (Prince Albert’s godmother) gave Peleioholani a service medal for bravery on the battlefields of Africa.

The Queen asked is nationality. “I told her I was Hawaiian. I told her my great grandfather had accompanied Kamehameha II to England. I told her Kamehameha V was my King.”  (Peleioholani, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902)

In 1874, he returned to Hawaiʻi and was a well-respected genealogist.  For many, Peleioholani was considered an important Hawaiian antiquarian and the final word in Hawaiian genealogy, especially of the chiefs and royal families.

He also wrote of the Hawaiian history.  One work, ‘The Ancient History of Hookumu-ka-lani Hookumu-ka-honua,’ was a commentary of the ancient Hawaiian cosmogonies (creation theories.)

One of Peleioholani’s theories in that book notes, “The ancestors of the Hawaiian race came not from the islands the South Pacific – for the immigrants from that direction were late arrivals there – but from the northern direction (welau lani,) that is, from the land of Kalonakikeke, now known as Alaska.”

Peleioholani was a High Chief, and in many ways both the pinnacle and terminus of the old royal blood lines from Maui, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi.

His grandparents were among those who sided with Kamehameha I to achieve unity of the islands. His father was an uncle to the Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and he was himself one of the highest ranking chiefs in the Hawaiian Islands.  (kekoolani-org)

Besides being a direct lineal descendant of all the last independent ruling kings, he was also descended from what Hawaiian scholar Mary Pukui called the “chiefs of Pōkano,” chiefs of unblemished bloodline from remote times.  (kekoolani-org)

The image shows Solomon LK Peleioholani in 1903 in a holiday pageant costume.  (Lots of information here from Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 22, 1902 and kekoolani-org.)

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Gerrit P Judd

In 1828, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) sent 20-people in the Third Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi, including four ministers and their wives.

A physician and his wife accompanied the ministers, Dr. Gerrit Parmele Judd and Laura Fish Judd.  Dr. Judd was sent to replace Dr. Abraham Blatchely, who, because of poor health, had left Hawaiʻi the previous year.

Judd, a medical missionary, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician, intending to treat native Hawaiians for the growing number of diseases introduced by foreigners. He immersed himself in the Hawaiian community, becoming a fluent speaker of Hawaiian.  Judd soon became an adviser to and supporter of King Kamehameha III.

In May 1842, Judd was asked to leave the Mission and accept an appointment as “translator and recorder for the government,” and as a member of the “treasury board,” with instructions to aid Oʻahu’s Governor Kekūanāoʻa in the transaction of business with foreigners.

Up to that time there was no real financial system. The public revenues were received by the King and no distinction was made between his private income and that which belonged to the government or public.  Judd, as chairman of the treasury board, was responsible to organize a public accounting system.    (Hawaiian Mission Centennial Book)

As chairman of the treasury board he not only organized a system, he also helped to pay off a large public indebtedness and placed the government on a firm financial footing. (Hawaiian Mission Centennial Book)

In early-1843, Lord George Paulet, purportedly representing the British Crown, overstepped his bounds, landed sailors and marines, seized the government buildings in Honolulu and forced King Kamehameha III to cede the Hawaiian kingdom to Great Britain.

Paulet raised the British flag and issued a proclamation formally annexing Hawaii to the British Crown.  This event became known as the Paulet Affair.

Judd secretly removed public papers to the Pohukaina mausoleum on the grounds of what is now ʻIolani Palace to prevent British naval officers from taking them. He used the mausoleum as his office; by candlelight, and using the coffin of Kaʻahumanu as a writing desk, Judd wrote appeals to London and Washington to free Hawaiʻi from the rule of Paulet.

His plea, heard in Britain and the US, was successful, and after five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored and Adm. Thomas ordered the Union Jack removed and replaced with the Hawaiian kingdom flag.

Judd stood beside the King on the steps of Kawaiahaʻo Church to announce the news, translating Admiral Thomas’ declaration into Hawaiian for the crowd.

In November 1843, Judd was appointed secretary of state for foreign affairs, with the full responsibility of dealing with the foreign representatives.  He was succeeded by Mr. RC Wyllie, in March 1845, and was then appointed minister of the interior.

By that time, the King had become convinced that the ancient system of land tenure was not compatible with the progress of the nation, and he resolved to provide for a division of the lands which would terminate the feudal nature of land tenure (eventually, the Great Māhele was held, dividing the land between the King, Government, Chiefs and common people.

As part of the Māhele, on Judd’s recommendation, a law was passed that provided for the appointment of a commission to hear and adjudicate claims for land. Such claims were based on prior use or possession by the chiefs and others; successful claims were issued Awards from the Land Commission.

In 1846, Judd was transferred from the post of minister of the interior to that of minister of finance (which he held until 1853, when by resignation, he terminated his service with the government.)

