Timeline in Hawaiian History...1825 - 1834 AD

1825 – The first sugar and coffee plantations are started in Mānoa Valley by John Wilkinson.
• George Anson, Lord Bryon, commanding the British Navy frigate Blonde, returns the bodies of Kamehameha II and Kamāmalu.
• Kauikeaouli, age eleven, is proclaimed king as Kamehameha III, under the regency of Queen Ka‘ahumanu. Ka‘ahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I and queen regent for Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III, is baptized December 4, along with her cousin Kalanimōkū, his infant son Leleiōhoku (a grandson of Kamehameha I), and her sister Pi‘ia.

1826 – Missionaries standardize the Hawaiian alphabet into its present form and order.
• The U.S. schooner Dolphin, the first American warship to visit Honolulu arrives.
• May 3 – George Humehume Kaumuali‘i dies. He left Hawai‘i as a youth and returned with the pioneer company of American missionaries in 1820.
• May 26 – Kahakuha‘akoi Wahinepio, widow of Kamehameha I and former governor of Maui dies.
• June 17 – Kalanipauahi, mother of Princess Ruth Ke‘elikōlani, dies in Honolulu in an epidemic.
• December 21 – Hawai‘i's first general tax law is enacted to provide revenue for shipbuilding and other development.

1827 – Kalanimoku, the prime minister under Kamehameha I, II, and III dies in Kailua, Kona.
• Catholic missionaries arrive in Hawai‘i aboard the ship Comet.
• The first Catholic mass of record in Hawai‘i is celebrated in Honolulu, and the first Catholic baptism in Hawai‘i takes place.
• A meeting is held December 14 marking the beginning of formal legislation in the kingdom of Hawai‘i. All chiefs are present and enact prohibitions against killing, committing adultery, and stealing.

By 1828 there are only 188,000 pure Hawaiians left alive (Noyes, 2003).

1829 – Boki (before 1785–after December 1829), governor of O‘ahu, departs December 2 on a sandalwood expedition to the South Pacific with two ships and nearly six hundred people. One ship returns nine months later, in August 1830 with only twelve natives and eight foreigners on board. More than four hundred men perished, including Boki.

1830 – Mexican and California cowboys arrive on the Big Island to teach Hawaiians the cattle business.
• December 11 – Lot Kamehameha, Kamehameha V, the son of Kekūanaō‘a and Kīna‘u is born.

Kamehameha V (1830–1872), born as Lot Kapuāiwa on December 11, 1830, reigned as monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from 1863 to 1872. His motto was "Onipa`a": immovable, firm, steadfast or determined; he worked diligently for his people and kingdom and was described as the last great traditional chief. His mother was Elizabeth Kīna‘u and father was Mataio Kekūanāo‘a. His siblings included David Kamehameha, Moses Kekuaiwa, Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV), and Victoria Kamamalu. Lot was educated at the Royal School like his cousins and siblings. He was betrothed to Bernice Pauahi at birth but she eventually married Charles R. Bishop. Lot and Bernice remained friends for the rest of his life.

Lot was a public servant for many years before he became king, serving on the Privy Council, in the House of Nobles, as Minister of the Interior, and chief justice of the supreme court. His more charismatic younger brother Prince Alexander was chosen to become King Kamehameha IV in 1854; Lot succeeded him after his death in 1963.

Kamehameha V initiated ambitious public projects. He wanted to create a credible and pleasing face for the government for those who visited. The Kamehameha V Post Office was begun in 1871. Ali‘iōlani Hale (which is now the home of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court) was completed in 1874. Some other building projects included the ʻIolani barracks to house the royal guards, a new prison, the Royal Mausoleum, schools and warehouses, an insane asylum, a quarantine building to process the flood of immigrants, and other government structures. So many new projects caused a heavy strain on Hawaiʻi's resources; by March 31, 1874, Hawaiʻi's national debt stood at over $355,000.

Lot’s sister and only named Heir Apparent to the throne, Crown Princess Victoria Kamāmalu had died childless in 1866; through the remainder of his reign, Kamehameha V did not name a successor. He died on December 11, 1872 while the preparations for his birthday celebration were underway. As Lot laid bedstricken, he answered those that came to visit him: "The Good Lord cannot take me today, today is my birthday". He is buried in the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii known as Mauna ‘Ala.

Lot was the last ruling monarch of the House of Kamehameha. After his death, the legislature declared an election for the office, won by Kamehameha V's cousin William Charles Lunalilo.

1831 – December 19 – Bernice Pauahi is born.
• Lahainaluna is established as a teacher training college, and is the first college west of the Mississippi River. Subjects such as trigonometry, anatomy, world geography, Greek and English are taught there in Hawaiian.

1832 – February 9 – Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV) is born.
• June 5 – Queen Ka‘ahumanu dies in her home in Mānoa; she was instrumental in the fall of the kapu (taboo) system and the adoption of the Christian religion.
• The first newspaper in the Hawaiian language, Ka Lama Hawai‘i, is run.

