User:W Nowicki/Kaiana

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Kaʻiana
Tianna, a Prince of Atooi, lithograph after a Chinese painting done by Spoilum in Canton. Kaʻiana wears his ʻahuʻula and mahiole` signifying Hawaiian nobility.
Born1755
Kona District, Hawaii
DiedMay 1795
Battle of Nuʻuanu
SpouseKekupuohi
Names
Keawe Kaʻiana a ʻAhuʻula
FatherʻAhuʻula a Keawe
MotherKaupekamoku

Keawe Kaʻiana a ʻAhuʻula (1755–1795) was the first Hawaiian chief during the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii known to travel across the Pacific. He returned to Hawaii, where he joined the forces fighting against King Kamehameha I and died in a pivitol battle.

Life[edit]

Foreigners spelled his name in various ways, including Kaiona[1], Tianna, Tyaana, Ty-e-a-naa, Tianner, Tayanah[2] and Tayana.[3]


He was cousin to most of the royalty in the islands.[4]

Journey to China[edit]

After Captain James Cook's death, it was recorded that a chief named "Taiana" came aboard the HMS Resolution in Kauaʻii and was let off at Niʻihau. This might have been a cousin, however, since this Kaʻiana is more closely associaed with Maui and the island of Hawaii.

In 1783, the three brothers fought in the invasion army of their cousin, Maui's King Kahekili, who sailed from Maui to Molokaʻi to Oʻahu to attack and vanquish the Oʻahu King Kahahana.

Queen Charlotte (merchant ship) under Captain George Dixon and Portlock on December 24, 1786

Captain John Meares on Nootka in Agust 1787 took Kaʻiana as a passenger to Canton, China (now called "Guangzhou") with a cargo of furs from America. Took Kaʻiana on Felice and others on Iphigenia trading voyage to the Pacific Northwest, and Hana on December 6, 1788. Meares said he had: "...capacities which education might have nurtured into intellectual superiority."[1]

In Kaʻiana's honor, Captain Douglas gave the name "Tianna's Bay" to the place where the Iphigenia anchored overnight on August 5, 1788, near Alaska's Mount Saint Elias. It was probably the first foreign place to be named for a Hawaiian person, but modern maps show that site as Icy Bay.


In 1886, Walter Murray Gibson noted a doubtful claim (one he did not believe himself) falsely claiming that Kaʻiana had imported leprosy from China on his return to the islands even though the disease did not appear until decades later.[5]

Return home[edit]

Decembr 29 he decided to trade his firearms to Kamehameha I. [6]


The first chief George Vancouver met on his arrival in 1792 was Kaʻiana.

Kaʻiana might have had an affair with Kaʻahumanu who was in her late teens, but probably not.

Shortly before Kamehameha's invasion of Oahu, he joined the side of Oahu King Kalanikūpule after being slighted by Kamehameha's refusal to invite him to his war council.

After Kalanikūpule's force was routed at the Battle of Nuʻuanu, Kaʻiana died at a place called Laʻimi in Nuʻuanu.[7]

Kaʻiana was killed by John Young at the Battle of Nuʻuanu

An example of Kalanimoku’s unfaltering loyalty to Kamehameha can be found in the dilemma he faced when his cousin, Ka‘iana, also a follower of Kamehameha, was suspected of plotting against Kame­ hameha at the time of the imminent invasion of O‘ahu after the death of Kahekili. A commander in charge of a large segment of Kameha­ meha’s forces, and with a sizeable army and fleet of canoes of his own, Ka‘iana was left out of important meetings held between Kameha­ meha and his chiefs. Realizing that the chiefs had turned against him, possibly out of jealousy, and that his life might be in jeopardy, Ka‘iana deserted Kamehameha and joined forces with his cousin, Kalanikūpule, son of Kahekili, who had succeeded his father as king of O‘ahu. Before leaving, he confided in Kalanimoku, whose sympa­ thy was divided between his cousin and his mentor. After much soul­ searching, Kalanimoku reported Ka‘iana’s plan to Kamehameha. Not overly concerned, Kamehameha continued his invasion and in the battle of Nu‘uanu, Ka‘iana was killed.19[8]



Historian Eleanor C. Nordyke noted that both Kanaʻina and Kaʻiana "were esteemed as courageous and intelligent leaders, and paintings were drawn of their handsome features and unique wearing apparel."[9]

Descendants[edit]

Kaʻiana was possibly the father of John Adam Kuakini.

