Who was Kamehameha I, Hawaii's national hero?
Hawaii - 1758-1819 - The first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha succeeded in unifying the archipelago through his political and military skill. He thus founded a modern state while maintaining Polynesian traditions.
For Hawaiians, Kamehameha is the most important figure in their history. Their national hero. This warrior king, the first of the dynasty that ruled Hawaii for nearly a century, unified an archipelago of 137 volcanic islands and cays in the Pacific, which had previously been divided into various hostile clans.
This king's biography is surrounded by numerous legends. It is said that he accomplished unimaginable feats or even possessed magical powers. This mythology has its roots in his birth. Kamehameha is said to have been born in 1758, at the very moment Halley's Comet crossed the Hawaiian sky.
The future monarch was born into a noble family on the island of Hawaii—not to be confused with the entire archipelago—and spent his early years in a context of constant conflict between the various ruling families. After his father's death, while he was still young, he was entrusted to his uncle Kalaniopu'u, who was then king of one of the island's regions.
But life for the Hawaiians was about to change forever. In January 1778, British explorer James Cook landed by chance in Hawaii during an expedition to discover the Arctic Passage.
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