Ka'ahumanu

Infobox Hawaiian Royalty
name =Elizabeth Kaokinaahumanu
title =Queen Consort of Hawaiian Islands

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imgw =280
reign =20 May 1819 — 5 June 1832
as Kuhina Nui
(age in years and days|1819|5|20|1832|6|5)
predecessor = none as Kuhina Nui
successor = Kaahumanu II
spouse =Kamehameha the Great, King of the Hawaiian Islands
George Kaumualii, Ex-King of Kauai
Aaron Kealiiahonui, Ex-Prince of Kauai
issue =
full name =Elizabeth Kaokinaahumanu
titles ="HM" The Queen
"HRH" The Queen Dowager
"HRH" The Queen Regent
"HH" The Kuhina-nui of the Hawaiian Islands
royal house =House of Kamehameha
House of Kekaulike
royal anthem =
father =Counsellor of State High Chief Keokinaeaumoku II Papaiahiahi
mother =Queen Dowager Namahana of Maui
date of birth =birth date|1768|3|17|df=y
place of birth =In a cave near Hāna, Maui
date of death =death date and age|1832|6|5|1768|3|17|df=yes
place of death =Mānoa Valley near Honolulu, Oahu
place of burial =Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum|

Elizabeth Kaokinaahumanu (March 17, 1768 – June 5, 1832) was queen regent of the Kingdom of Hawaiokinai 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.

Early life

Kaokinaahumanu was born in a cave near Hāna on the Hawaiian Island of Maui in between the years 1768 or 1773. Her parents were Keokinaeaumoku Papaiahiahi, a fugitive aliokinai 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 Hawaiokinai, eventually becoming royal governor of Maui. He arranged for Kaokinaahumanu to marry him when she was thirteen. Kamehameha had numerous wives but Kaokinaahumanu would become his favorite. It was she who encouraged her husband's war of unification of Hawaiokinai.

Queen Regent

Kaokinaahumanu was not only the king's favorite wife but also the most powerful, as according to the indigenous Hawaiian religion she great amount of mana in her time Fact|date=November 2007. 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, Kamehameha III and his sister, Nahienaena, were thwarted by the missionary faction in their efforts to produce an heir in the early 1830s. It was never practiced at all by the common people Fact|date=November 2007.

Upon Kamehameha's death on May 5, 1819, Kaokinaahumanu asserted that it was the late king's wish that she share governance over the Kingdom of Hawaiokinai 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.

Kaokinaahumanu 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), Kaokinaahumanu 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.

Kaumualiokinai of Kauaokinai

When her husband died, Kaokinaahumanu feared the island of Kauaokinai would break away from the kingdom. Kauaokinai and its subject island Niokinaihau 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 aliokinai, Kaumualiokinai, became a vassal to Kamehameha, but after the king's death he began to make motions towards independence. To preserve the union Kaokinaahumanu kidnapped Kaumualiokinai on October 9, 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, Kaokinaahumanu publicly acknowledged her embrace of Protestant Christianity and encouraged her subjects to be baptized into the faith. That same year, she presented Hawaiokinai with its first codified body of laws modeled after Christian ethics and values and the Ten Commandments. Kaokinaahumanu was baptized on December 5, 1825 at the site where Kawaiahaokinao Church stands today.

Missionaries persuaded Kaokinaahumanu 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, Kaokinaahumanu signed legislation that forbade Catholic teachings and threatened to deport whoever broke the law.

Establishing American relations

Kaokinaahumanu, the king, negotiated the first treaty between the Kingdom of Hawaiokinai 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 Hawaiokinai to do business. Americans were also afforded the right to sue in Hawaiian courts and be protected by Hawaiian laws.

In 1827, Kaokinaahumanu 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, June 5, 1832 at Manoa Valley, Honolulu. Her funeral was held at Kawaiahaokinao Church, which she commissioned as the Westminster Abbey of Hawaiokinai. Services were presided by Hiram Bingham. She was laid to rest on okinaIolani Palace grounds but was later moved to the Royal Mausoleum.

Notes

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 Kaokinaahumanu, the Queen Regent of Hawaiokinai (1819-1832)". Columbus, Ohio: Pine Island Press. ISBN 1-880836-21-1.
* Silverman, Jane L. (1995). "Kaokinaahumanu: Molder of Change". Friends of the Judiciary History Center of Hawaiokinai. ISBN 0-9619234-0-7.

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8122046 Find-A-Grave profile for Queen Kaokinaahumanu]
* [http://hawaii.gov/dags/archives/centennial/kaahumanu KA‘AHUMANU]
* [http://www.mauipov.com/book/maui_book2.htm KA'AHUMANU - POWERFUL QUEEN]