Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fierce and hardy warrior, and in due time became one of the strongest chiefs on the island
of Hawai'i.
In 1790, Kamehameha invaded Maui with the assistance of cannons from the captured
Fair American.
In the Battle of Kepaniwai at 'Iao Valley, Kamehameha killed so many
commoners it's said that he dammed the stream waters with their bloody bodies. After his
decisive victory on Maui, Kamehameha was drawn back to the Big Island to quell upris-
ings on his home island. When the king of Maui—Kahekili—sailed to the Big Island to
exact revenge for the slaughter at 'Iao, he was thoroughly beaten by Kamehameha's forces
at the Battle of Waimanu Valley. Demoralized and defeated, Kahekili succumbed to the
rule of Kamehameha, and the battle for Maui had been won.
By the time Kamehameha had won the Big Island and Maui, Hawai'i was becoming a
regular stopover for ships seeking the lucrative sandalwood trade with China. In February
1791, Captain George Vancouver (who had originally sailed on Cook's ill-fated voyage),
returned to Kealakekua and was greeted by a throng of 30,000. The captain at once re-
cognized Kamehameha, who was wearing a Chinese dressing gown that he had received
in tribute from another chief, who in turn had received it directly from the hands of Cook
himself. Captain Vancouver became a trusted adviser of Kamehameha and told him about
the westerners' form of worship, and the captain gave him gifts of beef cattle, fowl, and
breeding stock of sheep and goats. The Hawaiians were cheerful and outgoing, and they
showed remorse for the earlier incident when they indicated that the remainder of Cook's
bones had been buried in a temple close to Kealakekua. Young, by this time firmly en-
trenched in Hawaiian society, made no request to sail away with Vancouver. During the
next two decades of Kamehameha's rule, the French, Russians, English, and Americans
discovered the great whaling waters off Hawai'i, and their increasing visits shook the an-
cient religion and social order of
kapu.
Kamehameha's final victories over the other islands would come later, with a decisive
conflict taking place in 1794 on the island of O'ahu. Kamehameha and 16,000 of his troops
pushed Kalanikupule—the leader of O'ahu—back into the mountains of Nu'uanu to the
edge of towering cliffs which form the backdrop of Honolulu. After fierce fighting, Kame-
hameha's men drove Kalanikupule's warriors over the cliffs, and with the dramatic vic-
tory, Kamehameha now took control of O'ahu. In 1796 Kamehameha put down a revolt on
Hawai'i, and Kaumuali'i, the king of Kaua'i, recognizing his strength, gave up the island
rather than suffer attack. For the first time in history, Kamehameha became the sole ruler
of all of the islands in Hawai'i.
