Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Aliʻiolani College

The school seemed to change names, and locations; but, for the most part, it was run by the same person, Leopold Gilbert Blackman.

Born on July 4, 1874 in Cheltenham, England, Blackman was the son of Thomas and Harriet (Sutherland) Blackman. He was an associate of Saint Nicholas College, Lancing, England, and was principal of the preparatory school of Ardingly College before coming to Hawaiʻi. (Builders of Hawaiʻi)

At the request of the Bishop Willis, Blackman arrived in the Islands in 1900 to take charge of ʻIolani School.  He served as head of school at ʻIolani for one year; then, he was an assistant at Bishop Museum 1901-09 (also serving as editor of the Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist.)

Then, he went back to school.

It started with Aliʻiolani College, in Pālolo.  “Aliʻiolani College was an offshoot from the ʻIolani (school.)”  (Thrum)

“Aliʻiolani College, started a few years ago in a cottage, has now quite arrived as a respectable acquisition to Honolulu’s fine array of public and private schools. It appears to supply a distinct want for its neighborhood, besides aiding to solve the problem of school congestion for the city.”  (Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

“(T)hrough the generosity of Mrs Mary E Foster, foundress of the college, permanent buildings had been erected sufficient for all present needs and in many other ways progress had been made toward making Aliʻiolani an efficient unit of the splendid Honolulu family of educational institutions.” (Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

(Daughter of James Robinson, Mary Robinson married Thomas Foster, an initial organizer of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company.  That company founded a subsidiary, Inter-Island Airways, that later changed its name to Hawaiian Airlines.  Their home later became Foster Botanical Garden.)

“Among our many well equipped establishments we believe that Aliʻiolani has a definite destiny as a boys’ boarding school, offering at moderate fees a substantial education soundly based upon the elementary branches of Instruction, an education in which habits of discipline cheerful obedience to constituted authority, courtesy and loyalty are given a recognized place as adjuncts to true manhood.”  (Blackman, Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

However, that school on that site had a short stay.

The building and grounds of the Aliʻiolani College was offered to the board of education “for the establishment of vocational schools … rent free for four months or until the legislature provides ways and means for maintaining the schools.”

“The offer of Aliʻiolani has been made by the owner, Mrs. Nellie E. Foster, who has also offered to contribute generously towards a fund to meet running expenses.”    (Hawaiian Gazette, May 24, 1912)

A Department of Education Biennial Report for 1912 notes Blackman as principal of the Honolulu School For Boys, it was divided into three departments: Preparatory, Grammar School and High School.  “The Honolulu School for Boys, at Kaimukī, (was) an independent boarding and training school, originally the Aliʻiolani College.”  (Thrum)

“The campus comprises eighteen acres and is situated in the salubrious Ocean View district of Honolulu. Extensive views of mountain range and ocean are obtained, while continual trade breezes temper the air and render residence at the school pleasant and healthful.”

“The main building consists of a two-story edifice with two one-story wings. The ground floor is devoted chiefly to class rooms and dormitories. Of the wings, one furnishes a dining hall; the other, the matron’s residence, is chiefly devoted to the use of the smaller boys. All dormitories are upstairs, are well ventilated and lighted and open upon spacious lanais.”

“The increasing enrollments of the school necessitated an additional building to be erected in the summer of 1912, known as the Grammar School. This new structure is of two stories—the upper one being devoted to dormitory accommodations and the lower one to class rooms.”  (DOE, 1912)

The school later moved into lower Kaimukī, and, again, changed its name – and the old campus was converted to a hotel.

“For some time the place (former Aliʻiolani campus in Pālolo) remained vacant but recently was run as a boarding house until take over by King, who has renovated the building and started a modern hotel.  It has been renovated, remodeled and improved and will be known as Aliʻiolani Hotel.” (Honolulu Star-bulletin, September 19, 1916)

Honolulu School for Boys changed its name to Honolulu Military Academy.  (Thrum, 1917)  “It was controlled by a board of 10 trustees of which the president (Blackman) was a member and presiding officer ex officio.”

“It had no endowment, but owned a fine piece of property consisting of grounds and six buildings … at Kaimukī near Waiʻalae Bay, a mile from the end of the Waiʻalae street-car line.”    (DOI Bureau of Education Bulletin 1920)

“The school drew its cadets from all points in the islands. The 1918-19 roster showed 64 from Honolulu, 10 from Oʻahu outside of Honolulu, 16 from Hawaiʻi, 11 from Maui, 10 from Kauaʻi, 1 from Molokai, 2 from California, and 1 each from New York State, Minnesota, and Japan.”

“It began at first with instruction only in the elementary grades; but it grew to offer a 12-grade program of studies.” (DOI Bureau of Education Bulletin 1920)

Then, in January 1925, Punahou School bought the Honolulu Military Academy property – it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head.

It served as the “Punahou Farm” to carry on the school’s work and courses in agriculture.  “We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus.”  (Kneubuhl, Punahou)  The farm school was in Kaimukī between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies.  The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs.  (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

The Punahou dairy herd was cared for by the students as part of their course of studies – the boys boarded there.  However, disciplinary troubles, enrollment concerns (not enough boys signing up for agricultural classes) and financial deficits led to its closure in 1929.

By the mid-1930s, the property was generally idle except for some Punahou faculty housing.  In 1939, Punahou sold the property to the government as a site for a public school (it’s now the site of Kaimuki Middle School.)  The initial Aliʻiolani College site is the present site of Aliʻiolani Elementary School.)  

The image shows the original Aliʻiolani building, funded by Mary Foster (Maui News, July 30, 1910.)   In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kalihi Wallaby

Two mature brush-tailed rock wallabies escaped August 20, 1916 from the home of Richard H Trent; they came from Australia for Trent’s private zoo, which was “practically a public institution maintained at his personal, private expense for the public’s pleasure.”

“Dogs frightened the two animals brought from Australia for Trent’s private zoo and they jumped against their cage with enough force to break through it … A young one, thrown from its mother’s pouch, was killed by the dogs, but the pair of old ones managed to get away and have not been seen since.”  (Star-Bulletin, August 21, 1916)

“Richard H. Trent, Honolulu’s animal impresario, issues a call to all citizens of Oahu today to join in a mammoth, personally conducted wallaby hunt, the first of its kind ever held in the Hawaiian archipelago.”

“Two of the three small kangaroos … escaped from the Trent zoological garden on ʻAlewa Height Saturday night and at latest reports last night were roaming at will in the Oahu forests.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, August 22, 1916)

The paper had a premonition (or bachi;) “Unless the animals are caught they may become permanent denizens of the mountain districts and, like their distant cousins, the Australian rabbits, may propagate and produce eventually a breed of Hawaiian wallabies.” (Hawaiian Gazette, August 22, 1916)

The brush-tailed rock wallaby, native to Australia, was once common throughout that continent; now it’s confined to tiny parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The Victoria population, in particular, is near extinction.

The shy animals have long, bushy tails and small ears; average-size adults weigh between 13 and 18-pounds. Its head and body measure just less than 2 feet long, and its tail is slightly longer. Its color is predominantly brown, with gray fur on its shoulders and reddish brown on its rump.

Richard Henderson Trent, born in Somerville, Fayette County, Tennessee, September 14, 1867, only attended public school until he was 12-years of age, and is a self-educated and self-made man.  He began his career in Hawaiʻi as a printer for the Evening Bulletin in 1901, having learned the newspaper trade in Tennessee.

He later affiliated with Henry Waterhouse Trust Co., Ltd., until 1904, then headed one of the largest trust companies in Hawaiʻi that beared his name.  He served as first treasurer of Oʻahu County from 1905 to 1910, being twice re-elected to this office.

Active in community welfare and church work, he served as president of the YMCA from 1908 to 1915 and was a member of the Territorial Board of Public Lands from 1910 to 1914.

Trent was a member of the Board of Regents, University of Hawaiʻi, for several years, as well as served as a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate and the Bishop Museum.

In 1928, while Trustee of the Kamehameha Schools (1917-1939,) a junior division was created for the Kamehameha School for Boys annual song contest; Trent donated the contest trophy.  The original school for boys contest cup, the George A Andrus cup, was designated as the trophy for the senior division winner and the Richard H Trent Cup for the junior division winner.

