Hawaii School Reports is sponsored by:

Quite simply, we weren't there!  As you explore the Ancient History of the Islands you will find contradictory information.  Try to step back and remember that stories are often used to teach and explain complex ideas and values.   Also keep in mind that if several people see the same event, they will describe it quite differently and they are each telling the truth as they see it or remember it.   As for science, consider that an archaeologist in the year 3001 might find nothing on earth except your bedroom, or maybe just what's under your bed or in your closet.  Would that be a complete picture of life on this planet in 2001?   Probably not.

So with these cautions, we'll share the wealth of information that is available on the Web for learning about ancient times through the arrival of Captain James Cook in the islands in 1778 and the rise of Kamehameha the Great, who unified the islands.  

The Hawaiian Islands are actually the peaks of volcanoes formed over the past 6 million years or so, and are relatively young in geologic time.  The first settlers were migrating Polynesians, who navigated the Pacific in voyaging canoes, believed to have first arrived from the Marquesas Islands with subsequent migrations from Tahiti, and perhaps other Pacific islands.  

Though our knowledge of the early settlers is limited, here's what we do know:

• nearly all of the habitable islands in the Pacific Ocean were settled hundreds of years before European sailors dared venture beyond the site of land
• the Polynesians sailed large double-hulled canoes and navigated by keen observation and memorization of the sky, ocean currents, and migratory birds and marine life
• most volcanic islands could not sustain human life, therefore the Polynesians stocked their canoes with all that would be needed to start life on a new island, such as coconuts, sugar cane and taro, as well as all the supplies needed to survive voyages of several weeks, even months

By the time of Cook's arrival in 1778, the population of Hawai`i had grown to something between 400,000 and 800,000 people, perhaps more.  It was a stone age society since there are no metals found in the islands, however this term might give a false impression that the society was primitive.  Hardly!  Some have estimated that the population of the islands, based on the methods of food production and the living conditions, could have exceeded one million and even approach current day population of 1.2 million.  The big difference:  We can't feed ourselves today and have to import most of the food we eat!

The best introductory offline source for learning more about the people of the islands before the arrival of Europeans is Ancient Hawai`i, by Herb Kawainui Kane, pictured in the left column and available online from Amazon.com and at most bookstores in Hawai`i, or maybe one near you!

The next period in the History of Hawai`i is the Monarchy Years, which begins with the unification of the islands by Kamehameha shortly after the arrival of Captain Cook.

Next:  Monarchy Years