History & Culture

First settled by Native Hawai‘ians hundreds of years before the Spanish, English and other European settlers arrived in North America, the fishing village of Kou would eventually become the bustling port city of Honolulu and the capital of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i and the future State of Hawai‘i. The site of the only official state residence of royalty in the United States, Honolulu has and continues to be a place in which Native Hawaiian chiefs, a Constitutional Monarchy, a Territorial Government and now a State legislature convene to govern the affairs Hawai‘i and her people. As the hub of America’s cultural, economic and military expansion into the Pacific, Honolulu has become the greatest demonstration of multiculturalism in the country.

At the turn of the 19th Century, the great warrior chief from Hawai‘i island, Kamehameha, landed thousands of war canoes on O‘ahu’s south shore as he continued his quest to unite the islands under one rule. Armed with cannons and guns, Kamehameha’s modernized army successfully drove O‘ahu’s retreating forces to the pali (mountain cliffs), at the back of Nu‘uanu valley where they either jumped or were pushed over its edge. The defeat of O‘ahu’s army would signal the successful consolidation of power within the Hawaiian Islands, and mark the beginning of monumental changes in the governance and future of the Hawaiian Kingdom and its relationship with Western powers. In succeeding decades, Honolulu would become the epicenter of an unprecedented commingling of cultures. Sailing vessels flying the flags of England, France, Spain, Russia and the United States were all drawn to Honolulu’s deep-water port and business opportunities. They brought with them missionaries and adventurers, sandalwood traders and whalers, technology and disease. Eventually they would also exert tremendous pressure for change on the island culture. The port’s growing international popularity would lead to King Kamehameha relocating his court and home to Honolulu to better monitor these foreign influences. After his passing in 1819, Kamehameha’s successors would also struggle to deal with the rapidly changing cultural environment and foreign influence. Eventually many of them would succumb to western ways, first by employing foreigners as advisors and later by adopting their values, customs and practices. Perhaps the first and most significant change was a shift away from ancient spiritual (kapu) system to that of Christianity. Hawaiian monarchs would also go on to build homes and palaces informed by European and North American architectural design, and convert to western parliamentary governance and land management practices, including the selling and owning of land, a practice completely absent in the Native Hawaiian world view. Hawaiian royalty traveled the world, visiting fellow monarchs. They participated in international trade and commerce and entered into numerous treaties of agreement with other governments and members of the international community. The rapid change, however, would eventually overwhelm the Hawaiian Kingdom. In 1893 Hawai‘i’s last reigning monarch, Queen Liliu‘okalani, was deposed by western land owners and business interests in a coup supported by the presence of United States Marines.

The overthrow of the Queen effectively cleared the path for what would become one, if not the most, influential impact on the culture and destiny of Hawai‘i’s social-economic future as well as its environment: the advent of commercial agriculture. While western landowners would experiment with cattle, cacao, vanilla and indigo, it was their success in creating enormous sugar and pineapple plantations that would transform and shape the island culture of Hawai‘i the most. To provide the manpower necessary to run a successful agricultural industry, plantation owners sponsored the importation of immigrant labor from Japan, China, the Philippines and the far-flung islands of the Pacific. Hawai‘i’s multicultural society is the product of the gradual integration of these diverse peoples—a process of conflict and accommodation, of ostracism and assimilation, and eventually acceptance. The history of the Honolulu and Kapālama ahupua‘a is preserved in their architecture, social institutions and cultural and ethnic diversity.