THE OTHER HAWAII Part 1 of 3

Inside USA

The American overthrow of the independent nation of Hawaii was not the first time sovereignty had been challenged. In 1843, British Lord Paulette claimed stake in the islands, only to be rebutted by the countrys Admiral Thomas, who reaffirmed Hawaiian independence and re-granted recognition of the Hawaiian flag on July 31 of the same year. After this scuffle, Kamehameha III spoke the words that were to become the Hawaii state motto: Ua mau ke ea ka aina i ka pono, the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. On May 20, 1845, Ka Hae Hawaii was dedicated at the opening of the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Relationships with Britain and Britains status as a protectorate were very important to King Kamehameha I. In 1793, a portion of the islands were ceded to the UK in communication with representative Captain Vancouver, a deal that was never really acted upon by the British. Some say todays Hawaiian flag was created after controversy surrounding the waving of both the Union Flag and American Flag. Each side opposed the flying of the others flag, so a compromise was reached. The Hawaiian flag is notoriously seen as a melding of the U.S. and British flags. When the new Kingdom of Hawaii flag was introduced, it was not long before the UK, France, the U.S. and Japan granted their official recognition of the icon.

Before the Hawaiian flag was originated, the Hawaiian people had not used flags in the manner of other nations. The Hawaiians did have the kāhili (royal feather standard), and the puela (triangular kapa strip), which was often carried on canoes. They also had the pūloulou (kapa-covered stick) which was carried in front of the chiefs to signal kapu (sacredness).

A letter to the editor of the Hawaiian newspaper Ka Nupepa Kūokoa on January 1, 1862 states: The Hawaiian flag was designed for King Kamehameha I in the year 1816. As the King desired to send a vessel to China, to sell a cargo of sandal wood, he in company of John Young, Isaac Davis (the younger, known as Aikake [Aikake]) and Captain Alexander Adams, (the latter now living at Kalihi, near Honolulu, and aged about eight years), made this flag for the ship, which was a war vessel called the Forester, carrying 16 guns, and was owned by King Kamehameha I. The flag having been made, the vessel sailed for Macao, China where the flag was not credited nor recognized as a government flag…[i]

As commander of the sandalwood trading fleet of King Kamehameha I, Adams sailed to China in 1817 with a load of sandalwood (Santalum species; Hawaiian name: Iliahi) but was refused entry into the harbor at Macao because the flag flown by the ship was not recognized. This was the first time Hawaiis flag was flown on a ship sailing to a foreign port.The eight horizontal stripes of the Hawaiian flag represent the eight main Hawaiian Islands. The colors of the stripes are alternating red, white and blue, with red said to symbolize Hawaiian gods, white symbolizing truth, and blue for the ocean.

The Hawaiian flag was first used to represent the Kingdom of Hawaii, and then continued to be used after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. The flag was retained by the Republic, the Territory, and finally by the State of Hawaii. There was originally a ninth stripe (bar), apparently representing the archipelago, but the number of stripes was reduced to eight after statehood.

More recently, another Hawaiian flag design has emerged from research done by Honolulus Gene Simeona who claims the original flags destroyed by British Navy Captain Lord George Paulet in 1843 were not of the same design of todays Hawaiian flag.

Based on research at the Hawaii State Archives, Simeona claims that the original flag had stripes of green, red, and yellow, with a shield at the center composed of a kahili (royal feather standard) and canoe paddles crossed over one another, forming the …coat of arms of the kanaka maoli.[iii]

According to Simeona, the green in the flag represents the makaāinana (commoner) caste, the land and goodness; the red represents the landed konohiki who served the alii, genealogy and strength; and the yellow represents the alii, spirituality and alertness to danger.[iv]

Many questions remain to be answered about the original design of the Hawaiian flag, and perhaps further research will unravel the complete story.

http://www.hawaiianencyclopedia.com/the-hawaiian-flag.asp

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Duration : 0:7:5

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