There are no records as to the fate or names of his wife and child mentioned in his encounters with Western explorers.[10] Historian Samuel Kamakau mentions a wife named Kekupuohi who refused to join him when he defected to the camp of Kalanikūpule prior to Kamehameha's invasion of Oahu. There is speculation that this woman may have been synonymous with Kekupuohi (1746–1836), a great beauty in her youth and the seventh wife of Kalaniʻōpuʻu who later became a convert to Christianity.[11][12] A genealogy printed in 1901 listed descendants of his son Kaʻelele by Hāloa, one of his wives. This son had a son named Keamalu who married Kaʻaipulu, a descendant of Kauai aliʻi Kaumeheʻiwa, and had two daughters: one named Lillian Kalahiki Kamohailani Keamalu. Both Kaʻaipulu and her daughters were living in Queen Liliʻuokalani's household at Washington Place in the 1900s.[10][13]

Kamakau claimed Kaʻiana had sexual relation with his first cousin Nāmāhāna i Kaleleokalani and named him as the father of her two sons both named Kuakini. However, Kamakau also contradicts himself in other publications claiming that these boys were the sons of Nāmāhāna's other husbands: Kamehamehanui Aiʻluau and Keʻeaumoku Pāpaʻiahiahi, respectively. The younger son Kaluaikonahale Kuakini (who later adopted the English name John Adams) was sometimes regarded as having two fathers (both Keʻeaumoku and Kaʻiana), a tradition called poʻolua (double headed); he later served as the Governor of Hawaii Island during the early years of the united monarchy.[14][15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Duncan 1973, pp. 93–94.
  2. ^ Miller 1988, p. 2.
  3. ^ Day 1991, p. 24.
  4. ^ Miller 1988, p. 2–3.
  5. ^ Hawaii. Board of Health & Gibson 1886, p. 9.
  6. ^ Alexander 1891, p. 126.
  7. ^ Kamakau 1992, p. 172.
  8. ^ Del Piano 2009, p. 6.
  9. ^ Nordyke 1989, pp. 228–230.
  10. ^ a b Miller 1988, pp. 16–17.
  11. ^ Miller 1988, pp. 14–15.
  12. ^ Kamakau 1992, pp. 172, 249, 251, 310.
  13. ^ McKinzie 1986, pp. 90–91.
  14. ^ Miller 1988, pp. 14, 18.
  15. ^ Kamakau 1992, pp. 309, 388.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Alexander, William DeWitt (1891). A Brief History of the Hawaiian People. New York: American Book Company. ISBN 9781548611316. OCLC 187412143.
  • Alexander, W. D. (1890). Thrum, Thomas G. (ed.). "Early Visitors To The Hawaiian Islands". Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1890. Honolulu: Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 37–53. hdl:10524/31851.
  • Day, A. Grove (1991). "An Early Hawaiian Vocabulary". Hawaiian Journal of History. 25. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 21–30. hdl:10524/491. OCLC 60626541.
  • Del Piano, Barbara (2009). "Kalanimoku: Iron Cable of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1769–1827". Hawaiian Journal of History. 43. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 1–28. hdl:10524/12237.
  • Duncan, Janice K. (1973). "Kanaka World Travelers and Fur Company Employees, 1785–1860". Hawaiian Journal of History. 7. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 93–111. hdl:10524/133. OCLC 60626541.
  • Hackler, Rhoda E. A.; Speakman, Cummins E. (1989). "Vancouver in Hawaiʻi". Hawaiian Journal of History. 23. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 31–65. hdl:10524/121. OCLC 60626541.
  • Hawaii. Board of Health; Gibson, Walter M. (1886). Report of the President of the Board of Health to the Legislative Assembly of 1886, on Leprosy. Honolulu: Daily Bulletin Steam Print. Office.
  • Kamakau, Samuel (1992) [1961]. Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (Revised ed.). Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press. ISBN 0-87336-014-1. OCLC 25008795.
Kaʻi-ana ʻAhu-ʻula, 135, 138, 140; remained in China three years, 144; is made commander of Kamehameha's army, parentage, 153; also known by Ka-lani-kuaiwa, 154; makes war on Keoua, 162; joins Ka-lani-ku-pule's forces, dies in battle, 172; incident with Council of Chiefs on Molokai, 312; father of Kuakini, 388 [1]
Kaiana (a chief), 22, 35, 36, 39, 40, 47, 48, 61 [2]


  • Nordyke, Eleanor C. (1989). "Notes & Queries – Kanaʻina and Kaʻiana: Two Chiefs Of Early Hawaiʻi". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 23. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 228–230. hdl:10524/556. OCLC 60626541.
  • Ingraham, Joseph, 1762-1800. 1918. Log Of The Brig Hope, Called The Hope's Track Among The Sandwich Islands, May 20 – Oct. 12, 1791 Hawaiian Historical Society. Reprint no. 3. Honolulu : Hawaiian Historical Society. http://hdl.handle.net/10524/641
  • Extracts from voyages made in the years 1788 and 1789 from China to the northwest coast of America, with an introductory narrative of a voyage performed in 1786 from Bengal in the ship "Nootka".

Title: Extracts from voyages made in the years 1788 and 1789 from China to the northwest coast of America, with an introductory narrative of a voyage performed in 1786 from Bengal in the ship "Nootka" Other Titles: Hawaiian Historical Society. Reprint no. 1 Authors: Meares, John, 1756?-1809 Keywords: Voyages and travels Douglas, William, Captain Issue Date: 1916 Publisher: Honolulu : Hawaiian Historical Society Citation: Number 1 URI/DOI: http://hdl.handle.net/10524/643



External links[edit]

  • Young, Peter T. (August 27, 2014). "Kaʻiana". Image of Old Hawaiʻi. Hoʻokuleana LLC. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  • Kaiana & Kekupuohi. Hawaiian Art by Brook Kapukuniahi Parker.