While the wallabies once roamed from Nuʻuanu to Hālawa, they are now known to live in only one valley, the ʻEwa side of Kalihi Valley, which has a series of sheer cliffs and narrow rocky ledges.  (earlham-edu)

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR-DOFAW) no longer keeps track of the population, since they believe the animals are nonthreatening.

Wallabies are designated as protected game mammals by DLNR (§13-123-12,) which means no hunting, killing or possessing, unless authorized.  (The same rule applies to wild cattle.) In 2002, a wallaby was captured in Foster Village; DLNR released it back into Kalihi Valley.

The last state survey of Kalihi wallabies was in the early-1990s; at the time, the estimated population was as high as 75-animals.

The image shows a brush-tailed rock wallaby (kristoforG.)  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kaʻalāwai

Along the coastal area between Lēʻahi (Diamond Head) and Kūpikipikiʻō (Black Point) several small neighborhoods are sometimes identified by the names of the main roads in the area Kaikoo, Papu Circle and Kulamanu. However, the historic name for this area of Oʻahu’s is Kaʻalāwai.

Kaʻalāwai literally means ‘the water (basalt) rock’ and is probably named for the springs on the beach and among the rocks at the east end of the beach.

It is a narrow, white-sand beach with a shallow reef offshore, which generally has poor swimming conditions. There are only a few scattered pockets of sand on the nearshore ocean bottom.  Lots go surfing outside.

At the east end of the beach near Black Point is a mansion turned museum, built by Doris Duke, the daughter of James Duke, the founder of the American Tobacco Company, and her husband, James Cromwell.  (It’s their name that is attributed to the “Cromwell’s” Cove and Beach references.)

In the late-1930s, Doris Duke built her Honolulu home, Shangri La, on five acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head.  Shangri La incorporates architectural features from the Islamic world and houses Duke’s extensive collection of Islamic art, which she assembled for nearly 60 years.

Through an Exchange Deed dated December 8, 1938 between the Territorial Land Board of Hawai‘i and Ms Duke, two underwater parcels (totaling approximately 0.6-acres) were added to the Duke property.

At water’s edge below the estate, Duke then dynamited a small-boat harbor and a seventy-five-foot salt-water swimming pool into the rock.  The harbor was built to protect Duke’s fleet of yachts, including Kailani Lahilahi, an ocean-going, 58-foot motor yacht and Kimo, the 26-foot mahogany runabout that Duke sometimes used to commute into Honolulu.

Part of the deal was that the transfer gave the Territory (now State) a perpetual easement of a four-foot right-of-way for a pedestrian causeway along the coastline.  It’s a popular swimming area (ongoing media reports note the hazards here, so be careful.)

Today, Shangri La is open for guided, small group tours and educational programs. In partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art – which owns and supports Shangri La – the Honolulu Museum of Art serves as the orientation center for Shangri La tours.

Another stretch of beach here had some other interesting ownership/use issues.

In the old days, a Beach Road ran right next to the water at Kaʻalāwai. When some of the private property mauka of the road was subdivided into seven lots and conveyed in 1885, the makai boundaries of these seven lots were specified “along the road”.

However, in 1959, folks adjoining the then-abandoned road soon made claims to it – most extended their landscaping (and even put in improvements (patio, walls, etc)) out over the old beach road.

Some of the abutting owners succeeded in their title claims and subsequent legal battles, obtaining declaratory judgments in their favor and they gained title to the road remnant real estate.  Subsequently, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruled that the State owns the road.

The last property made application to the State to acquire the road remnant, however, after following discussions, they ended up seeking a long-term easement over the old roadway.

Oh, one more Kaʻalāwai story … following the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, the Committee of Safety established the Provisional Government of Hawaiʻi as a temporary government until an assumed annexation by the United States.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention and established the Republic of Hawaiʻi on July 4, 1894. The Republic continued to govern the Islands.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, in a “Counter-Revolution,” patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895 (named after Robert William Wilcox.)  In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

Wilcox’s headquarters was at Kaʻalāwai. (Daily Bulletin, January 19, 1895)  Shortly after the fighting began, losing the element of surprise and seeing no tactical importance in remaining at Diamond Head, Wilcox ordered his men to retreat to Waiʻalae.

