Alii Aimoku of Kauai - Overview

Overview

The monarchs of Kauaʻi, like those of the other Hawaiian islands, claim descent from Wākea and his wife Papa. Nanaulu, a descendant in the fourteenth generation from Wakea, was the ancestor of Moikeha, 1st Aliʻi Aimoku of Kauai, but his dynasty was supplanted after two generations. The second, or Puna dynasty was established by Laamaikahiki, eleventh in descent from Puna who was twenty-fourth in descent from Wakea. Of course, every aliʻi lineage is ancient to us, but the northern kingdoms produced the great bloodlines that everyone wanted to graft into, including Kamehameha. Theirs is the "bluest blood", and the kingdoms they created, while very much like the kingdoms that Kamehameha’s grandparents and parents created, had a slightly different culture. The last Aliʻi Aimoku of Kauaʻi of the old uninterrupted line of Puna was Kawelo'a'maihunali'i. After his death the kingship of Kauaʻi fell on Kualii, the Aliʻi Aimoku of Oahu and cousin of Kaweloa'maihunali'i.

In 1810, King Kaumualiʻi, the 23rd Aliʻ Aimoku, ceded his kingdom to King Kamehameha I of Hawaii, in an effort to avoid bloodshed. Thereafter, he ruled it as a Vassal state, until kidnapped by King Kamehameha II and taken to Honolulu in 1821. After his death in 1824, his son George Kaumualiʻi took back his birth name Humehume and attempted to re-establish an independent on Kauaʻi, but was also eventually captured and taken to Honolulu. Ironically, any claim to the crown of the Hawaiian islands now rests with Kaumualii's heirs, the House of Kawānanakoa, after the death of the House of Kamehameha and House of Kalākaua.