History
Māmalahoa Highway was named for the royal decree by King Kamehameha I after an incident he and his party experienced in 1783.
As he prepared to unite the Islands of Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha I would conduct shoreline raids on the neighboring ahupuaʻa (traditional land divisions). It was on one such incursion that the King’s warriors encountered two local fishermen along the Puna coast. The two fled to warn others of the pending attack and Kamehameha and his men took chase. When they crossed a lava field, one of the King’s feet got caught in a crevice.
The fishermen, seizing the opportunity to retaliate, returned and attacked. In the ensuing brawl, one of the King’s steersmen was killed and Kamehameha himself received a blow to the head that was so hard that it splintered the man’s weapon – a solid koa canoe paddle. The two Puna men escaped.
Kamehameha I opted not to retaliate but instead took this as a lesson: The strong must not mistreat the weak, his people must be assured protection from harm’s way in their pursuits and that safe passage must be everyone’s entitlement. A decade later, King Kamehameha I, upon reflecting on his deliverance that day in Puna and on the memory of his fallen warrior, proclaimed Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe – "The Law of the Splintered Paddle" – at Kahaleʻioleʻole in the Kaipalaoa area of Hilo.
| Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe: E nā kānaka E mālama ʻoukou i ke Akua, A e mālamahoʻi ke kanaka nui a me ke kanaka iki; E hele ka ʻelemakule, ka luahine a me ka kama A moe i ke ala ʻAʻohe mea nanā e hoʻopilikia. Hewa no, make ! | Law of the Splintered Paddle: O my people Honour thy God, Respect alike the great man and the humble man; See to it that the old man, the aged woman and the child Sleep by the side of the path Without the fear of harm. Disobey, die! |
Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe is considered such an important law to the Hawaiians that at the 1978 Constitutional Convention it was added to the Constitution of Hawaiʻi. In it, the law protects the public and the safety of all who travel throughout the Islands, including fishermen, gatherers, hunters and visitors alike.
- Hawaiʻi Constitution (Article IX, Section 10) - Public Safety
- The Law of the Splintered Paddle, Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe, decreed by Kamehameha I, every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety, shall be a unique and living symbol of the State's concern for public safety. The State shall have the power to provide for the safety of the people from crimes against persons and property.
- (Add ConCon 1978 and election November 7, 1978.)
The Māmalahoa trail was a foot trail built in the nineteenth century, which developed into this highway. Various parts were widened and re-aligned over the years. Much of the Hawaiʻi Belt Road through North Hilo and Hāmākua districts was built on the roadbed and bridges of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway as part of the recovery from a tsunami that ravaged the island's northeast coast in 1946.
Read more about this topic: Hawaii Belt Road
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