Chiefs
The four biggest islands, Hawaiʻi island, Maui, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu were generally ruled by their own Aliʻi ʻaimoku, high chiefs (also called king, local king). Under them, subordinate district aliʻi controlled their petty fiefs.
All these dynasties were interrelated. They all regarded native Hawaiian people (and possibly all humans) as descendants of legendary parents, Wākea (symbolizing the air) and his wife Papa (symbolizing the earth). During the late eighteenth century, the kingdom of the island of Hawaiʻi fragmented into several independent chiefdoms. Internecine warfare between them became common. There apparently was no longer an aliʻi ʻaimoku controlling the island.
In the beginning of nineteenth century, high chiefs of major islands were considered the "twenty-and-something" aliʻi ʻaimoku to hold their positions, according to count of monarchs in each realm based on Hawaiian legends. Assuming five to ten generations per century, the Aliʻi ʻAimoku dynasties were around three to six centuries old at 1800 CE. The Tahitian invasion of the Hawaiian islands, reportedly extinguishing all the previous population, is believed to have taken place in the thirteenth century. Aliʻi ʻAimoku lordships were presumably established rather soon after the invasion.
The preceding generations, according to lineal counts in legends, some 30 generations from mythical Wakea to the first Aliʻi ʻAimoku rulers, thus presumably lived elsewhere than in Hawaiian islands.
Read more about this topic: Ancient Hawaii
Famous quotes containing the word chiefs:
““Hear me,” he said to the white commander. “I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. Our chiefs are dead; the little children are freezing. My people have no blankets, no food. From where the sun stands, I will fight no more forever.””
—For the State of Montana, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Fashion understands itself; good-breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily fraternize with those of every other. The chiefs of savage tribes have distinguished themselves in London and Paris, by the purity of their tournure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They can not tell me.”
—Chief Joseph (c. 1840–1904)