Heads of Hawaii

-independence from British Isles in 1953

1795: Maui and Oahu conquered

1810: Kauai unified into Hawaii

1831: Spanish invasion, occupation begins

1832: Kauai separated from Hawaii

1834: Kahehameha III deposed

1851: Spanish removed by British invasion, British occupation begins

1856: Ratification of Decree of Perpetual Influence signed, formalizing British influence

1856: Acclaimed as king by British military, various Hawaiian nobles

1888: Thibault Affair, France granted basing rights in Pearl Harbour

1912: Attempted to overthrow British influence, defeated and exiled

1913: Signs Bayonet Decree, granting all political power outside palace to British

1952: Hawaiian independence, Constitutional Convention convened

The unification of Hawaii was fundamentally the work of one man, Kamehameha I, who unified Hawaii with the usage of foreign technology, as well as his incredible skill as a leader. In 1795, he all but unified Hawaii with the conquest of Oahu and Maui, and in 1810, he coerced Kauai into peacefully unifying with it. He spent the rest of his time establishing legal uniformity and ensuring the state would survive beyond his death, while promoting trade with the outside world. And so, he died in 1819.

His successor, Kamehameha II, saw the arrival of Christian missionaries, and they quickly became deeply influential over the royal family. And though the king never converted, many of his wives did. Under the influence of his Protestant first wife, he then expelled Catholic missionaries. This proved to be a fatal mistake. For the most part, Catholic missionaries were tied to the Spanish, who found Hawaii a useful point between Manila and New Spain. With Britain occupied by the Popular Revolution, and the United States busy absorbing its new holdings of Luisiana and Florida, Spain now had a free hand.

And so, in 1831, the Spanish sent a fleet to Hawaii, and this fleet bombarded Lahaina. Spain then landed soldiers and occupied the city. Kamehameha II was then killed in battle, and his successor Kamehameha III quickly accepted the Spanish occupation. However, it quickly became apparent the Spanish were not leaving, and instead they forced him to accept the independence of Kauai under pro-Spanish leadership. And so, Kamehameha III attempted to remove the Spanish, organizing an army to attack them, but he was betrayed before he could make do with his plans; the result was that the Spanish unceremoniously deposed him.

His successor, his adoptive son Kamehameha IV, was three years old upon his coronation; this effectively allowed the Spanish to run the kingdom. The trade between New Spain and Manila through Hawaii enlargened in scope, while with the cooperation of the nobility new crops were now grown with Filipino labour. This state of Spanish colonialism continued, even as Kamehameha IV grew up and became more willing to impose his will; sometimes, the Spanish even entertained his pretensions. In 1851, a British fleet invaded Hawaii, dislodged the Spanish headquartered there, and they successfully got the support of Kamehameha IV. However, it quickly became apparent than the British were just as willing to occupy Hawaii as the Spanish. In 1856, the king attempted to limit British influence by a decree that granted them a specific amount of influence and no further; however, even this was too little for the British. And so, Kamehameha IV mysteriously died, and the British had no opposition.

As he had no adopted successor, the British successfully selected a seven year old child, David Kekuaia, from the extended royal family, and organized his acclamation by the nobility. And this resulted the British effectively having no restrictions on their influence. In this period, labourers from The British Raj were brought in en masse to work on plantations which were owned by either British absentee landlords or wealthy Hawaiian aristocrats. Even as David Kekuaia grew up, he accepted British influence in his kingdom even as it turned it into a weak shell of what it once was. As Hawaiian nationalism began to develop, it viewed the monarchy as a weak irrelevance and, at best, something to be massively reformed. This long tenure was also intersected with the Thibault Affair, where a French Republic ship stopped at Pearl Harbour; because this was a period of bad Anglo-French relations, this ship's commander was arrested. This affair ended with the formalization of French basing rights at Pearl Harbour. And so, having never truly ruled his realm over his long reign, David Kekuaia died.

His successor, Caesar Kalakua, at first continued his predecessor's policy but then came under the influence of advisors who advocated he should expel the British occupiers. To this end, he procured guns from France, only too happy to throw guns at opponents of Britain, and launched a rebellion. For a time, this rebellion was successful, and also gained the support of plantation workers who rose up. However, the British reaction to this was swift, Caesar Kalakua's supporters were massacred, and he himself was exiled.

His successor, David Kaluaiku, signed the Bayonet Decree, granting the British absolute power outside the royal palace, and from that point on the title of King of Hawaii became purely titular. The line became nothing more than pensioners of the British Empire. However, it was never technically abolished. In 1952, with Hawaiian independence, there was some support of establishing the line as figurehead kings of Hawaii, particularly among native Hawaiian ethno-nationalists who supported it as a move to sideline Indians and Filipinos. But ultimately, the line was so tied to the rotten British Empire that it was abolished entirely, the family forced into perpetual exile, and the palace turned into a national museum. Today, there is no support for restoring the monarchy, except among some native Hawaiian ethno-nationalists; it is representative of how deeply it was implicated in colonialism.