Ka'ahumanu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kaʻahumanu | |
|---|---|
| Queen regent & Kuhina Nui of Hawaiʻi |
|
 |
|
| Birth name | Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu |
| Born | March 17, 1768 |
| Spouse | Kamehameha |
| Died | June 5, 1832 |
| Kaʻahumanu served as Queen Regent of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi during the terms of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. | |
Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (March 17, 1768 – June 5, 1832) was queen regent of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and a wife of Kamehameha I. She was the king's favorite wife and also the most politically powerful, and continued to wield considerable power in the kingdom as the kuhina nui or prime minister during the reigns of his successors.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Kaʻahumanu was born in a cave on the Hawaiian Island of Maui in 1768. Her parents were Keʻeaumoku, a fugitive aliʻi or noble from the Big Island, and Namahana, the wife of the late king of Maui, Kamehameha Nui. Her father became an advisor and friend to Kamehameha of Hawaiʻi, and arranged for Kaʻahumanu to marry him when she was thirteen. Kamehameha had numerous wives but Kaʻahumanu would become his favorite. It was she who encouraged her husband's war of unification of Hawaiʻi.
[edit] Queen Regent
Kaʻahumanu was not only the king's favorite wife but also the most powerful, as according to the indigenous Hawaiian religion she was deemed to be the person with possessed of the most mana in her time. This mana was considered sacred, and to preserve it undiluted, the ancient Hawaiians practiced incest within the royal family. Similarly to the ancient Egyptians, it was not uncommon for brothers and sisters to marry within the royal family. This practice vanished with the transition to Christianity and was never practiced at all by the common people.
Upon Kamehameha's death on May 5, 1819, Kaʻahumanu asserted that it was the late king's wish that she share governance over the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi with his 22-year-old son Liholiho, who took the name of Kamehameha II. The parliamentary body agreed and created the post of kuhina nui, or prime minister, for her. Her power base grew and she eventually ruled with the title of Queen Regent during the reigns of both Kamehameha II and Kauikeaouli, who assumed the throne as Kamehameha III.
Kaʻahumanu was ahead of her time and championed the rights of native Hawaiian women. She conspired with Keopuolani, Queen Regent under Kamehameha II, to eat at the same table with the young king, breaking a major kapu and changing the rules of Hawaiian society.
[edit] Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi
When her husband died, Kaʻahumanu feared the island of Kauaʻi would break away from the kingdom. Kauaʻi and its subject island Niʻihau had never been forcibly conquered by Kamehameha; after years of resistance they negotiated a bloodless surrender in the face of Kamehameha's armada. In 1810 the island's aliʻi, Kaumualiʻi, became a vassal to Kamehameha, but after the king's death he began to make motions towards independence. To preserve the union Kaʻahumanu kidnapped Kaumualiʻi on October 9, 1821 and married him by force, becoming his seventh wife.
[edit] Embracing Christianity
In April 1824, Kaʻahumanu publicly acknowledged her embrace of Protestant Christianity and encouraged her subjects to be baptized into the faith. That same year, she presented Hawaiʻi with its first codified body of laws modeled after Christian ethics and values. Kaʻahumanu was baptised on December 5, 1825 at the site where Kawaiahaʻo Church stands today.
Missionaries persuaded Kaʻahumanu that the Roman Catholic Church, which had established the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, should be abolished from the island nation. On July 7, 1827, she ordered the first Catholic missionaries to leave. In 1830, Kaʻahumanu signed legislation that forbade Catholic teachings and threatened to deport whoever broke the law.
[edit] Establishing American relations
Kaʻahumanu, the king, negotiated the first treaty between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States in 1826, under the administration of President John Quincy Adams. The treaty assumed responsibility on behalf of native Hawaiians with debts to American traders and paid the bill with $150,000 worth of sandalwood. The same document was also a free trade treaty, ensuring Americans had the right to enter all ports of Hawaiʻi to do business. Americans were also afforded the right to sue in Hawaiian courts and be protected by Hawaiian laws.
[edit] End of reign
In 1827, Kaʻahumanu fell ill and her health steadily declined. She died on June 5, 1832. In her honor, missionaries printed a copy of the New Testament in the Hawaiian language. Her funeral was held at Kawaiahaʻo Church, which she commissioned as the Westminster Abbey of Hawaiʻi. Services were presided by Hiram Bingham. She was laid to rest on ʻIolani Palace grounds but was later moved to the Royal Mausoleum.
[edit] References
- Patterson, Rosemary I. (1998). Kuhina Nui: A Novel Based on the Life of Kaʻahumanu, the Queen Regent of Hawaiʻi (1819-1832). Columbus, Ohio: Pine Island Press. ISBN 1-880836-21-1.
- Silverman, Jane L. (1995). Kaʻahumanu: Molder of Change. Friends of the Judiciary History Center of Hawaiʻi. ISBN 0-9619234-0-7.
