The Kingdom of Hawai’i: The History of the Hawaiian State Before It Was Annexed by America
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Colin Fluxman
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Hawaiian kingdom existed for about a century, from the early 1790s to 1893, starting when King Kamehameha finally united the islands and lasting until American planters and businessmen staged a coup and forced Queen Lili’uokulani to abdicate. During the century of its existence, the kingdom offered its native peoples considerable protection. For example, in the later 1800s, several thousands of Pacific islanders were, in effect, kidnapped and forced to serve as indentured laborers in places like the Guano Islands in Peru and plantations in Queensland in the nefarious practice called “Blackbirding.” The kingdom offered literacy, converted its people to Christianity, and accommodated its people to the intrusive outside world. The achievement of establishing the kingdom belongs to an outstanding warrior king, Kamehameha the Great.
Kamehameha is probably the single most important figure in Hawai’i’s history. His life bracketed a time when Hawaii was its own world, and its people were unaware of the existence of anywhere outside the archipelago to when Hawai'i was inseparably joined to the world economy. A pivotal year was 1778 when the British exploring expedition under the famous Captain Cook “discovered” the islands. Cook was killed in 1779 by Hawaiians in a brawl based on mutual misunderstandings. Kamehameha was there, and he quickly realized the utility of firearms and cannons and used them in his conquest. He had two English captives who became close advisors and helped smooth Hawai'i's transition from an isolated island group to a participant in the Pacific world.
The intrusion of the outside world was inevitable, epic, and destructive. The islands’ total population at the time of Cook’s “discovery” is unknown, but it is variously estimated to be between 300,000 to 1,000,000 at the point of contact in 1778.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung: The Pioneering Lives and Works of History’s Most Influential Psychologists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Kingdom of Hawai’i
Related audiobooks
Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawaii Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific (The Landmark Library Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Modern Jamaica: The History of the Caribbean Island from Christopher Columbus to Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mysterious Polynesia: The Myths, Legends, and Mysteries of the Polynesians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5California: The History and Legacy of the Land Before and After It Joined the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Haitian Revolution: The History and Legacy of the Slave Uprising that Led to Haiti’s Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Caste War of Yucatán: The History and Legacy of the Last Major Indigenous Revolt in the Americas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sicily: The History and Legacy of the Mediterranean’s Most Famous Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welsh History: A Concise Overview of the History of Wales from Start to End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pirate World: A History of the Most Notorious Sea Robbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirate Queen: The Life of Grace O'Malley Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Island Legends of Hawai'i Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Adventures Of Kimo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCome On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters From Hawaii Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hawaii Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pompeii: A History of the City and the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson And The Opening Of The American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Kingdom of Hawai’i
7 ratings0 reviews