Kamehameha I

King

  • Born: c. 1758
  • Birthplace: Halawa, North Kohala, the island of Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands
  • Died: May 8, 1819
  • Place of death: Kailua, Hawaii

King of the Hawaiian Islands (r. 1804-1819)

Through his prowess, astute leadership in battle, and adroit use of European advisers, ships, and weapons, Kamehameha overcame his rival and united the Hawaiian Islands for the first time in their history. In the process, he made himself their king and founded a dynasty that helped the islands preserve their independence from European and American rule through most of the nineteenth century.

Areas of achievement Government and politics, military

Early Life

Because Kamehameha (kah-may-HAH-may-HAH)—whose Hawaiian name means the “lonely one” or the “silent one”—was born before the European arrival in the Hawaiian Islands, and therefore before there were any written records, scholars must rely on native tradition for information about his birth. Estimates of his birth year vary from 1736 to 1758, but the modern consensus favors 1758. Kamehameha’s mother was Kekuiapoiwa, and his father was Keoua, although there is a story that his real father was Kahekili, king of Maui.

Kamehameha was described by European contemporaries as being well over six feet tall, athletically built, and savage in appearance. He was a member of the chiefly caste, the alii, who ruled despotically over the common people. The alii were considered to have descended directly from the gods and possessed varying degrees of divinity. The highest alii were those who were born to a high-ranking chief and his sister—a system reminiscent of ancient Egypt. Hawaiians worshiped a number of gods, including Kane, the god of creation; Ku, the war god; and Lono, the fertility god. Life was governed by many prohibitions and strict rules for behavior known as the kapu (taboo). A priestly caste had charge of worship in the heiau, or open stone temples.

Kamehameha’s father, Keoua, died young, and from then on Kamehameha was reared at the court of his uncle, Kalaniopuu, the king of Hawaii. It was during this period that Captain James Cook happened upon the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the Sandwich Islands in honor of John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich. Cook came first to Kauai and Niihau in 1778, and in 1779 entered Kealakekua Bay near Kailua on the lee side of Hawaii. The Hawaiians at first considered Cook to be the god Lono, but an unfortunate series of events disillusioned them, and he was killed in a skirmish on the shore of Kealakekua Bay. Kamehameha accompanied Kalaniopuu during a visit to one of Cook’s ships and even spent the night there, but he seems not to have been present when Cook died.

Life’s Work

When Kalaniopuu died, he left the kingship to his son Kiwalao, who undertook a system of land distribution unfavorable to Kamehameha and the other chiefs of Kona. After a bloody battle at Mokuohai in 1782 in which Kiwalao was killed, and with the assistance of an eruption of the volcano Kilauea that wreaked havoc with other opposing forces and showed them that Pele (the goddess of volcanoes) was against them, Kamehameha gained control over all of Hawaii.

When King Kahekili died in 1794, he controlled all the islands of the Hawaiian chain except Hawaii, Kauai, and Niihau. With the assistance of foreign ships and weapons, Kamehameha soon conquered Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe. In 1795 he proceeded to Oahu—which now had Kalanikupule, Kahekili’s brother, as its king—and landed his forces at Waikiki and Waialae. They drove Kalanikupule’s forces up the Nuuanu Valley and forced the bulk of them to fall to their deaths from cliffs. Kalanikupule escaped but was later captured and sacrificed to the war god Kukailimoku.

Kamehameha now ruled all the Hawaiian Islands except for Kauai. He soon started preparations for an invasion of Kauai, and in the spring of 1796, he headed toward the island with a large flotilla of canoes. However, rough seas forced him to turn back and postpone his invasion. Hearing that a rebellion was taking place in Hawaii, he returned there to squelch it. He spent the next six years in Hawaii, during which time he assembled a formidable fleet of double canoes and a number of small schooners constructed by European carpenters. With these ships and a large supply of European weapons, he sailed to Oahu in 1804. However, his invasion plans were frustrated again, this time by a terrible plague (probably cholera) that was brought by foreign ships. The population of Oahu was devastasted, and large numbers of Kamehameha’s army also succumbed. Kamehameha himself was stricken but managed to survive.

Kamehameha continued to plan his invasion of Kauai and even acquired a large ship, the Lelia Byrd, to lead the assault. He also entered into negotiations with the island’s king, Kaumualii, to solve the problem without battle. An American captain, Nathan Winship, persuaded the two kings to meet on board his ship, the O’Cain, and Kaumualii submitted to Kamehameha’s sovereignty on the condition that he could retain his position until death.

Now Kamehameha reigned over all the islands, apparently the first to do so. He was an absolute dictator but used his power wisely. He divided up the lands in such a way that no chief had enough power to be tempted to rebel and appointed governors to administer each island. He issued decrees that made life safer and often worked at menial tasks to set an example for his people to follow. He appointed a Hawaiian named Kalanimoku (known as Billy Pitt after the British prime minister William Pitt) as chief executive officer.

During Kamehameha’s lifetime, foreign visitors to the Hawaiian Islands became increasingly numerous. The first ships to appear after Cook’s unfortunate visit were those captained by George Vancouver, who had been a member of Cook’s crew. Vancouver visited the islands in 1792, 1793, and 1794. He brought cattle and goats and other commodities to the islands but refused to provide any arms. He persuaded Kamehameha to cede the Hawaiian Islands to Britain, although Kamehameha apparently believed that he was entering into a defensive alliance in the hope that he would get help against his enemies. In any event, Britain made no effort to follow through, but a close connection between Britain and the “Sandwich Islands” continued. This is symbolized by the Hawaiian flag, which bears the Union Jack in the upper left corner.

