Stamp Collecting with GS

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Stamps of Hawaii - Hawaii's Royalty on Stamps

By 1790 Kamehameha had united all of Hawaii under his rule and he lived with his favorite wife Kaahumanu.. During this time Hawaii was opened up to more and more

King Kamehameha III (#10R)

western influence. Kamehameha sold sea otter fur and sandlewood to the Europeans, and the first pineapples arrived from Spain. Foreigners traded in Hawaii, but Kamehameha didn't allow them to influence life or politics in Hawaii. Then Kamehameha died in 1819.

King Kamehameha II (Liholiho)

The next Hawaiian king was 21-year-old Liholio, who took the title of King Kamehameha II. He was the son of Kamehameha and Keipuolani but raised by Kaahumanu in the royal household, and it was Queen Kaahumanu who was the power behind the throne.

Up until that time ancient Hawaiian laws, rituals and rules (kapus) were handed down by the chiefs (ali'i) and priests (kuhuna). For example, women ate separtely from men and a different diet. Men did not eat bananas, and commoners had to lay down on the ground when an ali'i approached. The penalties were severe, often death, and quickly meted out by the mu.

King Kamehameha IV (#50)

Kaahumanu ended kapu. In November 1819, after mourning for his father, Kamehameha II sat in full view of the chiefs, priests and commoners in Kailua and ate women's food with women. Old Hawaii's belief system came down, and the power of the ali'i and kahunas began to evaporate just at the time that the missionaries were arriving from the United States.

The first dourly Calvanistic evangelists from New England set up shop in the islands in 1820 and though generally tolerated, were kept at a distance. Most chiefs simply wanted to learn to read and write and learn about the outside world from them, though the missionaries had other ideas.

King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli)

In 1823 Kamehameha II went to England with his wife and there they died of measles, one of the many European diseases that Pacific islanders had no natural resistance to. Liholio's little brother Kauikeaouli became King Kamehameha III with Queen Kaahumanu ruling as regent until she died in 1832.

Because of her Kauikeaouli was baptized Christian and banned ancient Hawaiian beliefs and practices. By now Hawaii was an important whaling center, and Hawaiian sugar cane was king. It was Kamehameha III who instituted land reform in Hawaii, and by the mid-'40's Hawaii was recognized by England, France and the US as an independent nation.