What was the Golden Age of Hawai'i?

[Rob Tucker]

I am curious to know, from your perspective... was it golden for the Ali`i or for everyone?

[randomq]

Mimosa says the golden age was before Caucasians showed up.

Similarly, white folks in Detroit thought everything was great before black folks showed up.

The original Hawaiians from the Marquesas Islands would probably say the golden age was before the Tahitians arrived and enslaved them.

[Mimosa]

Hello Rob - We are not that antique yet but suffice to say - the commoners were not as well off as the Ali'i but no one starved ..

Mrs.Mimosa and Ohana

[Obie]

"the commoners were not as well off as the Ali'i but no one starved "

Ever hear about sandalwood ?

Commoners in Hawaii had to pay this new tax in one of two ways. They ether pay in cash or by gathering half a picul (slightly less than 67 pounds) of sandalwood each year. The penalties for not paying the sandalwood tax were severe. Many lost personal property and possessions. Some were so exhausted and overworked harvesting and hauling sandalwood they became ill or died. The sandalwood tax and the unchecked harvesting of sandalwood led to two famines.

[2liveque]

The Golden age for my generation was certainly the 50's, 60's, and 70's. While there were world events that were anything but "golden," the paint on Hawaii at this time was fresh.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

led to two famines.

It wasn't exactly a golden moment in time either, for those warriors* who ended up on the wrong side, and then at the bottom of a cliff while the islands were being Unified.
* not all were volunteers

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

[MarkP]

"Unified"

[MarkD]

Much truth to what Obie says. I happened to be at this USDA Forest Service Proceedings 30 years ago. Excerpt from p. 52:

"Sandalwood harvesters were often gone for several days, sometimes for weeks, in the mountains collecting sandalwood. Many died of exposure and other misfortunes in the cold, often damp uplands...

Frequent transport of heavy loads of sandalwood often produced callused areas (leho) on the shoulders of male bearers. Men with these marks were called kua-leho or "callous backs..."

https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/d...gtr122.pdf

[SBH]

The Golden Age is in our future.

[randomq]

SBH, I picture a future where every road is torn up and rows of fruit trees planted in their place. Some people walk or bike these fruit trails around the island, while many simply take their nearly silent electric quadcopters. Robots grow gardens everywhere, free for the taking, and no one goes hungry. Tiny robotic dragonflies have all but eliminated mosquitoes, and similar robots culled the snail, rat, and mongoose populations. Automation has made work optional, with most of it being done online, which is now completely wireless and ubiquitous with no poles or wires anywhere. Hawaii is a major starport and interplanetary destination, with shuttles spin launched to orbit from Kau. In 2043 the telescopes on Mauna Kea spot a planet-killer asteroid headed straight for Earth, and the extra preparation time allows us to divert it, saving the planet and this paradise for future generations.