A Living History of Hawaiʻi

The story of Hawaiʻi is not just about dates and events—it is about origins, connection, resilience, and aloha. It weaves together what oral traditions from Hawaiʻi carry, what archaeologists have discovered, and the ongoing efforts of Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) to heal, restore, and revitalise their culture.

A Note on Perspective

I am not Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), nor do I claim to be an expert on Hawaiian history.

This article has been written with respect and humility as a student, practitioner, and teacher of Hawaiian wisdom and lomilomi who has spent many years learning from Hawaiian kūmu (teachers), kūpuna (elders), and cultural practitioners.

It is written with deep gratitude for those who have so generously shared their knowledge and entrusted me with learning over many years.

Its intention is not to speak for Hawaiians, but to offer a broad introductory overview that may help readers better understand some of the historical and cultural context from which lomilomi and other Hawaiian teachings emerge.

Hawaiian history is complex, living, and continually evolving. I encourage readers to seek out and prioritise Hawaiian voices, perspectives, scholarship, and cultural practitioners wherever possible.

Kānaka Maoli View: Creation from Within 

Hawaiian traditions offer a different way of understanding origins.

The sacred chant known as the Kumulipo tells not of people arriving from another land, but of all life—plants, animals, humans, and gods—emerging together from Pō, the deep darkness.

The Kumulipo teaches that:

·       The chant begins with Pō, the source of deepest darkness, from which the first life forms emerge and evolve.

·       The land (ʻāina) is not separate from people—it is ancestor, foundation, and family.

·       Humans are not above creation but part of it, one strand in the great web of life.

This worldview roots Hawaiian identity not in migration alone, but in a sacred relationship with land, sea, ancestry, and spirit.

Alongside these Hawaiian understandings of creation and relationship, archaeologists and historians have also sought to understand how the first Polynesian voyagers came to settle the Hawaiian Islands.

Archaeological and Historical Perspectives

Current archaeological and historical evidence suggests that Polynesians, some of the world's greatest navigators, first reached Hawaiʻi by voyaging thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean in double-hulled canoes. Current evidence suggests the first settlers arrived from the Marquesas Islands as early as the 3rd century. Later, around the 1200s–1300s, additional voyagers may have arrived from Tahiti, bringing new customs, knowledge, and ways of life.

Hawaiian oral traditions also tell of Paʻao, a navigator-priest who sailed from "Kahiki" (often identified with Tahiti, though King Kalākaua suggested Samoa) and introduced new rituals and chiefly lines.

There are also tales of the menehune, little people who built fishponds and temples before retreating into valleys. Whether these stories preserve ancestral memory, symbolic teachings, or accounts of earlier peoples continues to be understood in different ways.

Foreign Contact and Its Impacts

For hundreds of years, Kānaka Maoli thrived with sophisticated systems of farming, fishing, governance, medicine, and spirituality.

From 1778 onwards, increasing contact with foreigners brought profound changes to Hawaiʻi. Captain James Cook's arrival marked the beginning of this period. He returned the following year to Hawaiʻi Island, where conflict ultimately led to his death at Kealakekua Bay.

More devastating than any individual visitor were the diseases that followed.

Within less than a century, the Native Hawaiian population declined by nearly 90 percent. This immense loss reshaped families, communities, cultural practices, and ways of life.

The Hawaiian Kingdom

In 1810, King Kamehameha the first, united the islands under one rule, forming the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

For almost eighty years, Hawaiʻi was an internationally recognised nation, signing treaties, establishing diplomatic relationships, and engaging in trade with countries around the world.

But outside powers grew increasingly interested in Hawaiʻi's land, resources, and strategic location.

In 1893, Queen Liliʻuokalani (the last reigning monarch of Hawaiʻi) was overthrown in a coup supported by representatives of the United States.

In 1898, Hawaiʻi was annexed as a U.S. territory, and in 1959 it became the 50th U.S. state—against the wishes of many Hawaiians.

Suppression of Culture

Missionaries arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1820. They helped develop a written form of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (the Hawaiian language), alongside Native Hawaiian speakers, originally for the purpose of translating the Chrisitian Bible.

At the same time, many missionaries and later governments discouraged—or in some cases banned—Hawaiian cultural practices, including hula, lomilomi, and traditional spiritual beliefs and ceremonies.

By 1896, speaking ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was outlawed, contributing to a dramatic decline in the language. Restrictions were also placed on many aspects of Hawaiian cultural and communal life.

As a result, many Hawaiian children grew up without access to their ancestral language, and the impacts of this loss were felt across generations.

At the same time, land ownership changed dramatically, industries expanded, and places such as Kahoʻolawe were used for military purposes, including decades of bombing practice by the U.S. military.

