Native Hawaiians

This Article Is Still Under Construction

The history of native Hawaiians, and of Hawaiʻi in general, is classified into four major periods: antiquity (Ancient Hawaiʻi), monarchy (Kingdom of Hawaiʻi), territorial (Territory of Hawaiʻi), and statehood (State of Hawaiʻi).

Ancient Hawaii

The first period of Hawai`ian is called "Ancient Hawai`i". Ancient Hawai`i is the period of time between when the first settlers arrived, and when Hawai`i officially took on a monarchy.

The people

At the peak of this stage in Hawai`is development two groups of people had settled in Hawai`i. The first settlers were Marquesans, who were followed by the Tahitians.

Marquesans

According to archeologists, the first boat of settlers landed around AD 500, carrying Marquesans who are largely though to have been exiled from Marquesas. The fact that no new Marquesans ever arrived, nor did any go back, supports the theory that the settlers were exiles. These few Marquesans began to settle the outlying Islands. Not much is known about these early settlers.

Tahitians

The next wave of settlers were from Tahiti, and arrived in much larger numbers around AD 1000. These settlers were well equipped to begin settling, having arrived with large numbers of pigs, dogs, taro roots, and other crop plants. When the Tahitians arrived they began to settle each of the major islands. The Tahitians made many subsequent journies back and forth between Hawai`i and Tahiti, ostensibly to get supplies, and report on there findings. After the first of such voyages vast waves of Tahitians followed to pursue a new life in Hawai`i. So many Tahitians came to Hawai`i that Hawai`i's population may have reached 250,000 by AD 1450. The voyages continued until around AD 1500 when all contact between Tahiti and Hawai`i appears to have stopped.