Hawaiian Islands

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. Area, Population, Extent First Missionary Work (� 1). (� 3).

History (� 2).
Missions. 1827-62 (� 4).
Missions since 1862 (� 5).

The Hawaiian Islands are a group of five large

and three small volcanic islands in the north Pacific

Ocean, latitude 18050'-2305' north, and

I. Area, longitude 154040'-160050' west, ex

Population, tending from northwest to southeast

Extent. for 350 miles, and having a total land area of 5,900 square miles, and a popu lation (1900) of 154,001. Hawaii, the largest and most southern of the islands, is 70 by 90 miles in extent; area, 4,015 square miles; population (1900),

46,843; elevation, 13,835 feet. . Maui, midway between Hawaii and Oahu, is 48 miles long, and from 8 to 25 miles wide; area, 620 square miles;

population (1900), 24,797; elevation, 10,000 feet.

Lanai (area, 135 square miles) and Kahulawe (area,

69 square miles) are two small islands near Maui.

Molokai, 8 miles northwest, is 40 by 7 miles

in extent; area, 190 square miles; population

(1900), 2,504. Oahu, 23 miles north of. Molokai, is

46 by 25 miles in extent; area, 530 square miles; population (1900), 58,504. Honolulu, the capital and largest city of the group, is located on the south

east coast. Seventy-eight miles northwest is Kauai,

25 by 22 miles in extent; area, 544 square miles; population (1900), 20,562. At the extreme north of the group and west of Kauai is the small island

of Niihau; area, 97 square miles; population (1900), 172. Distances from various world-ports are: San Francisco, 2,100 miles; Panama, 4,720 miles; Fiji, 2,700; Samoa, 2,290; Auckland, 3,810; Hongkong, 4,920; Yokohama, 3,400; Guam, 3,300; Manila via n.e. cape, 4,890.

The islands were discovered in 1542 by Juan Gaetano, a Spanish navigator, and rediscovered by Captain James Cook on Jan. 18, 1778.

2. History. He estimated the population to be about 350,000. The Hawaiian people were probably of Aryan stock, migrating from central Asia through India, Sumatra, and Java, and scattering through the various island-groups of the South Pacific. The first known arrival was in the sixth century, when a chief named Nanaula came with a party from Tahiti and Samoa, followed by others, bringing with them their priests and gods, with all their attendant evils of polygamy, infanti cide, the offering of human sacrifices, and a most oppressive taboo system. During the tenth and eleventh centuries communication with the south was frequent, but near the close of the twelfth cen tury it ceased. Then came Gaetano in 1542, fol lowed by other white men at infrequent intervals, till with the visit of Captain Cook, in 1778, and his revisit, Jan. 17, 1779, which ended in his tragic death at Kaawaloa, Feb. 14, 1779, the Hawaiian Islands began their part in the history of the world. At this time they were a number of in dependent principalities, under feudal authority; during the next few years rival chiefs were con tinually fighting for supremacy. These wars culminated in a victory for Kamehameha, a chief of Hawaii, in 1795, and he became ruler of the united islands under the title of Kamehameha I. He thoroughly organized the government, encour aging agriculture and all known industries, while vigorously suppressing robbery and murder, and forbidding the offering of human sacrifices. He nevertheless maintained the most rigid ceremonial etiquette, and enforced the taboo. On his death, in 1819, his son, Liholiho, succeeded him as Kame hameha II., and he carried to a greater extent the reforms begun by his father. With the strong influence of the dowager queen and the high priest back of him, he decreed the destruction of temples and idols, and abolished the taboo. Thus were the people in the peculiar position of being without a religion. At this time the population numbered not more than 150,000, and the numerous aban doned villages gave the impression that fully two thirds of the people had disappeared. The prev alence of new and virulent diseases, the wars of Kamehameha I., and the practise of human sacrifice and infanticide, all contributed to this result.

Interest in these islands had been awakened in 1810. by the arrival in New England of several Hawaiian boys who had escaped from

3. First the tribal wars of Kamehameha I. Missionary Among them was Henry Obookaiah, Work. who, becoming a Christian, earnestly desired an education that he might go back and teach his people. He made an attempt to reduce the Hawaiian language to writing, begin ning a spelling-book, dictionary, and grammar, and

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Hawaiian Islands Hawker

also translated the Book of Genesis. His death in 1817, with this desire unfulfilled, led Hiram Bingham (q.v.) and Asa Thurston to offer their services to the American Board for work in these islands. They were joined by fifteen others, and on Oct. 15, 1819, the Mission Church of Hawaii was formed in Boston, with seventeen members, three of whom were Hawaiian boys, and on Oct. 23 they sailed on the brig Thaddeus, arriving at the islands March 30, 1820, to find the taboo abolished, temples and idols destroyed, and the priesthood shorn of its diabolical power. In spite of all his sweeping reforms, Kamehameha did not want the missionaries, or rather the white foreigners told him he did not; and it was with reluctance that he finally granted them permission to remain one year, as an experiment. They settled on Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui. Thus the first Christian Church in the Hawaiian Islands was transplanted from New Lngland. Eight months previously, however, a Roman Catholic priest on the French discovery ship Uranie had baptized the prime minister, Kalanimoku, and Boki, his younger brother. The former heartily welcomed the newcomers, and used his influence in their favor. The king was friendly and was one of the first to learn to read. On his death, in England, in 1824, the government passed into the hands of Kaahumanu, as queen regent, and the prime minister, Kalanimoku, both of whom were friendly, as were the majority of the high chiefs. This year several notable events occurred, all favorable to the mission. The chiefs agreed to observe the Sabbath, the ten cmmandments were taken as the basis of government, and the Princess Kapiolani made her memorable visit to the crater of Kilauea, defying the power of the firegoddess Pele. Kaahumanu, the queen dowager, traveled to all parts of her kingdom, commanding the people to assist the "Kumus" and accept their teaching. Though the missionaries had large congregations and schools at all their stations, yet in 1825 there were but ten members in the native church.

