User:Viriditas/History of Niihau

Tasks

 * Archaeology not permitted (Kirch 1985:133) A "blank spot on th archaeological map".  J.F.G. Stokes given permission to briefly study the island in 1912. finding four heiau and a small fishing shrine. (Kirch 1985:133)
 * Ask KAVEBEAR to help expand ancient history and precontact (see talk)
 * Elizabeth Sinclair summary style
 * Expand United Nations trivia re:REFDESK request (via Tabrah?)
 * "The sea-minded Roosevelt had quite serious but fantastic ideas of having the proposed United Nations council meet alternately in the Azores and the Hawaiian Islands (at Niihau Island), and the state department had to work up exhaustive geographical studies about those proposed locations."
 * Need to flesh out history from 1964-2008
 * Need more historical images

Article
Prior to the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaii under Kamehameha I, Niihau was ruled by the ali'i. Kahelelani was the first of the Niihau ali'i. His name is now used to refer to the Niihau kahelelani, the puka shell of the wart turbans (Leptothyra verruca), used to make exquisite Niihau shell jewelry.

Kaeo was a ruler of northern Niihau who unified the entire island after defeating his rival, a chief named Kawaihoa. A stone wall (Papohaku) was built across a quarter of the southern end to mark the boundaries of the two chiefs: Kaeo's land was identified by black stones and Kawaihoa's by white stones. Eventually, a great battle took place, known as Pali Kamakaui. Kaeo's two brothers from the island of Maui, Kaiana and his half-brother Kahekili, the King of Maui, fought the battle for Kaeo and Niihau was united under his rule. Kawaihoa was banished to the south end of the island and Kaeo moved to the middle of the island to govern. Kaeo married the noble Kamakahelei and a future king of Niihau and Kauaʻi named Kaumualii was born in 1790. Kauai and Niihau are said to have carried the "highest blood lines" in the Hawaiian Islands.

By 1795, Kamehameha had managed to unify all of the islands except for Kauai and Niihau: Two attempts to conquer those islands had failed, and Kamehameha lost many men: the dead bodies covered the beaches on the eastern shores of Kauai. Finally, in 1810, Kamehameha amassed a great fleet, and Kaumualii, the last native alii, surrendered rather than risk further bloodshed. Independence again became feasible after Kamehameha's death in 1819, but was put down when Kamehameha's widow Kaahumanu kidnapped Kaumualii and forced him to marry her. Thereafter Niihau remained part of a unified Hawaii.

In 1864, Elizabeth Sinclair (later Sinclair-Robinson) purchased Ni'ihau from Kamehameha V for the low price of $10,000 in gold. By around 1875, Ni'ihau's population consisted of about 350 Native Hawaiians, with 20,000 sheep grazing the island. This era marked the end of the art of Hawaiian mat weaving made famous by the people of Niihau. The stems of a native sedge called makaloa (Cyperus laevigatus) used to grow on the edges of Niihau's three intermittent lakes. These grasses were used to weave the makaloa mats of Niihau, considered the "finest sleeping mats in Polynesia". The mats were valued by alii and foreign visitors alike, but by the end of the 19th century, Hawaiians had stopped weaving makaloa due to changes in population, culture, economics, and the environment.

In 1915, Sinclair's grandson Aubrey Robinson closed the island to most outside visitors; Even relatives of the inhabitants could visit only by special permission.

Niihau played a small role during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. An off-course Japanese pilot crash landed at Niihau and was captured by locals. With the assistance of local Japanese residents, the pilot escaped, but was later recaptured and killed. The incident is referred to locally as the "Niihau Incident" or the "Battle of Niihau."

Despite the self-imposed isolation, Niihau has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. military dating from before World War II. There is a small U.S. Navy installation on the island, but no military personnel are permanently stationed there. More recently, however, the U.S. military has used the island for training special operations units, hiring the Niihauans as "enemy" trackers.

Many residents of Niihau had been employees of the Niihau Ranch until the Robinson family finally shut down the operation in 1999; it had not been profitable for most of the 20th century. Many of the residents ended up on federal welfare, although these benefits will expire soon. The Robinson family has been considering alternative economic options to keep their residents employed, such as an increased economic role for the U.S. military (an earlier 1999 proposal to establish a missile testing program on the island fell by the wayside), or increased tourism. Either of these would erode the relative isolation that the residents currently enjoy.