Ka’ahumanu, Part 1

Women Worth Knowing

Robin has a personal affection for our unforgettable Woman Worth Knowing this week. During the decade that Robin lived on Maui, she saw the name “Ka’ahumanu” on a church, a shopping mall, and street signs. She began researching this extraordinary woman and found conflicting opinions over this powerful woman’s influence in the Hawaiian Islands. She lived during a period of vast change. Known as “the favorite” wife of King Kamehameha the Great, Ka’ahumanu held the role of “Kuhina Nui” or Queen. After his death, she ruled supreme during the reign of two of Kamehameha’s sons. The first company of New England Protestant missionaries arrived 11 months after her husband died, and by and by Ka’ahumanu put her faith in Christ alone. She was born in a cave before the arrival of Western contact, when human sacrifice was still practiced. Right before she died in 1832, she was handed the very first copy of the Hawaiian New Testament. As a result of many of her significant decisions, revival spread through the islands.

• Ka’ahumanu: Molder of Change, by Jane L. Silverman, Friends of Judiciary History Center of Hawai’i, Honolulu, 1987
• The Magnificent Matriarch: Ka’ahumanu, Queen of Hawai’i, by Kathleen Dickenson Mellen, Hastings House Publishers, New York, 1952

Online Sources

• "KA’AHUMANU" (https://paradiseofthepacific.wordpress.com/tag/kaahumanu/)
• "Kaahumanu (1777–1832)" (https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kaahumanu-1777-1832)
• "Kaʻahumanu and the Missionaries" (https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/ka%CA%BBahumanu-and-the-missionaries/)
• "The Woman Who Changed A Kingdom" (http://www.coffeetimes.com/july98.htm)