Wilcox and his men then escaped to the Koʻolau up a trail on the precipice to the ridge separating Mānoa from Nuʻuanu. On that ridge his men dispersed into the mountain above; Wilcox and a few others crossed Nuʻuanu that night, eluding the guards.  They were later captured.

Queen Liliʻuokalani was put under arrest on the 16th, and confined in a chamber of ʻIolani Palace.  A tribunal was formed and evidence began to be taken on the 18th.  Nowlein, Wilcox, Bertelmann and TB Walker all pleaded guilty, and subsequently gave evidence for the prosecution.

Wilcox was court-martialed and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to thirty-five years.    In January, 1896, he was given a conditional pardon and became a free man; in 1898, President Dole gave him a full pardon.  (Wilcox later served as the first delegate and representative of Hawaiʻi in the US Congress.)

Convicted of having knowledge of a royalist plot, Liliʻuokalani was fined $5,000 and sentenced to five-years in prison at hard labor. The sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace.

She spent 8 months in this room.  After her release from ʻIolani Palace, the Queen remained under house arrest for five months at her private home, Washington Place. For another eight months she was forbidden to leave Oʻahu before all restrictions were lifted.  Liliʻuokalani died of a stroke on November 11, 1917 in Honolulu at the age of 79.

The image shows Kaʻalāwai and Black Point area prior to development.  In addition, I have added others similar images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Waialua Female Seminary

Education in the US at the beginning of the 19th-century was primarily triggered by the need to train the people to help grow the relatively new nation.

Back then, it was believed that women should be educated to understand domestic economy, because they were to play the major role in educating the young, primarily in their homes, and later (as the school population grew and there was a shortage of teachers) as school teachers.  (Beyer)

Although schools for upper-class women were in existence prior to the 19th-century, the female seminary for middle-class women became the prevailing type of institution from 1820 until after the Civil War. The most prominent female seminaries were Troy Seminary (1821,) Hartford Seminary (1823,) Ipswich Seminary (1828,) Mount Holyoke Seminary (1837) and Oxford Seminary (1839.)

The seminary’s primary task was professional preparation: the male seminary prepared men for the ministry; the female seminary took as its earnest job the training of women for teaching and motherhood.  (Horowitz, Beyer)

The founders of the female seminaries were at first men who were committed to providing education for women, but as time went by, more of the founders were women. The financial backing for these seminaries was typically from private sources and the tuition charged the students. Their enrollment varied between 50 to 100-students; they preferred girls between the ages of 12 and 16.  (Beyer)

Western-style education did not begin in Hawai’i until after members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived in 1820.

Because the primary educators responsible for developing the education system of Hawai’i were Americans, the educational practices for Hawaiian girls tended to mirror, but not necessarily duplicate, what was taking place on the continent.  (Beyer)

In 1835, at the general meeting of the Mission, a resolution was passed to promote boarding schools for Hawaiians; several male boarding schools and two female boarding schools were begun (Wailuku Female Seminary on the island of Maui and the Hilo School for Girls on the island of Hawai’i.)  Before the 1850s, both of these schools had closed.

Wailuku Female Seminary (or the Central Female Seminary, as it was first called) was the first female school begun by the missionaries. It received support at a time when the missionaries were experimenting with both boarding schools and a manual labor system.

The first female seminary to be established on the island of Hawaiʻi was the Kaʻū Seminary. In 1862, Orramel Hinckley Gulick and his wife, Ann Eliza Clark Gulick (a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary,) began the school. Both were the children of missionaries (Peter Johnson Gulick and Fanny Hinckley Thomas Gulick; Ephraim Weston Clark and Mary Kittredge Clark.)

Due to the isolated location of the seminary, it was difficult to attract many students to the school. As a consequence, tuition and board were free, as long as the girls were placed under the parental care of the teachers of the school until the girls were married or obtained employment.

In 1865, after struggling to fill the school, it was decided to move the school to Waialua, Oʻahu, on the Anahulu Stream.  It opened there on August 7 with 50-students, ranging in age from 11 to 15.  As with other schools at the time, the students were instructed in the Hawaiian language.