The Hawaiian Renaissance

In the 1970s, Hawaiians began a powerful cultural revival that became known as the Hawaiian Renaissance. Key moments included:

·       1971: The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival helped restore hula as a respected cultural, artistic, and spiritual practice.

·       1975: The voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa successfully sailed to Tahiti using only traditional navigation methods, reigniting pride in Polynesian voyaging traditions.

·       1976: Activists occupied Kahoʻolawe in protest against military bombing, sparking decades of cultural and environmental advocacy.

·       1978:  The Hawaiʻi State Constitution was amended to recognise ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi as an official state language

·       1978: The American Indian Religious Freedom Act provided greater protection for Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices. These changes helped support the revitalisation of Hawaiian language, culture, and traditional practices.

·       1986: The 90-year school ban was repealed, once again legally allowing 'Ōlelo Hawai'i to be taught.

·       1987: Hawaiian immersion programs officially started in public schools

This movement helped reawaken language, hula, voyaging, cultural identity, and pride that continue to flourish today.

Please note that it wasnʻt until 2001 that the Hawaiʻi State Legislature provided legal recognition and protection for certain Native Hawaiian healing practices, including lomilomi. This helped ensure that traditional practitioners could continue their work without fear of arrest or prosecution.

Hawaiʻi Today

The struggles are not over. Kānaka Maoli are still standing to protect sacred places such as Mauna Kea, where protests have challenged the construction of a massive telescope on land considered deeply sacred.

The sovereignty movement continues to draw attention to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the ongoing desire of many Hawaiians for greater self-determination.

At the same time, healing is alive. Practices such as lomilomi, hoʻoponopono, hula, voyaging, language revitalisation, and cultural education, are helping communities reconnect with balance, identity, culture, and the deep wisdom of aloha.

Beyond Hawaiʻi

The story of Hawaiʻi is unique, yet many aspects of it will feel familiar to Indigenous peoples around the world. The impacts of colonisation, land loss, cultural suppression, and the struggle for self-determination are not experiences carried by Kānaka Maoli alone.

Similar patterns have occurred in many Indigenous cultures and nations following colonisation, occupation, and the loss of self-determination.

While every Indigenous nation has its own distinct history, culture, and experiences, many Indigenous peoples have experienced the impacts of colonisation, occupation, and the loss of self-determination in different ways.

Common impacts have included:

·       Dispossession of land and resources

·       Poverty and economic disadvantage

·       Disruption of language and cultural practices

·       Loss of connection to identity, ancestry, and place

·       Reduced access to education, healthcare, and opportunity

·       Intergenerational trauma and social inequity

Given that our school shares our teachings in so-called Australia, it is important to acknowledge that many of these same patterns have occurred—and continue to have impacts—for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Truth-telling requires us to recognise the history of colonisation, land theft, cultural suppression, and ongoing inequities experienced by First Nations peoples on whose lands we live, work, and gather.

At the same time, many Indigenous peoples around the world continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience, strength, cultural renewal, and leadership.

Movements for sovereignty, self-determination, language revitalisation, cultural restoration, and healing are helping people reconnect with their identities, communities, lands, and traditions.

These movements remind us that healing is not only personal—it is also collective. It often involves shifts in consciousness, decision-making, relationships, and the ways we care for one another and the places we call home.

A Living Story

Hawaiʻi's story is not just about the past—it is unfolding right now.

It holds the memory of voyagers guided by the stars, the sacred teachings of the Kumulipo, the resilience of a people through immense change, and the ongoing revitalisation of language, culture, and relationship with ʻāina and spirit.

It is also a reminder that Indigenous cultures throughout the world continue to carry wisdom, strength, and pathways for healing that remain deeply relevant today.

At its heart, this story is about aloha: the understanding that all life is connected, that people and place belong to one another, and that caring for one another is inseparable from caring for the earth itself.

As long as there are people willing to remember, restore, protect, and live these values, the story of Hawaiʻi continues.

For those of us who are not Kānaka Maoli, perhaps the invitation is not to claim Hawaiʻi's story as our own, but to learn from it, honour it, and approach it with humility, gratitude, and respect.

The history of Hawaiʻi reminds us that culture, language, relationship, and identity are precious. It invites us to consider how we care for one another, how we care for the places where we live, and how we contribute to the wellbeing of our communities.

For those who learn and practise lomilomi, this includes recognising that we are engaging with a living cultural tradition that has been carried forward through the dedication, resilience, and generosity of Hawaiian families, teachers, cultural practitioners, and communities.

May we continue to listen deeply, learn respectfully, and embody aloha in ways that honour both the teachings and the people from whom they come.

In doing so, we help nurture the qualities of connection, compassion, healing, and care that our world so deeply needs.

Art by Kānaka Maoli Artist, Community Activist, and Ancestral Historian: Bernice Akamine (1949-2024)