Sandalwood | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 14, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Liholiho – Kamehameha II

Liholiho was born circa 1797 in Hilo, on the island of Hawaiʻi, the eldest son of Kamehameha I and his highest-ranking consort Queen Keōpūolani.

Kamehameha the Great died in 1819, and Liholiho officially inherited the role of King; however, Ka‘ahumanu would serve as kuhina nui (the rough equivalent of the 19th-century European office of Prime Minister.)

His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o Kaiwikapu o Laʻamea i Kauikawekiu Ahilapalapa Kealiʻi Kauinamoku o Kahekili Kalaninui i Mamao ʻIolani i Ka Liholiho when he took the throne.

Liholiho had five wives, Kamāmalu, Kekāuluohi, Kalanipauahi, Kekauʻōnohi and Kīna‘u; he had no children with any of his wives.

The new king was generally well-liked and admired. As one American missionary observed, “There is nothing particularly striking about his countenance, but his figure is noble, perhaps more so than that of any other chief; his manners polite and easy, and his whole deportment that of a gentleman.”

Kamehameha II is best remembered for the ‘Ai Noa, the breaking of the ancient kapu (taboo) system of religious laws six months into his reign when he sat down with Kaʻahumanu and his mother Keōpūolani and ate a meal together.

The religious and political code of old Hawai‘i, collectively called the kapu system, was abolished.

While the islands were united by his father, after the abolition of the kapu, Keaoua Kekuaokalani (Liholiho’s cousin) led the forces supporting the ancient Hawaiian religion; Kekuaokalani, his wife Manono and his warriors were overwhelmed. Lekeleke Burial Grounds, 7 miles south of Kailua, commemorates the battle.

Sandalwood was an important export at the time. In 1819, Liholiho ended the controls on harvesting ‘iliahi initiated by his father. In their rush to collect wood, the chiefs ordered even young trees to be cut down.

New trees were not planted to replace those cut down. Soon there was little ʻiliahi worth gathering in Hawaiʻi. As the supply dwindled the trading of ʻiliahi came to an end.

On April 4, 1820, the initial group of missionaries came to Hawai‘i and Liholiho granted them permission to stay in the Hawaiian Islands.

Later, in 1820, Liholiho bought a Royal Yacht known as Cleopatra’s Barge in exchange for reportedly 1-million pounds of sandalwood; he renamed the yacht Ha‘aheo o Hawaii (Pride of Hawaiʻi).

Kamehameha II was quite proud of his ship; in the words of Charles Bullard, the agent for the ship-owner: “If you want to know how Religion stands at the Islands I can tell you; all sects are tolerated but the King worships the Barge.”

Whaling soon replaced the sandalwood trade of ʻiliahi wood in economic importance. It lasted about fifty years, from 1820 to 1870. During this time Hawaiʻi provided support services to the whaling ships; people grew crops and sold fresh fruits, vegetables and salted-meat to the ships.

Liholiho’s reign was also noted for his efforts to ensure the lasting independence of the Hawaiian kingdom. In 1823, Liholiho and his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, sailed to England to meet with King George IV, the first Ali‘i to travel to England.

King George IV scheduled a meeting for June 21, but it had to be delayed; Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill. The Hawaiian court had caught measles, to which they had no immunity.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School).

Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers’ children.

On the 8th of July the Queen died at half-past six in the evening from inflammation of the lungs. A few days later, King Liholiho died. His reign was approximately 5-years.

The moments just before he died, he said faintly: “Farewell to you all – I am dead, I am happy.”

Then upon their arrival back to Hawai‘i, in consultation between the Kuhina Nui, Ka‘ahumanu, and other high chiefs, and telling them about Westminster Abbey and the underground burial crypts they had seen there, it was decided to build a mausoleum building on the grounds of the royal palace.

The Sacred Mound (previously a stone mausoleum) – Pohukaina – was constructed in 1825 to house the remains of Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and his consort, Queen Kamāmalu.

The mausoleum was a small eighteen-by-twenty-four foot Western style structure made of white-washed coral blocks with a thatched roof; it had no windows.

Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu were buried on August 23, 1825. The name ‘Pohukaina’ begins to be used to reference the site at the time of their burial. (Pohukaina – is translated as “Pohu-ka-ʻāina” (the land is quiet and calm.))

For the next forty years, this royal tomb and the land immediately surrounding it became the final resting place for the kings of Hawai‘i, their consorts and important chiefs of the kingdom.

March 13, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sandalwood Era

“When the first people arrived in Hawai’i by canoe, Sandalwood (‘iliahi) grew abundantly. They found medicinal and other practical uses for the tree, including using the pulverized wood to scent bark cloth used for clothing and bedding.” (Elisabeth C. Miller Library)

“The Hawaiian people were familiar with the pleasant aroma of the iliahi. They called its wood laau ala (or laau aala), meaning “fragrant wood,” and they sprinkled finely powdered heartwood on their kapa or bark doth to perfume it.” (St John)

“For centuries the sandalwood, with its pleasantly fragrant dried heartwood, was much sought for. In the Orient, particularly in China, Burma, and India, the wood was used for the making of idols and sacred utensils for shrines, choice boxes and carvings, fuel for funeral pyres, and joss sticks to be burnt in temples.”

“The distilled oil was used in numerous medicines, perfumes, and cosmetics, and as a body rub. The thick oil pressed from the seed was used as illuminating oil.” (St John)

“The fragrant wood was a principal commodity of the American China traders, prized by the Chinese mainly for incense but also for furniture and craft objects.” (Johnston) “White men also traded along the Northwest Coast for furs and other goods, stopping in Hawaii to replenish their ships before sailing to the market in Canton.” (Kashay)

“The islands’ animals, fruits, and vegetable could only go so far in paying for the silks, satins, china, furniture, and other goods that the chiefs desired.”

“At the same time, American and British businessmen’s need to sell items in order to gain wealth persisted. The discovery of sandalwood at the islands made it possible for both these needs and desires to be met.” (Kashay)

“The early 19th century in the Hawaiian Islands is known as the ‘Sandalwood Era,’ where it is estimated that as many as 90% of Hawaiian sandalwood trees were felled and exchanged for ships and supplies. As a result, most Hawaiian sandalwood taxa are now rare or threatened”. (Harbaugh etal)

“American and British merchants exchanged guns, powder, cloth, glass, and New England rum for Hawaiian sandalwood. In turn, they traded the fragrant wood to the Chinese for silk, china, furniture, and the like.” (Kashay)

While the chiefs “could consume the goods their people produced without remuneration, capitalists required payment. The islands’ animals, fruits, and vegetable could only go so far in paying for the silks, satins, china, furniture, and other goods that the chiefs desired.”

“From 1790 to 1810 sandalwood may have been exported, but if so, in very small quantity, for little record is found.” (St John) “The sandalwood era started in 1804 and lasted until about 1842.” (Seto Levin)

“Then, in 1809, two brothers, the American ship captains Jonathan Winship of the “Albatross” and Nathan Winship of the “O’Cain,” started on a voyage that established the sandalwood trade.”

“After trading for furs on the coast of Oregon, they sailed in October, 1811, for Honolulu, where they and Captain William Heath Davis of the “Isabella” took on cargoes of sandalwood. The ships sailed to Canton, where the fragrant wood was sold at a large profit.”

“Returning to Honolulu, the three captains persuaded King Kamehameha I to grant them a monopoly of the sandalwood and cotton trade for 10 years. Loading five ships, the three captains sailed to Canton and thus established a highly remunerative traffic.” (St John)

“(W)hen the captains returned to Honolulu they found Kamehameha unfriendly. He canceled their trade monopoly and refused to renew it …. Thereafter, though no longer a trader’s monopoly, the sandalwood trade developed rapidly and throve from 1815 to 1826 … The wood was marketed in China by the picul (133 1/3-pounds) and its value fluctuated from $3.00 to $18.00.” (St John)