The girls are selected by the pastors, from among the most promising girls of the parishes; and every major district in the islands had one or more representatives in the school. It was hoped that this institution would raise up a class of educated women, who might make teachers, and suitable partners for native Hawaiian ministers and missionaries.  (The Missionary Herald)

The large two-story building, surrounded by a veranda, housed the girls, their four teachers, one temporary assistant and two children of the teachers. A second large building was the school-house, the lower floor of which was a spacious school-room, while the upper story was divided into recitation rooms. (The Missionary Herald)

The girls at Waialua Female Seminary came from families where the traditional Hawaiian culture was still practiced. However, at school the girls were dressed in calico, as opposed to their usual holoku; they slept in beds, rather than on mats on the floor; and they ate at a table with silverware, instead of on the floor using their fingers.

The schedule for the day began with breakfast, followed by each girl reading from the Hawaiian Bible; after the principal offered a prayer in Hawaiian, they were dismissed to begin the routine work, which included all the work necessary to maintain the school (except for carting and carrying firewood and baking and pounding the taro for poi.)

The older girls put the food away, washed the dishes and swept the floor. The younger girls did various tasks, which included sweeping and dusting the parlor, the sitting-room or the schoolroom, gathering up the litter of leaves and branches from the yard and garden paths, or putting the teachers’ rooms in order. Some of the girls were involved with preparing the meals; all the girls washed and ironed clothes once a week.

The academic work took place between 9 am and noon and 1 pm and 4 pm.  The curriculum included geography, arithmetic, surveying, astronomy, singing, Bible history and the Bible in general. Manual training consisted of instruction in cutting and sewing dresses, in washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning house and painting; an hour and a half was spent on gardening and farming.

The school kept the girls until they graduated (40 percent of the enrollment,) married (34 percent of the enrollment,) were employed (4 percent of the enrollment,) left for health reasons (6 percent of the enrollment) or were dismissed for not applying themselves or for bad behavior (16 percent of the enrollment.)

In December of 1870, the school closed when the Mission sent the Gulicks to evangelize in Japan.  Waialua Female Seminary reopened on April 3, 1871, under the direction of Miss Mary E Green (another missionary descendent and graduate of Punahou and Mount Holyoke Seminary.)

Miss Green ran the school until 1882, when she became ill and could no longer run the school. The property was sold and the money was given to the trustees of Kawaiahaʻo Seminary in Honolulu to make further improvements there.  (Lots of information here from Beyer and Missionary Herald.)

The school was called ‘Hale Iwa’ by the girls (the first use of the name for this area.)  Later, that name came back to this area when OR&L opened the Haleiwa Hotel (1899;) when the hotel closed (1943,) the name of the area remained as Haleiwa, and it continues to be called that today.

The image shows Waialua Female Seminary (1865.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Moku

Prior to European contact, each of the major islands or independent chiefdoms in the Hawaiian chain comprised a mokupuni (island.) Over the centuries, as the ancient Hawaiian population grew, land use and resource management also evolved.

The traditional land division of pre-contact Hawaiians was based on the sustainability and self-reliance within ahupuaʻa (community watershed areas) as well as within larger regions (moku) and lastly individual sovereign islands (mokupuni.)

The mokupuni were subdivided into land units of varying sizes, and the largest division was the moku (district – literally: interior island,) administered by high-ranking chiefs.

They were either relatives of the high chief of the island, trusted supporters or high ranking individuals who pledged their support to the high chief but were allowed to remain relatively independent.

Each island was divided into several moku or districts, of which there are six in the island of Hawaiʻi, and the same number in Oʻahu. There is a district called Kona on the lee side and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island.  (Alexander)

It appears that the six districts on the islands of O‘ahu and Hawai‘i, and the system of developing smaller manageable units of land became formalized in the reigns of Māʻilikūkahi and ʻUmi-a-Līloa, respectively (about the time Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic.)

Māʻilikūkahi is noted for clearly marking and reorganizing land division palena (boundaries) on O‘ahu.  Palena, or possibly an evolved term “palena ʻāina” are place boundaries.  (Beamer)

Defined palena brought greater productivity to the lands; lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity.

