Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - In the Beginning (Part 1) The US GenWeb Archives provide genealogical and historical data to the general public without fee or charge of any kind. It is intended that this material not be used in a commercial manner. All submissions become part of the permanent collection. Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands " Keepers of the Culture " A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands by Darlene E. Kelley October 5, 2000 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Beginning-- part 1 Historians generally agree that the first settlers to the Hawaiian Islands arrived sometime around 600 A.D. These early Polynesians were part of a continuing eastward migration into the Pacific that started tens of thousands of years ago from the various Islands of Southwest Asia. Whether these early voyagers were forced to migrate because of warfare or food-supply problems, or whether they migrated out of spirit of adventure, the fact remains that their journeys covered great distances and often opposed the prevailing direction of trade winds and ocean currents. These skilled navigators and daring adventures often used chants to orally pass on the knowledge that they had learned about the wind, ocean currents, and the stars. Also believed by historians, is that these first settlers, who had traveled in large double hulled canoes, came from Tahiti or the islands near Tahiti because of these chants contain legends and names which identify with Islands in this region. These ancient Mariners sailed across thousand of miles of open Ocean, bringing with them various plants, and animals they would need to survive in the new lands. Some even came from the Marquez Islands, some 2,400 miles south of Hawaii Evidence suggests also a 2nd group of Polynesians arrived about 500 years later from the Society Islands. These peoples of the distant Islands all share their common roots. as reflected in their myths, chants, technology, and culturial traditions. The ancient civilization was a fuedal system which consisted of a highly cultivated upper class supported by an underpriviledged lower class. The highest authority resided with the King [ ali'i 'ai moku or ali'i nui ] , and he had absolute authority over all his subjects. A chief minister [ Kalaimoku or Kalanimoku ] organized and admnistered the political system and looked out for the interests of the common people. A high priest [ Kahuna nui ] conducted the important religious ceremonies and advised the King so that he would retain the favor of the gods. The chiefs [ Ali'i ] ruled over sections of land that the King had bestowed on them. The Kahunas were craftsmen / priests who specialized in various professions. And the common people, who made up the largest portion of the population and lived in subjection to the chiefs upon whose land they lived, were called maka'ainana. The Kauwa were the outcasts. The kapu [ tabu ] system regulated the daily lives of the people and insured the continuation of the class system. Throughout the centuries, wars were common place, usually arising out of disputes over succession or territory. Death, famine, and destuction accompanied these wars, causing much suffering among the people. But not all of Hawaii's past ali'i were warlords. Some ruled with compassion and wisdom. Others like 'Umi brought justice to their people. Lono introduced reforms in religion and government and used competitive games as a substitute for warfare. No single individual could unite all the islands into one kingdom until Kamehameha the Great accomplished that feat in the nineteenth century. Among all of Hawaii's chiefs, Kamehameha has been recognized as the most outstanding. The Kingdom that he founded, and contnued existance of that Kingdom make up the subject matter of my studies to introduce the Great peoples of Hawaii. The first peoples who came to Hawaii brought with them knowledge accumulated over thousands of years of settlement on Islands stretched across the largest mass of water on the face of the earth, untouched, and unspoiled by any other humans before them. They understood their pure and fragile surroundings and knew well that human posterity would depend on the well being of this environment. And so the Hawaiian's found life in coexisting with Nature, always acknowledging and ready to compliment her. Theirs was the privilege of giving the first breadth of human life to the land. The culture thrived in virtual isolation from disease and pests, maintaining and expressing itself dynamically in a purely oral language. Every Hawaiian wind and rain, cloud and sea, plant and animal, had a name and its rightful and purposeful place in human existance. Their minds was in tune with and sensitive to its own world, but, as proven in recent history, tragically susceptible to the onslaught of the outside world, blow by blow, beginning wih foreign diseases which devastated the native population and decreased it from 300.000 in the early years of first western contact to less than 50,000 some 95 years later. But now let us consider the earlier group of pioneer of Polynesians who left in various stages through a number of generations. By this time they were seaman of marked ability and courage. They used the single canoe for ordinary purposes but for voyages of any extent they used a second canoe in place of the outrigger float or ama. If they were acquainted with metals when they left Asia, their metal tools had long ago worn out and could not be replaced with iron. They fell back to stone to hew down trees and shape the wood into the seacraft they required. In coral atolls where there was no stone the shaped the shells of the Tridacna into adzes. To suppliment paddles, they used triangular sails plaited from the leaves of the Pandanus. They studied the signs of the skies and the currents of the ocean. They named the stars that gave them direction and they became acquainted with the winds which blew from various points. They had a calendar based on the stages of the monthly moons, and an annual cycle that counted from certain positions of the Pleides. They knew the seasons of the westerly winds and the run of the constant trades. They knew the hurricane season and so could divide the year into a period when it was unsafe to brave the sea, and good fortune might sit in the belly of their sails. Above all they had leaders who had a supreme confidence in themselves and an intelligent priesthood who could not only placate the gods, but, more important still could read the signs of the heavens from the stars, the moon, the Milky Way, and even the clouds as guiding signs across the trackless ocean. They gazed east at the hanging skies where heaven and earth met, and there grew up the urge to pierce through the land which they were convinced lay on the trail of a guiding star. Perhaps some push from behind sent an early wave in small detached groups voyaging east into the unknown. But that push or urge was so great we may assume from the fact that they took their women folk with them. Thus by stages the islands were discovered and settled.