“[T]he sandalwood trade reached its peak between 1810-1819. During these years, plenty of good quality wood could be found in the easily accessible lowlands of the islands. This timber fetched a high price in China, somewhere between a $120-$ 150 a ton. “With his monopoly of the trade, Kamehameha I could net as much as $300,000 or more annually.” (Kashay)

“But, by the 1820s, the supply of sandalwood had diminished. Excessive cutting of the timber had reduced the Hawaiians to searching for stands of the fragrant wood in the inaccessible mountains at the center of the islands. Generally, this wood proved inferior to that which had been previously logged.” (Kashay)

“By the 1820s, the whaling industry brought more western men to the islands. They arrived either to replenish their vessels or to sell goods to those who did. In all of these cases, the lure of great wealth led westerners to settle permanently.” (Kashay)

“As the exchange in sandalwood declined in the late 1820s, the resident foreign merchants made up for their lost revenues by increasing their trade in provisions with the new whale fleets that were cruising the Pacific.” (Kashay)

“The successive Hawaiian kings at first followed the example of the shrewd Kamehameha I and kept sandalwood as a royal monopoly, but later they shared it with the higher chiefs.” (St John)

“As with the Native American fur trade, the sandalwood trade allowed the chiefs to buy western goods on credit. (Kashay) In the Islands, “Business seems to have been conducted, to a very considerable extent, by barter.”

“Sandal wood was the chief article, indeed it might almost have been called the standard coin, although Spanish silver more nearly reached that definition. There is constant mention of sticks or piculs of the wood, but none of money.” (Hunnewell)

“As the king bought greater and greater quantities of imported goods, his demands for sandalwood in taxes became greater and more frequent.” (St John)

“All the inhabitants able to go were ordered into the hills in search of the precious wood. The trees were cut down and chopped into logs 6 to 8 feet long; then with adzes the bark and sapwood were chipped off.”

“Men and women tied the logs to their backs with the fibrous leaves of the ti and trudged to the measuring pit or to the shore.” (St John) There were “frequent and unannounced trips by chiefs throughout their lands to observe the local populations, direct their activities (such as sandalwood cutting)”. (Johnston)

“The tax levies increased, becoming more and more exacting, and as all chroniclers agree, they became an intolerable burden on the people. As the easily accessible sandalwood stands had been felled, the people had to climb farther and farther into the wet, cold mountain forests and the quests were no longer like idyllic song fests.”

“The people were driven to the task, and many died of exposure in the mountains. While they were away in the interior, crops and taro patches were neglected, so that famine came to the islands and took its toll of the king’s subjects.” (St John)

“The advent of the sandalwood trade was not without consequence for the whole society. External trade formerly consisted of the exchange of food for iron and this trade did not overburden Hawaii’s subsistence economy.”

“But the collection of sandalwood for trade entailed diverting a large portion of the labour force from subsistence agriculture to the grueling task of cutting trees in the mountain forests and hauling them long distances to the seacoast.”

“A direct consequence of this diversion of labour was that many of the fields were left uncultivated and fishing virtually ceased and that whatever was cultivated was harvested for the ali’i and their konohiki ‘managers’; the makaainana went hungry.”

“Moreover the new use of labour reinforced the breach already existing between the makaainana and the ali’i. The ali’i now viewed the makaainana not as junior kinsmen but as a resource to be exploited.” (Seto Levin)

“The following are the regulations adopted and enforced by the Sandwich Island authorities, in December, 1826, for the purpose of raising revenue to discharge their debts due to citizens of the United States:”

“Every man is required to deliver a half picul of good sandalwood [a picul being 133 lbs.] to the governor of the district to which he belongs, on or before the 1st day of September, 1827; in case of not being able to procure the sandalwood, four Spanish dollars, or any property worth that sum, will be taken in payment.”

“No person, except those who are infirm, or too advanced an age to go to the mountains, will be exempted from this law. Every woman of the age of 13 years or upwards, is to pay a mat, 12 feet long and 6 wide, or tapa of equal value, (to such a mat,) or the sum of one Spanish dollar, on or before the 1st day of September, 1827….”

