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Explorers
Kawaihae was still a royal residence when the first explorers began
to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Here Kamehameha's foreign advisors
settled on the land, and met with explorers from France and Great Britain.
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Missionaries
Though an early French Catholic baptism occured at Kawaihae, it was
Protestant missionaries from New England who transformed the islands.
They touched first at Kawaiahe, and learned that the kapu system
had been overthrown.
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Mahele (Colony)
The partitioning (mahele) of lands in the 1840s that changed
the fabric of Hawaiian society and economy left most of the land in
large holdings—one for the descendant of John Young, and one for
the Crown. But the situation is more complex in the village and upland
areas.
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Society
Always a small village, Kawaihae was periodically devastated by drought,
crop failures, and plagues of introduced diseases. Rev. Lyons, the local
missionary, recorded his observations during this time. Populations
in the upland remained, but dwindled by the end of the century.
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Aftermath
Because of its importance as a port, Kawaihae experienced all the changes
in the islands' economy. Sandalwood, whaling, provisioning ships, and
finally cattle all fueled the steady growth of Kawaihae as a port, marking
the shift of the islands to the cash economy.
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