Although most of the ships that visited Hawaii during this period were traders searching to replenish their ships, there were occasional visits of a different stripe. Anton Schäffer, a German surgeon in the employ of the Russian-American Company, was sent to Hawaii to recover or receive compensation for a Russian cargo lost from a ship wrecked off Kauai. Schäffer got grandiose ideas and attempted, with the help of Kaumualii, to establish Russian outposts in Kauai and Oahu. He was repulsed by the Hawaiians with the assistance of the Americans in Honolulu and was forced to make his escape by hiding on a ship to Canton.

When the Europeans first visited the Hawaiian Islands, they were able to obtain valuable goods from the native Hawaiians for baubles or for small pieces of iron, which were especially prized because they could be made into fishhooks or daggers. Fresh water, hogs, and other food items were needed. As time went by, the Hawaiians became aware of the value of their commodities, and prices went up accordingly. Kamehameha himself secured great amounts of goods in barter and even large amounts of hard money, which he retained in storehouses in Kailua, Lahaina, and Honolulu.

Kamehameha had a total of twenty-one wives, but his favorite was Kaahumanu, by whom he had no children. Kamehameha married Keopuolani for dynastic purposes when she was about thirteen years old. Keopuolani and Kamehameha had three children who survived, one of whom, Liholiho, was designated as the heir to the kingdom. Kamehameha spent most of his last years in Kailua, although he occasionally traveled to the other parts of his realm. In 1819, he contracted a malady that no one could cure, and on May 19, he died. His body was treated in the usual way for alii: His bones were stripped of their flesh and hidden somewhere in a cave by one of his faithful retainers.

Significance

Only a few monarchs in world history have received the appellation “great.” Kamehameha, by uniting all of the Hawaiian Islands under his sway and keeping his land independent of foreign dominance, probably deserves such a title. He was flexible enough to adapt to the changing times but still retained his way of life under the taboo system. If he was sometimes harsh and cruel by contemporary standards, he was also kind and generous. During his brief reign as Kamehameha II, his son Liholiho, upon the urging of Kaahumana (a kuhina nui, or prime minister), put a dramatic end to the taboo system by publicly eating with the women, which had been strictly forbidden. After Liholiho’s death (by measles during a trip to England), Kaahumanu remained as regent until Liholiho’s brother came of age, and she saw to it that the remnants of the taboo system were destroyed. In 1819, the same year that Kamehameha died, the missionaries came to Hawaii and transformed Hawaiian life forever.

Bibliography

Daws, Gavan. Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands. New York: Macmillan, 1968. Reprint. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1974. Daws’s book, the best one-volume history of Hawaii, contains an excellent section on Kamehameha and his times, starting with Cook’s discovery of the islands. It is very readable, with copious endnotes and an excellent bibliography.

Desha, Stephen. Kamehameha and His Warrior Kek-uhaupi’o. Translated by Frances N. Frazier. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 2000. Orginially published as a magazine serial in the Hawaiian language during the early 1920’s, this book recounts the epic tale of King Kamehameha and a warrior named Kek-uhaupi’o. An engaging saga for younger readers that includes a great deal of information about Hawaiian history and culture. Glossary and detailed index.

Kuykendall, Ralph S. The Hawaiian Kingdom 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1938. This first volume of Kuykendall’s monumental history of Hawaii contains an extensive account of Kamehameha’s life and the history of Hawaii since Cook’s appearance there. The book also includes an appendix discussing Kamehameha’s controversial birth year.

Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities. Translated by Nathaniel B. Emerson. 2d ed. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1951. This volume, written by a native Hawaiian in the Hawaiian language, was translated in 1898 by one of the great experts on Hawaiian culture. It contains a wealth of information about virtually every aspect of Hawaiian life before the European discovery, including old Hawaiian folktales and chants.

Mellen, Kathleen Dickenson. The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Kamehameha the Great of Hawaii. New York: Hastings House, 1949. This is a well-researched and readable biography. Mellen used oral sources of Hawaiian traditions along with written sources and was aided in her work by Kawena Pukui, a distinguished scholar of Hawaiian culture and language employed by the Bishop Museum. The book contains several useful maps, including one denoting the battle on Oahu that ended at Nuuanu Pali.

Morrison, Susan. Kamehameha: The Warrior King of Hawai’i. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. Brief biography written for younger readers.

Mrantz, Maxine. Hawaiian Monarchy: The Romantic Years. Honolulu: Aloha Graphics, 1973. This forty-seven-page booklet gives a quick summary of the monarchy by providing short biographies of all of the monarchs from Kamehameha I to Liliuokalani. It also contains portraits of all the monarchs, as well as other interesting photographs.

Tregaskis, Richard. The Warrior King: Hawaii’s Kamehameha the Great. New York: Macmillan, 1973. Tregaskis relies heavily on unauthenticated sources and his own imagination to write what amounts to a fictionalized biography. Nevertheless, the main facts are there, and the book contains genealogical tables, a map of the Hawaiian Islands, sixteen pages of reproductions of contemporary paintings, and a useful bibliography.

January 24, 1895: Hawaii’s Last Monarch Abdicates.