“Every man who shall proceed to the mountains for sandal-wood shall be at liberty to cut one pecul, and, on delivering half a pecul to the person appointed to receive it, shall be entitled to sell the other half, on his own account, to whomsoever he may think proper.” (Thomas AP Catesby Jones, Feb 4, 1845 Report No. 92)

“On one occasion we saw nearly two thousand persons, laden with fagots [bundles] of sandalwood, coming down from the mountains to deposit their burthens in the royal store houses, and then depart to their homes–wearied with their unpaid labors, yet unmurmuring in their bondage.”

“In fact, the condition of the common people is that of slaves; they hold nothing which may not be taken from them by the strong hand of arbitrary power, whether exercised by the sovereign or a petty chief. (Journal of Tyerman & Bennet, April 18, 1822)

“Even in the time of Kamehameha I the sandalwood had been much depleted, so that this monarch put a kapu (ban) on the cutting of young trees.” (St John)

By 1849, “The Oahu Sandal-wood, the Iliahi, or Laau ala (fragrant wood) of the Hawaiians, is now to be found in only one place, called Kuaohe, where it grows on the slopes of hills, close to the sea.” (Seemann, in Journal of Botany)

“Of the splendid groves, with the produce of which formerly so many ships were laden, but a few isolated bushes, which do not exceed three feet in height and an inch in diameter, remain, and these would probably disappear had they not been protected by the law, and thus escaped being converted into fuel.” (Seemann, in Journal of Botany)

January 22, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻIliahi

Sandalwood (ʻiliahi) has been highly prized and in great demand through the ages; its use for incense is part of the ritual of Buddhism. Chinese used the fragrant heart wood for incense, medicinal purposes, for architectural details and carved objects.

Sandalwood was first recognized as a commercial product in Hawai‘i in 1791 by Captain Kendrick of the Lady Washington, when he instructed sailors to collect cargo of sandalwood. From that point on, it became a source of wealth in the islands, until it’s supply was ultimately exhausted.

Trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item.

Waimea Bay became the sandalwood capital during the 1800s. Huge cargo ships would anchor offshore to load sandalwood.

Sandalwood trade was a turning point in Hawai‘i, especially related to its economic structure. It moved Hawai‘i from a self-sufficient economy to a commercial economy. This started a series of other economic and export activities across the islands.

In 1809, two brothers, the American ship captains Jonathan Winship of the “Albatross” and Nathan Winship of the “O’Cain,” started on a voyage that established the sandalwood trade.

After trading for furs on the coast of Oregon, they sailed in October, 1811, for Honolulu, where they and Captain William Heath Davis of the “Isabella” took on cargoes of sandalwood.

The ships sailed to Canton, where the fragrant wood was sold at a large profit. Returning to Honolulu, the three captains persuaded King Kamehameha I to grant them a monopoly of the sandalwood and cotton trade for 10 years. However, after the first trip, Kamehameha cancelled the arrangement. (St John)

In 1811, an agreement between Boston ship captains and Kamehameha I established a monopoly on sandalwood exports, with Kamehameha receiving 25% of the profits. As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition.

Kamehameha used Western cannons and guns to great advantage in his unification of the Islands and also acquired Western-style ships, buying the brig Columbia for a price of two ship loads of sandalwood in 1817.

Between about 1810 and 1820, the major item of Hawaiian trade was sandalwood. Kamehameha I rigidly maintained control of the trade until his death in 1819, at which time his son, Liholiho, took over control.

When Kamehameha I died, although Liholiho (his son and successor) should have inherited all of Kamehameha’s lands, the chiefs also wanted the revenue from the sandalwood.

Chiefs persuaded the king to give them an in on the royal sandalwood monopoly; trade continued at an accelerated rate, following Kamehameha’s death.

In America, the Panic of 1819 (the first financial crisis in the United States) made it difficult for traders to obtain sandalwood for the China trade.

