Noah Dolim

One chief in particular, Kamehameha, or Kamehameha I, who goes on a military campaign to unify these islands.

But the islands were basically ruled in a chief structure.

Each island had a major chief, and then you kind of fell in line under that major chief with lesser-ranking chiefs and then the common people living on the land.

Not quite yet, actually.

So 1810 is really the year when the islands first are formed under that blanket of that word Hawaii.

And the reason why Hawaii is called Hawaii is

is because Kamehameha came from Hawaii Island, or popularly known as the Big Island.

So that word got applied to all the islands, but it was not yet recognized on an international stage as a sovereign country.

So at the time of Captain Cook's arrival, 1778, and he dies a year later in 1779, or he doesn't die, he gets killed by Native Hawaiians in 1779.

His estimates by he and his crew placed the Hawaiian population at around, you know, conservative estimate 400,000, upper estimate around 800,000.

Wow, a lot of people.

Quite a lot of people.

And that number plummeted throughout the next century.

So by the end of the 19th century, in just a little over 100 years, the Hawaiian population was at 40,000.

So you're looking at 90% to 95% population loss since the time of Captain Cook's arrival.

And we're chalking that up to smallpox and diseases like that.

Smallpox, cholera.

Yeah.

The big one in the 19th century is leprosy.

Mm-hmm.