Don Wildman

Because there's a modernization going on here.

They're seeing their role in the world, and the world is changing.

So one of the fundamental aspects of that is a land reform that goes on, right?

There's a change in the way land is distributed and held.

Can you explain that?

It's called the Great Mahele.

So until that point, it had been that land was held communally, I guess, by the royal government, isn't it?

Right.

It's a system of stewardship that is intentionally changed in order to put land in the hands of Hawaiians, native-born Hawaiians.

It kind of backfires in some ways, right?

Because that land was seized by large plantations for the most part, which has been a huge... Well, actually, not yet.

It's so interesting.

There's so many parallels between what's happened with indigenous peoples here on the mainland and what happens on Hawaii, but it's different because it's a more modern version of it.

And also the Hawaiians were energetically trying to master the system and re-

distribute those lands very energetically.

Unfortunately, already there is a huge amount of interest strategically and economically by European and American interests in the Hawaiian area.

The location itself, as I've mentioned before, this is one thing when everybody was going through with sails, you know, the wind's free.

But once you need to coal up your ships, you're going to need a coaling station.

And boy, is it perfect for that.

It's halfway across.