However, because the Hawaiian chiefs had become enamored of items of foreign manufacture, the islands provided an open market for goods like rum, clothing, cloth, furnishings and a host of other things.

Foreign traders shipped these goods to the islands, exchanging them for sandalwood, which continued to be in demand in China.

It was Hawaii’s first source of revenue and major debt. Credit secured by payment in sandalwood saddled the Hawaiian Chiefs and the Islands’ struggling economy.

In 1826, the kingdom of Hawaiʻi enacted its first written law – a sandalwood tax. Every man was ordered to deliver to the government 66 pounds of sandalwood, or pay four Spanish dollars, by September 1, 1827.

Every woman older than 13 was obligated to make a 12-by-6-foot kapa cloth. The taxes were collected to reduce the staggering debt.

The common people were displaced from their agricultural and fishing duties and all labor was diverted to harvesting sandalwood. This period saw two major famines as ʻiliahi was over-harvested to the point of commercial extinction in Hawaiʻi forests.

Unfortunately, the harvesting of the trees was not sustainably managed (they cut whatever they could, they didn’t replant) and over-harvesting of ‘iliahi took place.

By 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed. Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from India and other areas in the Pacific drove down the price in China and made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.

Once reported as growing on landscape scales, today, there are only remnant patches of ‘iliahi. Several are trying to bring sandalwood back.

September 1, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Coffin Jones Jr

John Coffin Jones Jr was the only son of a prominent Boston businessman (in mercantile and shipping business) and politician. (John C Jones Sr served as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was legislative colleague of John Quincy Adams (and one of the signors for Massachusetts of the Ratification of the US Constitution for that State.))

Young Jones was born in 1796 in Massachusetts and seems to have gone to sea at an early age. He left to work in the sandalwood trade under Captain Dixey Wildes. (Kelley)

Jones (also known in Hawaiian documents as John Aluli) was appointed US Agent for Commerce and Seamen on September 19, 1820. When he acknowledged his commission as Agent for Commerce and Seamen, he mentioned two previous voyages he had made to Canton and an extended visit to the Sandwich Islands. (State Department)

He began to serve in October of 1820, at the port of Honolulu. As Agent for Commerce and Seamen, Jones became the ﬁrst ofﬁcial US representative in the Hawaiian Islands. His role was to help distressed American citizens ashore, both seamen and civilians, serving without salary from the US government and required to report on commerce in Hawai‘i.

(The post of commercial agent was raised to Consul effective July 5, 1844, and held by Peter A. Brinsmade, who had already been appointed commercial agent on April 13, 1838.)

Jones was already agent for the prosperous Boston firm of Marshall and Wildes (one of four American mercantile houses doing business in Honolulu,) and by accepting the additional responsibility from his country, the firm and he might hope that through his reports to Washington the voice of commerce in the Pacific would be heard more clearly by the US Government. (Hackler)

When Jones arrived in 1821 the sandalwood trade with China was still thriving. King Kamehameha I had monopolized, the cutting and exporting of sandalwood during his reign, but after his death in 1819, Kamehameha II was unable to enforce the conservation policies of his father, and unrestricted cutting of sandalwood soon threatened to deplete the hillsides of this rare wood.

But, while the wood lasted and the market held up in Canton, the American merchants in Honolulu competed fiercely with each other for the valuable cargoes, and pressed on the Hawaiians all sorts of goods which were to be paid for in sandalwood. (Hackler)

He was considered an advocate for commercial interests in Hawaiʻi and immediately collided with the missionary group led by Rev. Hiram Bingham. For the next couple of decades he contended for commercial advantages for the US. He set up his own trading firm in 1830 and made many voyages to California during the next ten years. (Kelley)

“Since the discovery of the whale fishery on the coast of Japan, and the independence of the republics of the western coasts of North and South America, the commerce of the United States at the Sandwich islands has vastly increased.”

