Hawaiiloa is the hero of an ancient Hawaiian legend about the settling of the
Hawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
. After having accidentally stumbled upon the islands, he returned to his homeland which he called
Ka āina kai melemele a Kane, "the land of the yellow sea of Kane". He then organized a colonizing expedition that included his family and eight other skilled navigators. They settled on what is now the
Island of HawaiiThe Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the U.S. State of Hawaii in the North Pacific Ocean...
, named in his honor.
Hawaiiloa is the hero of an ancient Hawaiian legend about the settling of the
Hawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...
. After having accidentally stumbled upon the islands, he returned to his homeland which he called
Ka āina kai melemele a Kane, "the land of the yellow sea of Kane". He then organized a colonizing expedition that included his family and eight other skilled navigators. They settled on what is now the
Island of HawaiiThe Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the U.S. State of Hawaii in the North Pacific Ocean...
, named in his honor. The legend contains reference to his sons:
KauaiKauai or Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago and the 21st largest island in the United States...
,
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the State of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, and
MauiThe island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the United States' 17th largest island. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai...
, who settled on the islands that bear their names.
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The story of Hawaiiloa has received a great deal of attention from modern Hawaiians, as a realistic depiction of the settling of the islands, consonant with current anthropological and historical beliefs. Many people believe it is a validation of the veracity of ancient Hawaiian oral traditions.
It is perhaps from such a motive that the voyaging canoe
Hawaiiloa, was named after the legendary navigator. This canoe was built and sailed to prove that Polynesians were bold, intentional navigators, not the hapless voyagers blown off course that some theories of Polynesian migration claimed. The canoe Hawaiiloa is now docked at
Honolulu HarborHonolulu Harbor, also called Kulolia and Ke Awa O Kou, is the principal seaport of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii in the United States. It is from Honolulu Harbor, located on Mamala Bay, that the City & County of Honolulu was developed and urbanized, in an outward fashion, over the course of the...
. It is often sailed on long voyages throughout the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
in hopes of studying voyaging techniques used in
antiquityAncient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between AD.300-800, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and...
.
However, the story of Hawaiiloa is attested only by late sources, such as the antiquarians
Abraham FornanderAbraham Fornander was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important Hawaiian journalist, judge, and ethnologist.-Early life and education:Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden in November 4, 1812, to Anders and Karin Fornander, a local clergyman...
and
Thomas George ThrumThrum's Hawaiian Annual is a statistical compendium of Hawaiiana ranging from Hawaiian mythology to Hawaiian language to sites of interest in Hawaii, published by Star-Bulletin Printing Co....
. As they did not give their original Hawaiian sources, but only digests and compilations, we cannot be sure that the tale has not been slanted towards proof of Fornander's now discredited migration theories, or that it has not been elaborated by 19th century Hawaiians eager to stress the validity of their own beliefs.
Hawaiiloa is not mentioned in early Hawaiian sources like
David MaloDavid Malo was a leading Native Hawaiian historian of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He became a Christian minister and founded a church.-Life:...
or Samuel M. Kamakau. Malo says that there are many stories of the origin of the Hawaiians, and cites some migration tales, some legends of indigenous origin. He does not mention Hawaiiloa. Kamakau says that the first man and woman were Hulihonua and Keakahuilani, and that they were created on Oahu.
See also
- Hawaiki
The Māori name Hawaiki refers to the mythical land to which some Polynesian cultures trace their origins. It may also refer to an underworld in many Māori stories, and in Mangaia in the Cook Islands. Tregear records that the Cook Islands Maori word Avaiki means "underworld"...
- Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
- Hawaiian mythology
Hawaiian mythology refers to the legends, historical tales and sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a more general Polynesian mythology, developing its own unique character for several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian religion, the...
- Hōkūlea
Hōkūlea is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, she is best known for her 1976 Hawaii to Tahiti voyage performed with Polynesian navigation techniques, without modern...
- Polynesian Navigation
Polynesian navigation was a system of navigation used by Polynesians to make long voyages across thousands of miles of open ocean. Navigators traveled to small inhabited islands using only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice...
- Polynesian Voyaging Society
The Polynesian Voyaging Society is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaii. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods...