02-23-2018, 02:41 PM
"How did Kamehameha 'unite' the islands? Did he buy the land from the other chiefs?"
Land was not bought and sold. It and the people who lived on it were controlled by the chiefs.
Did the native Hawaiians exterminate every last member of the earlier races (genocide)? Maybe. Or maybe they let some of them live under their rule.
In the past (pre-contact Hawaii) large areas of lands were used communally by all. And there really was no such thing as homelessness. That didn't mean ordinary Hawaiians could simply set up camp near present day Kailua-Kona, a favored site of royalty. But there was a place for everyone somewhere in the Hawaiian islands.
Our institution of private property, which includes some individuals or families owning huge tracts of land, gives us a far different situation.
Land was not bought and sold. It and the people who lived on it were controlled by the chiefs.
Did the native Hawaiians exterminate every last member of the earlier races (genocide)? Maybe. Or maybe they let some of them live under their rule.
In the past (pre-contact Hawaii) large areas of lands were used communally by all. And there really was no such thing as homelessness. That didn't mean ordinary Hawaiians could simply set up camp near present day Kailua-Kona, a favored site of royalty. But there was a place for everyone somewhere in the Hawaiian islands.
Our institution of private property, which includes some individuals or families owning huge tracts of land, gives us a far different situation.