Aliʻi
Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Use American English Template:Use dmy dates Template:For The Template:Lang were the traditional nobility of the Hawaiian islands. They were part of a hereditary line of rulers, the Template:Lang. There were many classes of Template:Lang (or chief) and the position could be held by a man or a woman.
Cognates of the word Template:Lang have a similar meaning in other Polynesian languages; in Māori it is Template:Lang and in Tahitian Template:Lang.
Background
In ancient Hawaiian society, the Template:Lang were hereditary nobles (a social class or caste).<ref name="PukuiElbert1986">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Hawaiian Dictionaries</ref> The Template:Lang consisted of the higher and lesser chiefs of the various levels on the islands.<ref name="Callahan2013">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Template:Lang were the ruling chiefs.<ref name="Mykkänen2003">Template:Cite book</ref> The Template:Lang were believed to be descended from the deities.<ref name="McDermottTseng1980">Template:Cite book</ref>
There were eleven classes of Template:Lang, of both men and women. These included the Template:Lang (priestesses and priests, experts, craftsmen, and canoe makers) as part of four professions practiced by the nobility.<ref name="Dando-Collins2014">Template:Cite book</ref> Each island had its own Template:Lang, who governed their individual systems.<ref name="West2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang continued to play a role in the governance of the Hawaiian islands until 1893, when Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown by a coup d'état backed by the United States government.
In Hawaiian, Template:Lang means 'grand', 'great', or 'supreme',<ref>Template:Hawaiian Dictionaries</ref> so Template:Lang were ruling chiefs. The Template:Lang title could be passed on by right of birth.Template:Cn
Social designations of Template:Lang (ruling line)
Historians David Malo, Samuel M. KamakauTemplate:Sfn and Abraham Fornander wrote extensively about the different Template:Lang lines and their importance to Hawaiian history. The distinctions between the Template:Lang ranks and lines comes from their writings.Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang were supreme high chiefs of an island and no others were above them (during the Kingdom period this title would come to mean 'governor'). The four largest Hawaiian islands (Hawaiʻi proper, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu) were usually ruled each by their own Template:Lang. Molokaʻi also had a line of island rulers, but was later subjected to the superior power of nearby Maui and Oʻahu during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Template:Lang was a special title for the highest chief of the island of Maui. Later, the title was used for all rulers of the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian monarchs.
- Template:Lang were sacred rulers with special taboos.
- Template:Lang were a rank of chiefs who were considered the very highest in descent and power. Nīʻaupiʻo chiefs can be from Piʻo or Naha unions.Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang were a rank of chiefs who were products of full blood sibling unions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Famous Template:Lang chiefs were the royal twins, Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa.
- Template:Lang were a rank of chiefs who were products of either half-blood sibling unions or the unions of uncle and niece or father and daughter. The exact definition is disputed amongst Malo, Kamakau and Fornander.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Chiefs of this rank traditionally possessed the Template:Lang ('sitting kapu').Template:Sfn Famous Template:Lang chiefs include Keōpūolani.
- Template:Lang were a rank of chiefs who were products of marriage of close relatives other than siblings; one famous Wohi chief was Kamehameha I. These chiefs possessed the Template:Lang, exempting them from Template:Lang ('prostration taboo').Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang were chiefs born to mother of the Template:Lang, Template:Lang, or Template:Lang rank with a lower-ranking male chief.Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang were chiefs born to high-ranked father with a mother who was a relative through younger siblings.Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang' were chiefs born to parents who are children of high chiefs through secondary unions.Template:Sfn
- Template:Lang were lesser chiefs who served the Template:Lang.Template:Sfn It is a relative term and not a fixed level of Template:Lang nobility. The expression is elastic in terms of how it is used. In general, it means a relative who is born from a lesser ranking parent.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A Template:Lang son's own children, if born of a lesser ranking Template:Lang mother, would descend to a lower rank. Eventually the line descends, leading to Template:Lang ('commoner').Template:Sfn Template:Lang gain rank through marriage with higher-ranking Template:Lang.
- Template:Lang were chiefs born to a high chief and a commoner.Template:Sfn
One Template:Lang line descended from Moana Kāne, son of Keākealanikāne, became secondary Template:Lang to the Kamehameha rulers of the kingdom and were responsible for various Template:Lang ('service tasks'). Members of this line married into the Kamehamehas, including Charles Kanaʻina and Kekūanaōʻa.Template:Sfn Some bore Template:Lang, royal standards made of feathers, and were attendants of the higher-ranking Template:Lang.Template:Sfn During the monarchy some of these chiefs were elevated to positions within the primary political bodies of the Hawaiian legislature and the king's Privy Council. All Hawaiian monarchs after Kamehameha III were the children of Kaukaualiʻi fathers who married higher ranking wives.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
List of Monarchs of Hawaiian Islands
See also
- List of monarchs of Tonga
- List of monarchs of Tahiti
- List of monarchs of Huahine
- List of monarchs of Mangareva