Fornander writes, “He caused the island to be thoroughly surveyed, and boundaries between differing divisions and lands be definitely and permanently marked out, thus obviating future disputes between neighboring chiefs and landholders.”

Kamakau tells a similar story, “When the kingdom passed to Māʻilikūkahi, the land divisions were in a state of confusion; the ahupuaʻa, the ku, the ʻili ʻāina, the moʻo ʻāina, the pauku ʻāina, and the kihapai were not clearly defined.”

“Therefore, Māʻilikūkahi ordered the chiefs, aliʻi, the lesser chiefs, kaukau aliʻi, the warrior chiefs, puʻali aliʻi, and the overseers (luna) to divide all of Oʻahu into moku, ahupuaʻa, ʻili kupono, ʻili ʻāina, and moʻo ʻāina.”

Malo gives a detailed description of the kuleana that a kālaimoku aliʻi who divided lands for Mōʻī had to fulfill:  “There are two important aspects in being a kālaimoku, to take care of the aliʻi, and to take care of the makaʻāinana, for these two reasons the kālaimoku guides the aliʻi at his side, with the careful attention to these two things, things were to be done properly.”  (Malo, Beamer)

What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries.)  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.

In the late-1400s, through warfare and alliances with other chiefs, ʻUmi gained control of the entire Island of Hawaiʻi. ʻUmi made himself the aliʻi nui, or high chief, for the whole island.

ʻUmi divided his island into separate moku, or districts. These moku were subdivided into smaller sections called ahupuaʻa.

In the time of ʻUmi, son of the great chief Līloa, the Hawaiian islands were divided into political regions. The four mokupuni (larger islands) of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Hawaiʻi were divided into moku (districts).

The smaller islands of Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe became moku of Maui, and Niʻihau a moku of Kauaʻi.

Traditionally, the Island of Kaua‘i was divided into five moku (districts): Haleleʻa, Kona, Koʻolau, Nāpali and Puna. However, after the battle of Wahiawa in 1824, the land of Kaua‘i was redistributed and district boundaries changed. The new district names became: Hanalei, Kawaihau, Līhuʻe, Kōloa and Waimea.  (Cultural Surveys)

For ease in collecting annual tribute, the moku were subdivided into ahupuaʻa, land sections that usually extended from the mountain summits down through fertile valleys to the outer edge of the reef in the sea (or if there was not reef, one-mile from shore.)

The size of the ahupuaʻa depended on the resources of the area with poorer agricultural regions split into larger ahupuaʻa to compensate for the relative lack of natural abundance. Each ahupuaʻa was ruled by an aliʻi or local chief and administered by a konohiki.

These natural land divisions were the result of the flow of water over the land (streams or springs.)

From the earliest days, streams were among the most important natural resources sought after by native Hawaiians. Battles were fought and lives sacrificed for the right to use stream water.

The Hawaiians called freshwater wai, and considered it to be sacred. People using wai from streams took only what was absolutely necessary. They were expected to share the wai with others. This was done without greed or selfishness.

Such practices gave Hawaiians their word for law which is kanawai, or the “equal sharing of water.” Water was so valuable to Hawaiians that they used the word “wai” to indicate wealth. Thus to signify abundance and prosperity, Hawaiians would say waiwai.

In keeping with this concept of wealth being fresh water, the traditional land tenure system in ancient Hawaii had at its very core the presence of streams, or kahawai. Although of many shapes and sizes, each ahupua’a consisted of three area types: mountain, plain and sea.

The image shows the Moku of Oʻahu (ksbe.) In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  Moku

