context: there is often the assumption that hawai’i would be “backwards” if not for US intervention, however hawai’i was already a modernized country, even if it was one of the most isolated country’s in the world. in 1884 was King Kalakaua’s coronation. you look at it, you observe all these different things that point to a western influence. I look back at the early 1800s, Hawaiians were already portraying themselves in a way that brings them to the same level as western nations.
in the 1880s, Honolulu was very urban. it had been since Louis Choir’s time who was in Hawai’i between 1815-1820. I remember reading how Honolulu was even nicknamed the San Francisco of the Pacific (referring to the oceanic region, not the west coast for those who will say SF is a part of the pacific). throughout the time of the Kingdom of Hawai’i westerns were surprised by the “civility” and modernization of Hawai’i. this truly did uplift Hawai’is reputation gaining the respect of countries and dignitaries across the world.
Worried-Pick4848 on
Hawai’i achieved a very high level of civilization and infrastructure. They were on the trade routes between the Western Hemisphere and the Chinese market, and they had a trade good, sandalwood, that prized in chinese market. Their greatest king, Kamehameha, made vast strides towards modernizing his kingdom and integrating it into the international trade network in a way that if any one power tried to conquer him, the others would move to stop them, in particular by cultivating strong relations with all of China, the US, Russia, and Britain.
The Hawai’ian kingdom collapsed mostly because the Hawai’ian immune system couldn’t keep up with the constant waves of death arriving with the merchant ships. Very few places have to contend with a mix of population decline and economic prosperity, both to the degree that Kamehameha’s descendants had to put up with. The end result was an inevitable flood of white immigrants to work jobs that there simply weren’t enough natives to work anymore.
And as a result white societies simply gained enough power in the islands to simply walk in and take over the place with shockingly little native resistance.
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context: there is often the assumption that hawai’i would be “backwards” if not for US intervention, however hawai’i was already a modernized country, even if it was one of the most isolated country’s in the world. in 1884 was King Kalakaua’s coronation. you look at it, you observe all these different things that point to a western influence. I look back at the early 1800s, Hawaiians were already portraying themselves in a way that brings them to the same level as western nations.
in the 1880s, Honolulu was very urban. it had been since Louis Choir’s time who was in Hawai’i between 1815-1820. I remember reading how Honolulu was even nicknamed the San Francisco of the Pacific (referring to the oceanic region, not the west coast for those who will say SF is a part of the pacific). throughout the time of the Kingdom of Hawai’i westerns were surprised by the “civility” and modernization of Hawai’i. this truly did uplift Hawai’is reputation gaining the respect of countries and dignitaries across the world.
Hawai’i achieved a very high level of civilization and infrastructure. They were on the trade routes between the Western Hemisphere and the Chinese market, and they had a trade good, sandalwood, that prized in chinese market. Their greatest king, Kamehameha, made vast strides towards modernizing his kingdom and integrating it into the international trade network in a way that if any one power tried to conquer him, the others would move to stop them, in particular by cultivating strong relations with all of China, the US, Russia, and Britain.
The Hawai’ian kingdom collapsed mostly because the Hawai’ian immune system couldn’t keep up with the constant waves of death arriving with the merchant ships. Very few places have to contend with a mix of population decline and economic prosperity, both to the degree that Kamehameha’s descendants had to put up with. The end result was an inevitable flood of white immigrants to work jobs that there simply weren’t enough natives to work anymore.
And as a result white societies simply gained enough power in the islands to simply walk in and take over the place with shockingly little native resistance.