A comet blazes across the night sky, heralding the birth of a powerful king who will rule the Islands. Then a baby is spirited away to the mountains to escape a jealous chief wary of the prophecy. As dramatic as a Greek myth, the story of Kamehameha the Great, Hawaii's warrior king, is retold here for readers of all ages. From his childhood in exile to his return to court and the lifting of the great Naha Stone, we follow this brave and ambitious youth as he paves his way to becoming first conqueror and then monarch of a unified Hawaiian kingdom. Recommended for ages 9 and up
Highlights commonly accepted accounts of events and personal characteristics of the leader who united separate island chiefdoms into one Hawaiian nation.
Chronicles the life of King Kamehameha I from childhood to his ascension to becoming one of Hawaii's greatest leaders, capturing the danger of a child who was forced to hide from jealous chiefs who marked him for death.
Discover King Kamehameha The Great... They say that one cannot truly understand a man unless one has walked a mile in their shoes. How would that ideology apply to a nation? What if it were one man that seemingly built a nation? What if this one man did not exist? Many would say to shoulder one person with such responsibility is cruel. Others say this is the way of honor. Yet, for one man, this was the truth of his life. That man is King Kamehameha. Born a child like every other human being on the face of the planet, just like you and me, this man was born under a prophecy that would control the course of his life and set forth into motion the future of a kingdom that would affect the entire world. Hidden away from the age of four until the age of majority, he was taught the warrior ways of his people, unaware that every event in his life was to lay groundwork for him to rule one day. He was born destined to be the king that would trample all other kings. Upon assuming control of the lands inherited by him, Kamehameha used his unparalleled intelligence and skills of the time to begin immediately fulfilling the prophecy that surrounded his birth, but his goal was not always greatness. His goal was that of many kings-peace and prosperity for his subjects. Many of the battles he was involved in began over revenge for injustices done to him or his extended family. All he wanted was peace. Yet, had he not sought his honorable ways, Hawaii would have never been the state it was. Many people know of Hawaii for its beauty and as a tropical destination hotspot, but very few know that Hawaii is single-handedly responsible for cornering the market on the sandalwood trade, which funded his quest for peace. Without him, Hawaii never would have been unified under one rule. This would have left it open to be conquered by the visiting Europeans who began arriving in the late 1700's. Could you imagine a British Hawaii or a Chinese Hawaii? Imagine what might have happened had Kamehameha been eliminated as a child, as many tried to do. Find out why he was called 'The Lonely One'. Kamehameha was also a stout traditionalist. His 'Law of the Splintered Paddle' has transcended time and was later incorporated into the Constitution of Hawaii. As you peruse the pages of this book, you will see how King Kamehameha rose from birth to death and became one of the greatest monarchs of time. Discover how in one generation, all a man's achievements can be overturned, but his legacy will continue. Take an informational trip that describes the origins of the Hawaiian Islands, the similarities between the first settlers of the islands and the Vikings, and the birth of Hawaii's 'Great King'. Follow his battles and see how those battles impacted Hawaii's history and created the wonderful destination spot you know today. Discover King Kamehameha the Great. Purchase This Book Today““/b>
The famous statue of Kamehameha I in downtown Honolulu is one of the state’s most popular landmarks. Many tourists—and residents—however, are unaware that the statue is a replica; the original, cast in Paris in the 1880s and the first statue in the Islands, stands before the old courthouse in rural Kapa‘au, North Kohala, the legendary birthplace of Kamehameha I. In 1996 conservator Glenn Wharton was sent by public arts administrators to assess the statue’s condition, and what he found startled him: A larger-than-life brass figure painted over in brown, black, and yellow with “white toenails and fingernails and penetrating black eyes with small white brush strokes for highlights. . . . It looked more like a piece of folk art than a nineteenth-century heroic monument.” The Painted King is Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Kohala Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au. He learns that the townspeople prefer the “more human” (painted) Kamehameha, regaling him with a parade, chants, and leis every Kamehameha Day (June 11). He meets a North Kohala volunteer who decides to paint the statue’s sash after respectfully consulting with kahuna (Hawaiian spiritual leaders) and the statue itself. A veteran of public art conservation, Wharton had never before encountered a community that had developed such a lengthy, personal relationship with a civic monument. Going against the advice of some of his peers and ignoring warnings about “going native,” Wharton decides to involve the people of Kapa‘au in the conservation of their statue and soon finds himself immersed in complex political, social, and cultural considerations, including questions about representations of the Native Hawaiian past: Who should decide what is represented and how? And once a painting or sculpture exists, how should it be conserved? The Painted King examines professional authority and community involvement while providing a highly engaging and accessible look at “activist conservation” at work, wherever it may be found.
The history of Hawaii may be said to be the story of arrivals -- from the eruption of volcanoes on the ocean floor 18,000 feet below to the first hardy seeds that over millennia found their way to the islands, and the confused birds blown from their migratory routes. Early Polynesian adventurers sailed across the Pacific in double canoes. Spanish galleons en route to the Philippines and British navigators in search of a Northwest Passage were soon followed by pious Protestant missionaries, shipwrecked sailors, and rowdy Irish poachers escaped from Botany Bay -- all wanderers washed ashore. This is true of many cultures, but in Hawaii, no one seems to have left. And in Hawaii, a set of myths accompanied each of these migrants -- legends that shape our understanding of this mysterious place. Susanna Moore pieces together the story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii -- its kings and queens, gods and goddesses, missionaries, migrants, and explorers -- a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition, in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo, without a currency or a written language, was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism, Western education, and Christian values.
From the bestselling author of "The Wordy Shipmates" comes an examination of Hawaii's emblematic and exceptional history, retracing the impact of New England missionaries who began arriving in the early 1800s to remake the island paradise into a version of New England.