Prior to European contact, each of the major islands or independent chiefdoms in the Hawaiian chain comprised a mokupuni (island.) Over the centuries, as the ancient Hawaiian population grew, land use and resource management also evolved.
The traditional land division of pre-contact Hawaiians was based on the sustainability and self-reliance within ahupuaʻa (community watershed areas) as well as within larger regions (moku) and lastly individual sovereign islands (mokupuni.)
The mokupuni were subdivided into land units of varying sizes, and the largest division was the moku (district – literally: interior island,) administered by high-ranking chiefs.
They were either relatives of the high chief of the island, trusted supporters or high ranking individuals who pledged their support to the high chief but were allowed to remain relatively independent.
Each island was divided into several moku or districts, of which there are six in the island of Hawaiʻi, and the same number in Oʻahu. There is a district called Kona on the lee side and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island.  (Alexander)
It appears that the six districts on the islands of O‘ahu and Hawai‘i, and the system of developing smaller manageable units of land became formalized in the reigns of Māʻilikūkahi and ʻUmi-a-Līloa, respectively (about the time Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic.)
Māʻilikūkahi is noted for clearly marking and reorganizing land division palena (boundaries) on O‘ahu.  Palena, or possibly an evolved term “palena ʻāina” are place boundaries.  (Beamer)
Defined palena brought greater productivity to the lands; lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity.
Fornander writes, “He caused the island to be thoroughly surveyed, and boundaries between differing divisions and lands be definitely and permanently marked out, thus obviating future disputes between neighboring chiefs and landholders.”
Kamakau tells a similar story, “When the kingdom passed to Māʻilikūkahi, the land divisions were in a state of confusion; the ahupuaʻa, the ku, the ʻili ʻāina, the moʻo ʻāina, the pauku ʻāina, and the kihapai were not clearly defined.”
“Therefore, Māʻilikūkahi ordered the chiefs, aliʻi, the lesser chiefs, kaukau aliʻi, the warrior chiefs, puʻali aliʻi, and the overseers (luna) to divide all of Oʻahu into moku, ahupuaʻa, ʻili kupono, ʻili ʻāina, and moʻo ʻāina.”
Malo gives a detailed description of the kuleana that a kālaimoku aliʻi who divided lands for Mōʻī had to fulfill:  “There are two important aspects in being a kālaimoku, to take care of the aliʻi, and to take care of the makaʻāinana, for these two reasons the kālaimoku guides the aliʻi at his side, with the careful attention to these two things, things were to be done properly.”  (Malo, Beamer)
What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries.)  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.
In the late-1400s, through warfare and alliances with other chiefs, ʻUmi gained control of the entire Island of Hawaiʻi. ʻUmi made himself the aliʻi nui, or high chief, for the whole island.
ʻUmi divided his island into separate moku, or districts. These moku were subdivided into smaller sections called ahupuaʻa.
In the time of ʻUmi, son of the great chief Līloa, the Hawaiian islands were divided into political regions. The four mokupuni (larger islands) of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Hawaiʻi were divided into moku (districts).
The smaller islands of Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe became moku of Maui, and Niʻihau a moku of Kauaʻi.
Traditionally, the Island of Kaua‘i was divided into five moku (districts): Haleleʻa, Kona, Koʻolau, Nāpali and Puna. However, after the battle of Wahiawa in 1824, the land of Kaua‘i was redistributed and district boundaries changed. The new district names became: Hanalei, Kawaihau, Līhuʻe, Kōloa and Waimea.  (Cultural Surveys)
For ease in collecting annual tribute, the moku were subdivided into ahupuaʻa, land sections that usually extended from the mountain summits down through fertile valleys to the outer edge of the reef in the sea (or if there was not reef, one-mile from shore.)
The size of the ahupuaʻa depended on the resources of the area with poorer agricultural regions split into larger ahupuaʻa to compensate for the relative lack of natural abundance. Each ahupuaʻa was ruled by an aliʻi or local chief and administered by a konohiki.
These natural land divisions were the result of the flow of water over the land (streams or springs.)
From the earliest days, streams were among the most important natural resources sought after by native Hawaiians. Battles were fought and lives sacrificed for the right to use stream water.
The Hawaiians called freshwater wai, and considered it to be sacred. People using wai from streams took only what was absolutely necessary. They were expected to share the wai with others. This was done without greed or selfishness.
Such practices gave Hawaiians their word for law which is kanawai, or the “equal sharing of water.” Water was so valuable to Hawaiians that they used the word “wai” to indicate wealth. Thus to signify abundance and prosperity, Hawaiians would say waiwai.
In keeping with this concept of wealth being fresh water, the traditional land tenure system in ancient Hawaii had at its very core the presence of streams, or kahawai. Although of many shapes and sizes, each ahupua’a consisted of three area types: mountain, plain and sea.
The image shows the Moku of Oʻahu (ksbe.) In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.