Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between 300–800 CE, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and aquaculture provided sustenance. Tropical materials were adopted for housing, and elaborate temples (called heiau) were constructed from the lava rocks available. A social system with religious leaders and a ruling class organized a substantial population. Captain James Cook made the first known European contact with ancient Hawaiians in 1778. Many people traveled with him to the Hawaiian Islands.
Read more about Ancient Hawaii: Polynesian Triangle, Voyage To The Hawaiian Islands, Settlement, Village, Caste System, Land Tenure, Kapu System, Chiefs, Subsistence Economy, First Recorded Contact
Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or hawaii:
“To some extent, mythology is only the most ancient history and biography. So far from being false or fabulous in the common sense, it contains only enduring and essential truth, the I and you, the here and there, the now and then, being omitted. Either time or rare wisdom writes it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A fine-looking mill, but no machinery inside.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 1702, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)