“Of such importance have these islands become to our ships which resort to the coast of Japan for the prosecution of the whale fishery, that, without another place could be found, possessing equal advantages of conveniences and situation, our fishery on Japan would be vastly contracted, or pursued under circumstances the most disadvantageous.” (Jones, to Captain Wm B Finch, October 30, 1829)

As US Agent for Seamen, Jones had a burdensome responsibility. Many seamen were put ashore because of illness, and they became the special concern of Jones. This was a responsibility and an expense.

In his first report to the Secretary of State on December 31, 1821, Jones complained of the commanders of American ships who were in the habit of discharging troublesome seamen at Honolulu and taking on Hawaiian hands. (Hackler)

In addition, Jones reported to the Department that 30,000 piculs of sandalwood were sent to China in American ships that year, and estimated that the price for this wood in Canton should be about $300,000. The Hawaiian chiefs were becoming increasingly indebted to the American merchants in Honolulu and payment was slow in coming.

To add to his burden, in 1822-23 the crews of three wrecked American vessels were brought to the islands; in 1825 he explained his disbursements at Honolulu on behalf of seamen as being very heavy, as many men were put ashore without funds. (Hackler)

“The number of hands generally comprising the Company of a whale ship will average Twenty Five; and owing to the want of discipline, the length and the ardourous duties of the voyage, these people generally become dissatisfied and are willing at any moment to join a rebellion or desert the first opportu(nity) that may offer;”

“- this has been fully exemplified in the whale ships that have visited these islands, constant disertions have taken place and many serious mutinies both contributing to protract and frequently ruin the voyage.” (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

He wrote that the only solution was the posting of a US naval vessel at Honolulu, at least during the periods between March and May, and October and December, when the whalers gathered at the port. (Hackler)

The service of Jones as consular agent in Honolulu put him in the middle of a number of commercial and political causes. Both as government representative and private trader during a formative period, he was an energetic figure and is credited with leadership in opening trade between Hawaiʻi and Spanish California.

By 1829, Jones seemed to have fallen out of favor with the Hawaiian rulers. At that time the King and the principal chiefs addressed a protest to Captain Finch of the USS Vincennes, accusing Jones of maltreating a native and lying about royal morals. (Hackler)

Jones’ several marriages caused additional concern. He married Hannah Jones Davis, widow of his partner, William Heath Davis Sr, in 1823. His younger stepson, William Heath Davis, Jr, became a prominent California businessman.

Jones continued to live with Hannah but also lived with Lahilahi Marin, daughter of Don Francisco Marin, and had children by both. In 1838, he married Manuela Carrillo of Santa Barbara, California and deserted Hannah and Lahilahi.

In December, 1838, returning from one of his periodic business trips to California, he introduced Manuela as his wife. This apparently enraged Hannah Holmes Jones, who promptly petitioned the Hawaiian Government for a divorce on grounds of bigamy.

The charge was upheld by the King and led to his writing Jones on January 8, 1839, that “… I refuse any longer to know you as consul from the United States of America.” (Kamehameha III; Hacker)

Jones left the Islands and settled in Santa Barbara in 1839 and continued as a merchant both in California and Massachusetts. He died on December 24, 1861, leaving his wife and six children. (Kelley)

The image shows Honolulu Harbor in 1826 (with the Dolphin in the harbor. (Massey))

July 24, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Enters the Global Economy

Beginning well before 1600, the North American fur trade was the earliest global economic enterprise. The North American fur trade was a response to declining populations of fur-bearing animals in Western Europe and the cost of purchasing and importing furs from Russia.

Eventually, all of the North American colonies, even the Carolinas, produced some furs for markets in Europe, and there was a lively trade in furs and deer hides out of Louisiana, but the best furs were to be obtained north of the Great Lakes.

Then, from 1775-1783, war was waging on the eastern side of the continent. The main result was an American victory and European recognition of the independence of the United States.

When US independence closed the colonial trade routes within the British empire, the merchantmen and whalers of New England swarmed around the Horn (around southern Africa), in search of new markets and sources of supply.

Supplying Explorers and Traders

The opening of the China trade was the first and most spectacular result of this enterprise; the establishment of trading relations with Hawai‘i followed shortly.

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China. The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States.

