TWHP


Honolulu, The Port   

King Kamehameha I conquered the island of Oahu in 1804, and moved his court there from the big island of Hawaii around 1810. In the early 1820s, American whaling fleets from New Bedford, Massachussetts, arrived in large numbers as they scoured the Pacific for their prey; Honolulu developed as the major port between the California coast and Asia. Ships resupplied there, the crews carousing with the friendly local women.

Missionaries from New England soon followed, stopping the most egregious recreations, clothing the locals and leaving a decidedly puritan stamp on the evolving society; within decades they and their descendents controlled much of Hawaiian land and commerce. Meanwhile, ethnicHawaiians--called "Kanakas"-- took to the sea, many eventually landing on the California coast; they were said to comprise the majority of San Francisco's population at some points when the settlement was still known as Yerba Buena.

Until the Americans took over California in 1846, the Mexican Government severely limited trade to the region, leading to a thriving smuggling economy. Ships used Honolulu as their base, slipping over to California to bargain with mission padres and ranch owners over goods like cloth, metalware and ceramics in exchange for cattle hides and tallow, the former destined for the American shoe industry, the latter for candles.

Following that mercantile tradition, Honolulu expanded as the outlet for the sugar and pineapple plantations that arose subsequent to the 1870s. After American residents overthrew the monarchy in the 1890s, Hawaii became a United States territory, the Navy eventually establishing a large base south of the city at Pearl Harbor.

During that same latter period, the Matson Shipping Company came to dominate the maritime industry in Hawaii, adding tourism to their range of affairs. The firm eventually bought and built Honolulu's finest Waikiki Beach hotels--the Moana and the Royal Hawaiian, respectively--and promoted the first honeymoon vacations to the islands, establishing a marital tradition that continues today.


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