Lili’uokalani I of Hawaii was the last ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which no longer exists. She was overthrown in 1893, and the Polynesian islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean lost their political independence as a result.
Lili’uokalani I of Hawaii stayed in London for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1887, Walery. The State Archives of Hawaii.
Lili’uokalani I of Hawaii was the last ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, which no longer exists. She was overthrown in 1893, and the Polynesian islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean lost their political independence as a result.
When British explorer and captain James Cook accidentally landed in Honolulu Bay in 1778 (Spain’s maps showed that Europeans already knew about these islands), he found himself on an archipelago (which he called the Sandwich Islands) that was going through a lot of political and social change. Polynesians made up the native population, which was divided into small groups with political power. These groups were called clans or tribes. In 1882, however, Kamehameha, the leader of the most powerful clan on the island of Hawaii, started a campaign to defeat all the other tribes and bring all the islands together politically. He finally reached his goal, and 1810 was the official start of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Lili’uokalani I of Hawaii stayed in London for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1887, Walery. The State Archives of Hawaii.
Kamehameha the Great, as he was called after that, started a royal dynasty that lasted until 1873, when Hawaiian noblemen chose David Kalakaua I, who was from a different royal family. Almost the whole time, native rulers were in charge. The Hawaiian state stayed politically independent from the world powers. It signed international treaties with various countries, from the United Kingdom to new South American republics like the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (Argentina).
Hawaii’s monarchs started to dress like their European counterparts, and they made changes to the economy, government, and society that slowly made the old rules and customs obsolete. At the same time, Hawaii became more dependent on the United States, one of the countries with the most trade and diplomatic agreements.
Protestant missionaries were the first people from North America to set foot on the archipelago. There was a big increase in trying to convert people to Christianity because the native aristocracy became Christians. This made it easier for almost everyone in Hawaii to become Christians. This is important for anyone who wants to understand how the U.S. came to have power and influence over Hawaii’s royal family, who went to schools started by American missionaries to learn and grow.
Because of the risk of a British or French invasion, the kings and queens of Hawaii tried to get closer to the United States. This explains why the U.S. kept getting things like exclusive trade deals and changes to how land ownership was handled. The Reciprocity Treaty, signed by the Kingdom of Hawaii and the United States of America in 1875, ended this. Among other things, the new laws that let Hawaii’s sugarcane be brought in tax-free caused a huge change in this small Pacific state’s natural and social landscape. Agriculture was brought to the industry level, and substantial land areas were used to grow crops. This made the need for manual labor grow. Because of this, hundreds of thousands of people from China and Japan were brought to America. But when these new people came to the island, they brought new diseases that hit the native people hard and caused a huge drop in the population.
Bradley & Rulofson, 1874. Members of the Reciprocity Treaty commission and King Kalakaua I. The Hawaii State Archives are in San Francisco
How the new American landowners used the land quickly changed the political and economic situation on the island. Because the U.S. kept getting involved in the Hawaiian government, an attempt was made in 1887 to break ties with the new oligarchy. King Kalakaua, I chose not to renew the Reciprocity Treaty so that his kingdom would be less dependent on the United States. Hawaiian-born Americans were quick to react to this news. They formed a Hawaiian League group and tried to take over the government. They made the king sign a constitution that took away all of his legislative and executive powers and gave more weight to the votes of white people when new governments were chosen. This new deal is known as the “Bayonet Constitution” in history books.
Latest Post
- Who Is Jennifer Coolidge And How Much Is Her Net Worth?
- Charlie Sheen Net Worth In 2022: How He Become So Rich?
When King Kalakaua I died in 1891 without children, his sister Lili’uokalani took his place on the throne. She was in charge of the kingdom while the king traveled worldwide. When Queen Lili’uokalani I took the throne in 1891, American elites on the island saw this as a serious threat to their way of life since the new monarch’s nationalist views were at odds with America’s trade goals.
Queen Lili’uokalani I of Hawaii moved quickly. She had a new constitution written that gave power back to the monarchy and gave native Hawaiians more say in elections. This new constitution also got rid of the Bayonet Constitution. But in 1893, the American Hawaiians formed the Security Committee. They aimed to eliminate the Queen and the new plans threatening their power.
In 1893, the Queen had to step down because of a lot of pressure. This was the end of the last piece of the Hawaiian people’s independent sovereignty and political culture. The Queen was replaced by a temporary government fully backed by the U.S. This government stayed in place until 1895 when the Republic of Hawaii was declared. The archipelago was then taken over by the United States three years later. But Hawaii didn’t become the 50th state of the Union until 1959 when the U.S. Congress approved it.
The last Queen of Hawaii was a political leader, a composer, a writer, and a strong personality. However, she did not have a happy retirement. Instead, she was sentenced to fail: her jail time was changed to house arrest, and she didn’t get much personal or political attention after that.
Add this page NogMagazine.com to your Bookmark for related updates.