In 1850, King Kamehameha III sold approximately 600-acres of land on the windward side of Oʻahu to Judd.  In 1864, Judd and his son-in-law, Samuel Wilder, formed a sugar plantation and built a major sugar mill there; a few remains of this sugar mill still exist next to the Kamehameha Highway.

Later, additional acreage in the Hakipuʻu and Kaʻaʻawa valleys were added to the holdings (it’s now called Kualoa Ranch.)

In 1852, Judd served with Chief Justice Lee and Judge John Ii on a commission to draft a new constitution, which subsequently was submitted to and passed by the legislature and duly proclaimed

It was much more complete in detail than the constitution of 1840, and separated the three coordinate branches of the government in accordance with modern ideas.

Judd wrote the first medical book in the Hawaiian language. Later, Judd formed the first Medical School in the Islands.  Ten students were accepted when it opened in 1870, all native Hawaiians (the school had a Hawaiians-only admissions policy.)

Judd participated in a pivotal role in Medicine, Finance, Law, Sovereignty, Land Tenure and Governance in the Islands. Gerrit P Judd died in Honolulu on July 12, 1873.

“He was a man of energy, courage and sincerity of purpose. He was an able physician, and he developed great aptitude for the administration of public affairs. The benefit of his talents was freely and liberally given to a people who he knew needed and deserved assistance.”  (Hawaiian Mission Centennial Book)

The image shows Gerrit P Judd.  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Google+ page.

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Queen Ka‘ahumanu

Ka‘ahumanu was born about the year 1768, near Hāna, on the eastern shore of Maui.  Her father was Keʻeaumoku (a chief of Hawai‘i Island, warrior and loyal follower of Kamehameha I;) her mother was Nāmāhana.

Her siblings include Governor John Adams Kuakini of Hawaiʻi Island, Queen Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (a wife of Kamehameha I) and Governor George Keʻeaumoku II of Maui.

Soon after her birth, the family moved to the island of Hawai‘i; Ka‘ahumanu spent much of her childhood in the Kaʻū district on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

At the time, the island was under the reign of Kalani‘ōpu‘u (Kalaniʻōpuʻū was king of the island when Captain Cook arrived in 1778.)

Then, there were turbulent times on the island – contact brought more foreigners to Hawaiʻi and island war was raging (following Kalaniʻōpuʻū’s death in 1782.)

At a very young age, Kaʻahumanu was given by her father to Kamehameha as a wife; by that time, he was ruler of half the island of Hawaiʻi.  She was his favorite wife.  Through the years, she advised and supported Kamehameha.

Queen Kaʻahumanu became more than Kamehameha’s favorite wife.  She was, at one time, arguably, the most powerful figure in the Hawaiian Islands, helping usher in a new era for the Hawaiian kingdom.

When Kamehameha died on May 8, 1819, the crown was passed to his son, Liholiho, who would rule as Kamehameha II.  Kaʻahumanu recruited Liholiho’s mother, Keōpūolani, to join her in convincing Liholiho to break the kapu system which had been the rigid code of Hawaiians for centuries.

Liholiho accomplished this simply by eating a meal with women.  When the Hawaiians saw that Liholiho was not struck down by angry gods, the entire kapu system was discarded.

Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and would rule as an equal with Liholiho.

She ruled first with Kamehameha II until his departure for England in 1823 (where he died in 1824) and then as regent for Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III).

Ka‘ahumanu assumed control of the business of government, including authority over land matters, the single most important issue for the Hawaiian nation for many generations to come.

She later married Kauaʻi’s chief, Kaumualiʻi, who Kamehameha I had made a treaty with instead of fightring.

On December 4, 1825, Queen Kaahumanu was baptized and received her new name, Elizabeth, then labored earnestly to lead her people to Christ.

In 1826, she paid the national debt by imposing a tax payable in sandalwood, cash or woven mats.  Her administrative actions would have far reaching political, social and cultural consequences for the Hawaiian nation.

In May 1832, Kaʻahumanu fell ill. Recognizing that the end was near, she requested to be taken to her mountain home in Mānoa Valley on Oʻahu.

On June 5, with the Reverend Hiram Bingham at her side, she breathed her final words: “I’m going now…where the mansions are ready.”

She was buried at Pohukaina at ‘Iolani Place and later transferred to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu‘uanu Valley.

Kaʻahumanu was such a powerful person and Kuhina Nui that subsequent female Kuhina Nui adopted her name, Kīna‘u (Kaʻahumanu II) (1832-1839,) Kekāuluohi (Kaʻahumanu III) (1839-1845) and Victoria Kamāmalu (Kaʻahumanu IV) (1855-1863.)

The image shows Kaʻahumanu as painted by Choris in 1816.  In addition, I have added other images of Ka‘ahumanu in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii