The competitive network of island chiefdoms (aliʻi nui) that governed the Hawaiian Islands from Polynesian settlement through the unification campaigns of Kamehameha I, each island typically ruled by one or more paramount chiefs.
The pre-unification island chiefdoms of Hawaii were absorbed into the unified Kingdom of Hawaii through Kamehameha I's campaigns; he conquered Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi by 1795, culminating in the Battle of Nuʻuanu, and the chiefdoms of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau under Kaumualiʻi submitted peacefully in 1810, completing unification and superseding the ancient chiefdom system.
The opening volume covers the social and political structure of pre-unification Hawaii and Kamehameha's campaigns.
Provides narrative context for the chiefdom period and transition to unified kingdom.
Indigenous account of the aliʻi era chiefdoms; essential primary/near-primary source for pre-Kingdom Hawaii.
Comparative treatment of Hawaiian and other Polynesian chiefdoms; theoretical framework for chiefdom development.
The archaeological story of the pre-contact Pacific this society belongs to.