| Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu | |
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| Queen of the Hawaiian Islands | |
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| Tenure | 1795–1819 |
| Predecessor | Vacant Last held by Kekuiapoiwa Liliha of Hawaii |
| Successor | Kamamalu of Hawaii |
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| Tenure | 1821–1824 1825–18? |
| Predecessor | Deborah Kapule of Kauai Kaahumanu married to Kealiiahonui |
| Successor | Kaahumanu married to Kealiiahonui Kekauonohi |
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| Tenure | 20 May 1819 – 5 June 1832 (13 years, 16 days) |
| Predecessor | New Creation |
| Successor | Kaahumanu II |
| Spouse | Kamehameha the Great George Kaumualii Aaron Kealiiahonui |
| Full name | |
| Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu | |
| Father | Counsellor of State High Chief Keʻeaumoku II Papaiahiahi |
| Mother | Queen Dowager Namahana of Maui |
| Born | 17 March 1768 In a cave near Hāna, Maui |
| Died | 5 June 1832 (aged 64) Mānoa Valley near Honolulu, Oahu |
| Burial | Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum |
Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (17 March 1768 – 5 June 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 first two successors.
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Early life
Kaʻahumanu was born in a cave near Hāna on the Hawaiian Island of Maui between 1768 and 1773. Her parents were Keʻeaumoku Papaiahiahi, a fugitive aliʻi or noble from the Big Island, and Namahana'i'Kaleleokalani, the wife of her half-brother the late king of Maui, Kamehameha Nui. From her mother she was member of the noble house of Maui being relative of many of the kings of Maui. From her father, she was the third cousin of Kamehameha I, both sharing the common ancestoress, Princess Kalanikauleleiwi. Her name translates as the feathered mantle.
Her siblings include Governor John Adams Kuakini of Hawaii, Queen Kalakua Kaheiheimalie, Governor George Cox Kahekili Ke'eaumoku II of Maui, Lydia Namahana Pi'ia. Her father became an advisor and friend to Kamehameha of Hawaiʻi, eventually becoming royal governor of Maui. He 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.
Queen Regent
Kaʻahumanu was not only the king's favorite wife but also the most powerful, as according to the indigenous Hawaiian religion she harboured a great amount of mana in her time.[citation needed] 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 after the transition to Christianity. It was never practiced at all by the common people[citation needed]. In the early 1830s, Kamehameha III and his sister, Nahienaena, were thwarted by missionaries, who annulled their wedding, and married her off to another man. Kamehameha III and Nahienaena had a baby boy, but the newborn died.
Upon Kamehameha's death on 5 May 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, although historians have noted that this was to her own advantage. In what became known as the 'Ai Noa (free eating), Kaʻahumanu conspired with Keopuolani, another of her late husband's wives who was also a Queen Regent during the reign of Kamehameha II, to eat at the same table with the young king, breaking a major kapu and changing the rules of Hawaiian society.
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 9 October 1821 and married him by force, becoming his seventh wife. He eventually died and she married his son Keali'iahonui.
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 and the Ten Commandments. Kaʻahumanu was baptized on 5 December 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 7 July 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.
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; this won her the support of ali'i who owed money to the traders. 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.
In 1827, Kaʻahumanu returning from a tour of the windward islands, fell ill and her health steadily declined. During her illness and in her honor, missionaries printed the first copy, bound in red leather with her name engraved in gold letters, of the New Testament in the Hawaiian language. She kept it with her until her death of intestinal illness, 5 June 1832 at Manoa Valley, Honolulu. 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.
Notes
A portion of the Hawaii Belt Road, state highway 19, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi is named in her honor. It connects the towns of Kailua-Kona and Kawaihae. Often referred to by locals as "the Queen K," it is used for the bicycle portion of the Ironman Triathlon. It also provides access to the Kona International Airport.
Queen Ka'ahumanu mall is located in Kahului, Maui.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
References
- Daws, A. Gavan (1970). Shoal of Time. Honolulu, Hawai'i: University of Hawaii Press
- 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.
External links
| Royal titles | ||
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| First | Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Islands 1810–1819 |
Succeeded by Victoria Kamamalu |
| Queen Dowager of the Hawaiian Islands 1819–1832 |
Succeeded by Queen Kalama |
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| Kuhina Nui of the Hawaiian Islands 20 May 1819 – 5 June 1832 |
Succeeded by Kaahumanu II |
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| Queen Regent of Hawaiʻi 1824–1832 |
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