Kaho'olawe Chronology[i]
Polynesians settle the Hawaiian archipelago.
1027
Earliest existing radiocarbon date for Hawaiian presence on Kaho'olawe.
1150-1400
Kaho'olawe figures prominently in voyages between Hawaii and the islands of Southern Polynesia
1600
Thriving Hawaiian community on Kaho'olawe by this date.
1778
British ships under the command of Captain James Cook enter Hawaiian waters.
1779
Following Captain Cook’s death, his ships sail past the southwestern tip of Kaho'olawe but sight “neither houses, trees, nor any cultivation.”
1793
Maui chief Kamohomoho informs British captain George Vancouver that Kamehameha’s wars of conquest have left Lanai and Kaho'olawe “nearly over-run with weeds, and exhausted of their inhabitants.”
1813
Merchant ship Lark runs aground on Kaho'olawe, surviving crew members probably the first foreigners to set foot on the island.
1819
Kamehameha I dies. Liholiho, his successor, abolishes the traditional system of social and religious laws.
1824
Kaahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha I, proclaims a missionary-inspired code of laws including threat of “banishment to the island of Tahoorawe [Kaho'olawe].”
1826
First criminals exiled to Kaho'olawe.
1828
Lahaina mission station reports Kaho'olawe possesses one school with 28 pupils, adults as well as children.
1831
Missionary census estimates a total of 80 inhabitants on Kaho'olawe. By 1837, the census reports only 20 children on the island.
1841
Boats from U.S. Exploring Expedition wrecked near western tip of Kaho'olawe; castaways hike to penal settlement of Kaulana, “a collection of 8 huts, and an unfinished adobe church” housing 15 male convicts.”
1848
The Great Mahele replaces traditional land stewardship with the western concept of private ownership. Kaho'olawe is among the former crown lands transferred to the Hawaiian Government.
1850
Landing at Hakioawa bay, adventurer Edward Perkins notes large herds of wild goats and their damage to native plants.
1852
Last prisoner on Kaho'olawe removed due to serious illness.
1857
Government inspection finds “some fishermen living on Kaho'olawe, maybe not over fifteen, if the men, women and children are combined.”
1858
Government leases Kaho'olawe to R.C. Wyllie, Chancellor of the Kingdom, and Elisha H. Allen, Minister of the Interior, for a period of 20 years, at $505 per year; their surveyor finds 50 Hawaiians in part-time residence.
1859
Approximately 2,000 sheep are shipped to and released on Kaho'olawe.
1864
Elisha H. Allen and C.G. Hopkins obtain a new lease for 50 years at $250 per year.
1866
Government census records 11 males and 7 females on Kaho'olawe; 16 of these Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian. All appear to be employed by the ranch.
1875
King Kaläkaua and his entourage visit the island, noting the presence of “20,000 sheep, 10 horses, 6 native men, 2 white men, 2 full-Hawaiian women, 2 small children, 4 houses, 2 dogs, and a few hundred goats.”
1879
Reports of severe overgrazing with “the upper plains entirely denuded of top soil…the whole interior plain has been so swept by wind and floods, that nothing but a very hard red grit is left.”
1880
Elisha H. Allen transfers lease title to Albert D. Courtney and William H. Cummins.
1884
“Kaho'olawe Stock Ranch” listed as possessing “9,000goats, 2,000 sheep, 200 head cattle, and 40 horses.”
1893
Overthrow of the Hawaiian government of Queen Liliuokalani.
In 1898 Hawaii becomes a Territory of the United States.
1906
After passing through numerous hands, lease to Kaho'olawe acquired by Eben P. Low.
1910
To prevent further environmental degradation, Gov. Walter F. Frear declares Kaho'olawe a forest reserve under the control of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry.
1913
Scientific expedition from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum spends two weeks exploring Kaho'olawe, collecting biological samples and locating a number of ancient Hawaiian sites; John F.G. Stokes, expedition archaeologist, returns to conduct excavations at a fishing shrine in Kamohio bay.
1918
Kaho'olawe withdrawn from forest reserve and leased to rancher Angus MacPhee for 21 years at $600 per year.
1920
H.A. Baldwin joins MacPhee to form Kaho'olawe Ranch Company.
1931
Bishop Museum mounts a one-week scientific expedition to Kaho'olawe; archaeologist Gilbert McAllister subsequently publishes Archaeology of Kaho'olawe, describing 50 early Hawaiian sites.
1933
Baldwin and MacPhee obtain a second 21 year lease at a rent of $100 per year.
1941
U.S. Army signs sublease with Kaho'olawe Ranch Company, acquiring bombing rights for $1 per year; Honolulu Advertiser reports goat population at 25; after Pearl Harbor attack Kaho'olawe appropriated for use as a training ground and bombing target. From 1942-45, the island’s southern and eastern cliffs serve as targets for torpedo bomb testing; its beaches on the west end for dress rehearsal landings for Tarawa, Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
1953
President Eisenhower signs Executive Order 10436, reserving Kaho'olawe “for the use of the United States for naval purposes” and placing it under jurisdiction of the secretary of the Navy; his order also stipulated that the Navy, when it no longer needed the island, would return it in a condition “reasonably safe for human habitation, without cost to the Territory.’
1959
Hawaii obtains U.S. statehood.
1965
Navy detonates 500 tons of TNT near the bay of Honokanaia to simulate an atomic blast and observe its effects on ships offshore.
1969
Discovery of an unexploded 500lb bomb in a west Maui field prompts U.S. Representative Patsy Mink to call for a halt to Navy bombing of Kaho'olawe.
1976
Nine native Hawaiians and their supporters make the first of many landings on Kaho'olawe to protest the Navy’s continued use of the island as a bombing target; the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana files federal lawsuit charging the U.S. Navy with violating laws pertaining to the environment, historic preservation and religious freedom.
1977
Kimo Mitchell and George Helm lost at sea in the waters off Kaho'olawe during an effort to protest the bombing; federal court orders the Department of Defense to conduct an inventory of Kaho'olawe’s ancient sites.
1980
U.S. Navy and Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana sign a Consent Decree allowing the Ohana regular access to Kaho'olawe for religious, cultural, educational and restoration activities.
1981
Documentation of more than 540 traditional sites results in the entire island being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1982
Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana conducts first traditional Makahiki on Kaho'olawe since the early 1800’s.
1990
President Bush issues a memorandum temporarily halting the bombing; Congress establishes the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission “to study and recommend terms and conditions for returning Kaho'olawe…to the State of Hawaii.
1992
Healing ceremony held on Kaho'olawe to hasten its return to the people of Hawaii. The following year, 1993, Congress votes to end military use of the island and authorizes $400 million to clear the island of ordnance; the State of Hawaii designates Kaho'olawe a natural and cultural reserve “to be used exclusively for the preservation and practice of all rights customarily and traditionally excercised by Native Hawaiians for cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes.” The Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission created to plan for the island’s future.
1994
Title to Kaho'olawe officially transferred from the United States military to the State of Hawaii to held in trust until the formation of “a sovereign Hawaiian nation.”
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Page last modified 10/19/2003 09:42 AM