In 1827 the first Roman Catholic missionaries arrived, but they were refused residence. They remained till 1831, when the govern4. Missions, ment provided a vessel in which they

x827-62. were taken to California. The work of the American mission was vigorously prosecuted; reenforcements were sent out, more schools opened, the printing-press busily employed, and a strong Evangelistic work carried on. For a quarter of a century the American Mission was the dominating influence in a rapidly increasing foreign population; nevertheless such was the care exer cised that in 1836 there were but twenty churches, with a membership of but 1,168. Then came the revivals of 1836-39; during these three years, out of a population of 125,000, nearly 20,000 members were received into the church, the greater number under the ministry of Titus Coan (q.v.). During these years Messrs. Richards, Thurston, Bing ham, and Bishop had been translating the Bible, and it was given to the people in 1839. This year the French government intervened in behalf of the Roman Catholics, and a mission was established by them; in 1843 more priests were sent, and the cathedral in Honolulu was dedicated. In 1850

Mormon missionaries arrived. The Hawaiian churches of the pioneer mission increased in strength and character; in 1852 they united with the American Board in sending missionaries to Micronesia and the Marquesas; and as a result the general meeting of the missionary fathers became the Hawaiian Evangelical Association in 1854. In response to repeated requests of churchmen resident in the group, in 1862 a mission was established by the Church of England.

At this time there were 59 native churches, having a membership of 53,583; representatives of these churches were admitted to the Hawaig. Missions ian Evangelical Association, having since x862: equal status with the missionaries, and the Hawaiian board was formed as its executive agency. The mission had become a colony, and it was becoming increasingly evident that the work could no longer be continued along the old lines. Accordingly, in 1863, the American Board decided to send no more missionaries, to grant autonomy to the churches, and to place them in the care of Hawaiian pastors. Coincident with this process of development in the native church, the Hawaiian nation had been passing through a remarkable period of evolution. Bill of rights was succeeded by constitution, the granting of property rights, the enactment of just laws, and all the outward evidences of a Christian civilization. The year 1863 marked the climax of prosperity for the Hawaiian Church. The Kamehameha dynasty passed; missionary leaders died, and their places remained unfilled. During the reigns of Kalakaua and Liliokulani new vices were born, and a fresh and vigorous alien paganism asserted itself; the clash came, and the nation lost its sovereignty, and the Church declined. But all was not lost; if the missionaries had died, they left behind them a goodly band of descendants who loyally helped their Hawaiian brethren. Churches for the white races were formed, to become the nucleus for a second great advance; the battle was pushed in new directions; missions for Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese were instituted and carried on with vigor; and at the jubilee of the mission in 1870, Hawaii was declared to be no longer missionary ground, but an Evangelized nation. Missionary and philanthropic work progressed henceforth along denominational lines; and after 1870 came the Methodist Episcopal, Christian, Lutheran, and Adventist churches, the Reorganized Mormon Church, the Salvation Army, Theosophists, and Buddhists. When the islands were annexed by the United States in 1898 a new era of home missions began, characterized by the dominance of the English language in all missionary activities, and for the first time in forty-five years the membership in the Hawaiian Church has notably increased in spite of the decline in population. At the census of 1900 there were 27,000 Protestant communicants, 30,000 Roman Catholics, 6,000 Mormons, 55,000 Buddhists, 25,000 Confucianists, and 11,000 unclassified.

Theodora Crosby Bliss.

Bibliography: H. Bingham, Residence of _*i Years in the Sandwich Islands, Hartford, 1847; 1'. N. Staley , Five Years' Church Work in Hawaii, London, 1868; R. An derson. The Hawaiian Islands Boston, 1865; idem, Sand wich Islands Mission, ib. 1870; J. C. Bartlett, Historical

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Sketch of the Missions of A. B. C. F. M. in the Sandwich Islands, ib. 1876; P. Tournaford, Havai; hist. de Vbtab liSsement du Catholicism, Paris, 1877; L. F. Judd, Hono lulu; Sketches of Life, social, political and rdipioua, New York, 1881; T. Coan, Life in Hawaii, ib. 1882; W. D. Alexander, Brief Hist. of the Hawaiian People, ib. 1892; T. Achelis, Ueber Mythologie and Cultue von Hawaii, Brunswick, 1895; B. M. Brain, Transformation of Hawaii, New York, 1899; C. Whitney, Hawaiian America, ib. 1899; 1.. Young, The Real Hawaii, ib. 1899; A. S. Twom bly, Hawaii and its People, London, 1900; Encyclopedia of Missions, pp. 289-291, New York, 1904; W. F. Black man, The Making of Hawaii, ib. 1906; C. W. Baldwin, Geography of the Hawaiian Islands, ib., 1908.