Kingdom of Hawaii

In the eighteenth century, four semi-state associations existed in the Hawaiian Islands . After prolonged feuds, King Kameamea I (1758? -1819) succeeded in 1810 with the help of European weapons to unite the islands and establish a dynasty that reigned in Hawaii for the next 85 years.

In the 19th century, American whalers often wintered on the islands of the kingdom. Hawaii was visited by explorers, traders and adventurers. By the middle of the century, the kingdom already had schools, churches, taverns and commercial enterprises. Writing was introduced. Over time, the Christian religion in the form of Protestantism and Catholicism spread widely in Hawaii, which severely undermined the local culture and traditions.

Together with Europeans, diseases previously unknown to the islanders appeared in the Hawaiian Islands against which they did not have immunity ( mumps , measles , etc.).

In 1815-1816, a Russian-American company tried to gain a foothold on the island of Kauai , which even built several forts on it. However, in 1817, the Russian expedition, commanded by E. I. Schaeffer , was expelled by the Hawaiian king because of the exorbitant ambitions of its leader and the intrigues of American captains ^[1] .

When the missionaries arrived in the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1820, the small white population began to exert an increasing influence on the Hawaiian monarchs. In 1826, the first tax was introduced in the kingdom - on income from trade and shipbuilding. In 1840, the white minority demanded that Kameamea III (rules from 1825 to 1854) adopt a constitution.

In subsequent years, U.S. interest in the kingdom increased and the result was the signing of a Reciprocity Treaty , 1875, which was essentially a free trade agreement that guaranteed duty-free import of Hawaiian sugar into the United States and granted Americans special economic privileges. In 1887, the contract was extended, and the United States received the right to build a naval base at Pearl Harbor .

The last king of the Hawaiian Islands, Kalakaua (1874-1891) lost the support of the planters because of their wastefulness and attempts to revive the Hawaiian culture. In 1887, White’s armed forces forced him to adopt a new constitution called the Bayonet Constitution . She severely limited royal authority and introduced suffrage for the wealthy residents of Hawaii, who were usually Americans and Europeans.

In 1891, Queen Liliuokalani (1836-1917) ascended the throne, who immediately headed for the abolition of the “Bayonet Constitution”. She put forward a draft new constitution, but it was rejected by the government. Supporters of the accession of Hawaii to the United States conspired against the Queen. On January 17, 1893, the conspirators, supported by sailors from the American ship Boston, carried out a coup. The US government refused to annex the territory, noting that the overthrow of the monarchy, during which American troops were used, was committed against the will of the people. However, the kingdom ceased to exist, and a republican form of government was introduced in the Hawaiian Islands.

At first, the kingdom lacked regular armed forces, but an army was gradually formed under centralized control. The king could count only on the warriors of individual tribes. Armed forces and the navy used both traditional canoes and individual European elements of weapons and uniforms, such as helmets made from natural materials, as well as guns, muskets and, somewhat later, European ships. After the death of King Kameamea in 1819, his son already had an army of tens of thousands of people. This helped to suppress the rebellion on Kuamoʻo in 1819 and the uprising on the island of Kauai in 1824.

After a series of epidemics, the armed forces declined to 500 people and practically ceased to exist. Only in the 1870s were regular armed forces formed according to the European model, the basis of which was the royal guard of up to 600 people with 8-14 guns. If necessary, hoped to collect the militia. The Hawaiian army was disbanded after the 1893 coup.

• Republic of Hawaii
• Hawaii
• Hawaiian Islands

• Tumarkin D. D. Hawaiian people and the American colonialists 1820-1865 / Ans. ed. S. A. Gonion ; USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of Ethnography N.N. Miklouho-Maclay . - M .: Science , Glavn. ed. east lit., 1971. - 448 p. - Bibliogr. : with. 429-441.
• Grinev A.V. Germans in the history of Russian America // American Yearbook, 2002. - M .: Nauka, 2004. - P. 180-199 .
• Britannica ^{[ specify ]} .