Needing supplies in their journey, the traders soon realized they could economically barter for provisions in Hawai‘i; for instance any type of iron, a common nail, chisel or knife, could fetch far more fresh fruit meat and water than a large sum of money would in other ports.

A triangular trade network emerged linking the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands to Britain and the United States (especially New England).

The Hawaiian Islands first entered the international economic scene in the latter-18th century when its ports and favorable climate made the Islands an ideal winter harbor and stopover for merchant ships, whalers and explorers’ vessels who needed to replenish food and water supplies, or make necessary repairs. (Duncan)

Practically every vessel that visited the North Pacific in the closing years of the 18th century stopped at Hawai‘i for refreshment and recreation.

Fur trading on the coast remained profitable from the 1780s into the 1820s, but the successful trade in furs depended entirely on the locale. Some parts of the coast, such as Nootka Sound and Clayoquot Sound, witnessed a complete collapse of the sea otter population after only a decade of intense hunting. (Igler)

Sandalwood

It was not until the opening years of the 19th that the sandalwood business became a recognized branch of trade. Trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item.

Between about 1810 and 1820, the major item of Hawaiian trade was sandalwood. Sandalwood, geography and fresh provisions made the Islands a vital link in a closely articulated trade route between Boston, the Northwest Coast, and Canton, China.

Whaling

From the 16th century through the 19th century, whale oil was used principally as lamp fuel and for producing soap. (Britannica)

The over-fishing of “on shore” New England whales in the 1700s forced local whalers to venture “offshore”, journeying further west in search of their lucrative prey.

The first New England whalers rounded Cape Horn in 1791, and fished off both the Chilean and Peruvian coasts. Many sailed around South America and onward to Japan and the Arctic.

In 1819, the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and the Nantucket whaler Equator became the first American whalers to visit Hawai‘i. A year later, Captain Joseph Allen discovered large concentrations of sperm whales off the coast of Japan, setting off an exodus of whalers to this area.

These ships might have sought provisions in Japan, except that Japanese ports were closed to foreign ships. So Hawaiian ports became the major ports of call for whalers. (NPS)

When whaling was strong in the Pacific (starting in 1819 and running to 1859,) Hawaiʻi’s central location between America and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

The whaling industry had a major effect upon Hawaiian commerce and trade. As the Northwest fur trade decreased and sandalwood supplies and values dropped, the whaling industry began to fill the economic void.

Whaling had been “an economic force of awesome proportions in these Islands for more than forty years,” enabling King Kamehameha III to finally pay off the national debts accumulated in earlier years. (NPS)

Sugar

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully in the islands; sugar was a canoe crop.

It appears Cook was the first outsider to put sugarcane to use. One of his tools in his fight against scurvy (severe lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in your diet) was beer. Others later made rum from the sugarcane.

But beer and rum were not a typical sugar use. Since it was a crop that produced a choice food product that could be shipped to distant markets, its culture on a field scale was started in about 1800. Hawaiʻi had the basic natural resources needed to grow sugar: land, sun and water.

Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

What encouraged the development of plantations in Hawaiʻi? For one, the gold rush and settlement of California opened a lucrative market. Likewise, the Civil War virtually shut down Louisiana sugar production during the 1860s, enabling Hawai‘i to compete with elevated prices for sugar.

In addition, the Treaty of Reciprocity-1875 between the US and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i eliminated the major trade barrier to Hawai‘i’s closest and major market.

For nearly a century, agriculture was the state’s leading economic activity. It provided Hawai‘i’s major sources of employment, tax revenues and new capital through exports of raw sugar and other farm products. The industry came to maturity by the turn of the century; the industry peaked in the 1930s. (However, a majority of the plantations closed in the 1990s.)

As an economic entity, sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid‐19th century and became the principal industry in the islands, until it was succeeded by the visitor industry in 1960.

Pineapple

Christopher Columbus brought pineapple, native of South America, back to Europe as one of the exotic prizes of the New World. (‘Pineapple’ was given its English name because of its resemblance to a pine cone.)

Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian economy, there was also great demand at the time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco, and, later, canned pineapple.

The first profitable lot of canned pineapples in Hawai‘i was produced by Dole’s Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1903 and the industry grew rapidly from there. (Bartholomew)

The demand for canned pineapples grew exponentially in the US and in 1922, a revolutionary period in the history of Hawaiian pineapple; Dole bought the island of Lanai and established a vast 200,000-acre pineapple plantation to meet the growing demands.

Lanai throughout the entire 20th century produced more than 75% of world’s total pineapple. More land on the island of Maui was purchased by Dole.

Then, pineapple production on O‘ahu began a steady decline. In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed. The Dole Plantation tourist attraction, established in 1950 as a small fruit stand but greatly expanded in 1989 serves as a living museum and historical archive of Dole and pineapple in Hawai‘i.

Crossroads of the Pacific

As trade and commerce expanded across the Pacific, numerous countries were looking for faster passage and many looked to Nicaragua and Panama in Central America for possible dredging of a canal as a shorter, safer passage between the two Oceans.

Finally, in 1881, France started construction of a canal through the Panama isthmus. By 1899, after thousands of deaths (primarily due to yellow fever) and millions of dollars, they abandoned the project and sold their interest to the United States.

After Panamanian independence from Columbia in 1903, the US restarted construction of the canal in 1905. “The opening of the canal will increase Hawaii’s importance as a coaling and general calling station.”

“Tremendous new cargoes of supplies that will cross the Pacific, because of the canal, will need shelter and protection at a common port of supply – Honolulu.” (Hawai‘i Historical Review)

In 1912, this strategy and declaration was claimed in an article in ‘Paradise of the Pacific’ that Hawaiʻi was truly deserving of the name, “Crossroads of the Pacific”.

Before the Panama Canal was ‘officially’ opened for commerce (the canal officially opened on August 15, 1914), “The first commercial business handled by the canal was a shipload of sugar from Hawaii.” It was also “the first continuous ocean-to-ocean trip through the Panama Canal by any vessel.”

The first cargo ship passing westward through the Panama Canal to call at Honolulu was the American Hawaiian Steamship Company’s SS Missourian commanded by Captain Wm. Lyons, on September 16, 1914.

Visitor Industry

Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Don Francisco de Paula Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis … Closely arranged around the Marin home were the grass houses of his workers and the ‘guest houses’ of the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

In the late-1890s, with additional steamships to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing. When Hawaiʻi became a US territory (June 14, 1900,) it was drawing cruise ship travelers to the islands; they needed a place to stay.

By 1918, Hawai‘i had 8,000 visitors annually, and by the 1920s Matson Navigation Company ships were bringing an increasing number of wealthy visitors. This prompted a massive addition to the Moana. In 1918, two floors were added along with concrete wings on each side, doubling the size of the hotel.

Between 1950 and 1974, domestic and international visitor numbers shot up to more than 2-million from less than 50,000. Statehood and the arrival of jet-liner air travel brought unprecedented expansion and construction, in Waikīkī and across the Islands.

On March 21, 1927, Hawai‘i’s first airport was established in Honolulu and dedicated to Rodgers. 1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day make-up of Hawai‘i, (1) Statehood and (2) jet-liner service between the mainland US and Honolulu (Pan American Airways Boeing 707.) The Visitor Industry remains the primary economic force in the Islands.

A total of 10,424,995 visitors came to Hawaii in 2019 (another record number). That’s more than seven times the state’s population. Tourism represents roughly a quarter of Hawai‘i’s economy.

Resident concerns and impacts of COVID have shifted Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s focus with more emphasis to address tourism’s impacts. This shift recognizes the need for tourism to provide both a quality visitor experience and enhanced quality of life for Hawai‘i residents.

Plans now call for re-balancing attention from mainly marketing to greater emphasis on ‘destination management’ and support for culture, community and multicultural programs, and natural resources. (HTA Strategic Plan)

Click HERE for an expanded discussion on Hawai‘i and its role in the global economy.