Life in Early Hawaii the Ahupuaa

By Kamehameha Schools Press

Book Id: WPLBN0002096896
Format Type:
File Size: 8.74 MB
Reproduction Date: 6/15/2011

Title:	Life in Early Hawaii the Ahupuaa
Author:	Kamehameha Schools Press
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, History of the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, etc.), Hawaiian History
Collections:	Authors Community, Education
Historic Publication Date:	1994
Publisher:	Kamehameha Schools

Member Page:	Hale Kuamoʻo Hawaiian Language Center
Citation APA MLA Chicago Schools Press, B. K. (1994). Life in Early Hawaii the Ahupuaa. Retrieved from http://self.gutenberg.org/

Description
The first edition of The Ahupuaa, published in 1979, was planned and developed by the Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian Studies Institute. It was the first publication undertaken by the institute, which was created in 1978 to consolidate the efforts of Hawaiian studies specialists from several Kamehameha programs. Kamehameha staff members Nuulani Atkins, Hooulu Cambra, Peter Galuteria, Donald D. Kilolani Mitchell, Gordon Piianaia, and Mahela Rosehill cooperated on research and writing. Their efforts were supplemented by Orpha Bernie, who provided clerical support; Fred Cachola, who authorized the project; Grady Wells, who coordinated printing; and Julie Williams, who created illustrations. The idea for this useful teaching text was inspired by a painting of an ahupuaa by Marilyn Kahalewai, who had been a graphic artist at Kamehameha. She painted a colorful picture of an ahupuaa which was used by Hawaiian Studies Institute staff as they visited schools throughout Hawaii. After becoming an independent artist and illustrator she was commissioned to paint a larger and more detailed version. The second painting, which measures four feet by six feet, depicts an idealized Hawaiian valley as it would have looked in the years before foreign influence changed the environment and lifestyle of the Hawaiian people. In 1982 the Hawaiian Studies Institute with Kamehameha Schools Press issued a second edition of The Ahupuaa. Updated and revised text was furnished by a committee consisting of Atkins, Cambra, Mitchell, Piianaia, Rosehill, and new team members Kaipo Hale and Elizabeth Nahinu. Other staff contributors included Marsha Bolson, production; Sharlene Chun-Lum, editing; and Nancy Middlesworth, new illustration. The third edition was reorganized, designed, and produced by Barbara Pope Book Design. Clyde Imada of the Department of Natural Sciences / Botany at Bishop Museum updated the scientific nomenclature and other information about plants. Chieko Tachihata, Curator of the Hawaiian Collection at Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa, updated the Suggested Reading section. Working together in a fashion traditionally referred to by Hawaiians as laulima, these individuals produced a valuable resource that will enable young people to learn about the richness and beauty of Hawaiian culture.

Excerpt
In the time of umi, son of the great chief Liloa, the Hawaiian islands were divided into political regions. The four mokupuni (larger islands) of Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii were divided into moku (districts). The smaller islands of Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe became moku of Maui and Niihau a moku of Kauai. For ease in collecting annual tribute the moku were subdivided into ahupuaa, land sections that usually extended from the mountain summits down through fertile valleys to the outer edge of the reef in the sea.