I palapala no ia aina – documenting the Hawaiian Kingdom: a colonial venture?

Scholars have suggested that Western surveys and maps were tools used to aid colonizers in the dispossession of native people from their lands. While this was often the case, many surveys conducted and maps produced for the Kingdom of Hawai‘i during the nineteenth century were done by native Hawaiians, with native informants and based largely on traditional palena, or land boundaries. In the midst of considerable socio-political and cultural upheaval, the mapping of the lands of Hawai‘i during this period was largely due to the agency of the Ali‘i (chiefs) and other Hawaiian nationals. It is argued that these adaptations of Western techniques were intentional and strategic attempts to aid in the development of the Hawaiian State and secure national lands. In addition, the surveys conducted and maps produced during these years effectively preserved a considerable body of indigenous knowledge of place.