- Kūmahana
Kumahana the 22nd
Alii Aimoku of Oahu (1770 -1773 ). He ruled as titular King or chief ofOahu .Early Life
He was born the son of
Peleioholani , 22ndAlii Aimoku of Oahu and 21stAlii Aimoku of Kauai , by his first wife Halakii, of Kauaianaristocracy . His full sisters wereKaapuwai andKeelaniihonuaiakama , his half sister wasKapueo , and a brother Keeumoku, of whom nothing further is known.Reign
Kumahana followed his father as Moi of Oahu. He appears to have been an indolent, penurious, unlovable chief, and for these or other reasons incurred the illwill and estranged the loyalty of the chiefs,
priest s, andcommoner s to such a degree that, after enduring his rule for three years he was formally deposed from his office as Moi by the chiefs of Oahu in council assembled. According to legends, his offenses were that he slept late, was stingy, penurious, deaf to the advice of others and used to take himself off to the plains to shoot rats. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ka_hooilina_the_legacy/v001/1.1kamakau.pdf] So thoroughly had he succeeded during his short imcumbency of office, to make himself hated, that, in an age so peculiarly prone to factions, not a voice was heard nor a spear was raised in his defence. It was one of those few bloodless revolutions that leave no stain on the pages of history. THere was no anger to appease, no vengeance to extract, it was simply a political act for prudential reasons. His desposition atoned for his imcompetency.Though Kumahana had grown-up children at the time, yet the Oahu nobles passed them by in selecting a successor to the throne, and fixed their eyes on young
Kahahana , the son of Elani, one of the powerful Ewa chiefs of theMaweke Lakona line, and on his mother's side closely related toKahekili II and the grandson ofKualii making him Kumahana's cousin.Kumahana and his family were freely allowed to depart for
Kauai , where they found refuge among their kindred inWaimea . We know that Kumahana, was desposed after three years' reign and that he was permitted to return with his family to Kauai, where probably he still held lands from which to maintain himself. But it has never been asserted on his behalf, and nowhere is it intimated, that Kumahana ever was, or was considered to be, the Moi of Kauai as his father was, or his grandfatherKualii before him. A farther confirmation of the above proposition may be advanced from the well-known fact thatKamakahelei 's first husband was Kaneoneo. Some give Kumahana's death as 1773 but that was the day of his overthrow and not the day of his death.Marriage
His wife is unknown and the only son of his to whom history refers was
Kaneoneo , who marriedKamakahelei , the sovereign chiefess of Kauai and Kumahana's niece by his reputed sister Kaapuwai. His son was killed in a fruitless attempt to recover the kingdom of Oahu by joining the insurgent chiefs under Kahekili's iron rule.References
* Abraham Fornander, An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969. Page 217, 290-291, 297-298.
Monarchs of Oahu
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