Kamehameha IV, born Alexander ʻIolani Liholiho Keawenui (1834–1863), reigned as the fourth king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from January 11, 1855 to November 30, 1863. Alexander was born on February 9, 1834 in Honolulu, to High Chief Mataio Kekūanāo‘a, Royal Governor of O‘ahu and Princess Elizabeth Kīna‘u, Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom. He was the grandson of Kamehameha I. As a baby, he was adopted by his uncle, King Kamehameha III who decreed Alexander Liholiho heir to the throne and raised him as the crown prince.

Educated at the Royal School, Liholiho was accompanied by 30 kahu (attendants) when he arrived, but they were sent home and for the first time, Liholiho was on his own. Liholiho played the flute and the piano, and enjoyed singing and acting. At 14 he went to law school, and at 15, he went on a government trip with his brother Lot and with his guardian Dr. Judd to England, the United States, and Panama. Alexander Liholiho recorded the events of his trip in a journal.

In May 1850, the royal brothers, Prince Albert of England and others boarded a ship in England and sailed to the United States of America. He experienced American racism firsthand when he was called a “nigger” and almost removed from his train car. The prince had preceded Dr. Judd and Prince Lot in occupying the compartment reserved for them for a return trip to New York and someone had questioned Alexander's right to be there. The 16 year-old prince wrote in his journal:

"I found he was the conductor, and took me for somebody's servant just because I had a darker skin than he. Confounded fool; the first time that I have ever received such treatment, not in England or France or anywhere else........In England an African can pay his fare and sit alongside Queen Victoria. The Americans talk and think a great deal about their liberty, and strangers often find that too many liberties are taken of their comfort just because his hosts are a free people."

At a dinner party in New York with friends of Judd, the princes were again exposed to a racist incident. Helen Kinau Wilder recalled:
In New York visiting friends, the butler was very averse to serving "blacks" as he called them, and revenged himself by putting bibs at their places. Their hostess was very angry when she found what a mean trick her servant had played on them.
Kamehameha III died on December 15, 1854. On January 11, 1855 Alexander took the oath as King Kamehameha IV, succeeding his uncle when he was only 20 years old.

Alexander married Emma Rooke in 1856. Queen Emma was the granddaughter of John Young, Kamehameha I's British royal advisor and companion. She also was Kamehameha's great grand niece.

The royal couple had their only child in May 1858, Prince Albert, who died at the age of four. Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma devoted much of their efforts to providing quality healthcare and education for their people, as they were concerned that diseases were decimating the native Hawaiian population. They built The Queen's Medical Center, one of the most technologically advanced medical centers in the world today.

Kamehameha IV, 29, dies of chronic asthma on November 30, 1863; 800 children and teachers walk in his funeral procession to say goodbye. Kamehameha IV is buried with his son at Mauna Ala on February 3, 1864. Queen Emma runs unsuccessfully against David Kalākaua to rule the Kingdom. (Holt, 1971).



1832 – December 31 – Kapi‘olani, future wife of King Kalākaua, is born in Hilo.
Queen Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) formally Esther Julia Kapiʻolani, was married to King David Kalākaua. Born December 31, 1834 in Hilo, she was the granddaughter of Kaumuali‘i, the last king of the island of Kaua‘i before the unification of the islands under Kamehameha I, and the stepdaughter of Queen Ka‘ahumanu. Her first marriage was to High Chief Benjamin Namakehaokalani, son of Keali‘imaika‘i, brother of Kamehameha I, and was 35 years older than Kapiʻolani. He was uncle of Queen Emma. This made Kapi‘olani the widowed aunt of Queen Emma. Kapiʻolani was the caretaker of Prince Albert, baby of Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. Queen Emma blamed Kapi‘olani for the child's death as he was under Kapiolani's care at the time. After the death of her child, Queen Emma would never appear at a public function that Kapiolani was in attendance of.
Kapiʻolani and Kalākaua were married in a quiet ceremony due to respect for the passing of Kamehameha IV. They were childless. In 1887, Queen Kapiʻolani, King Kalākaua, and his sister Princess Lili‘uokalani traveled around the world, and to London to attend Queen Victoria's 50th Jubilee celebration. The Hawaiian Royal family were treated as dignitaries, and seated with the British Royal family. Kapiʻolani established the Kapiʻolani Medical Center, a maternity home where Hawaiian mothers and their newborns could receive care. Kalākaua named Kapiʻolani Park in Waikīkī after his Queen. Kapiʻolani composed a love song for her husband, Ka Ipo Lei Manu. Kalākaua died in San Francisco before he could hear the musical composition from his wife. After missionaries arrived in Hawaiʻi, between 1820 -1840, a law was passed requiring all Hawaiian people to have an English first name. Kapiʻolani was given the name Julia. In Hawaiian, Julia is "Kulia", and the beginning of her personal motto, Kulia I Ka Nu‘u which means “Strive for the Highest". After the death of her husband, Kapiʻolani retired to her home in Waikīkī, and died there June 24, 1899.

1834 – The first Hawaiian newspaper, Ka Lama Hawai‘i, is established and printed at Lahainaluna School. For over 100 years thereafter, Hawaiian language newspapers flourish in Hawai‘i and serve to record traditional Hawaiian literature, history, and culture. (‘Aha Punanaleo, 2006)