Fornander's Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I

by Abraham Fornander

A reprint of this classic of precontact history tracing Hawaii's saga from legendary times to the arrival of Captain Cook, including an account of his demise. Originally published as volume II in the "An Account of the Polynesian Its Origins and Migration," this historical work is made available again.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Adam Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reprint of Abraham Fornander's second volume of "An Account of the Polynesian Race" from the 1870s. He was a Swede who came to Hawaii and fell in love with the islands and people, quite literally in the sense of also marrying a Hawaiian. There are some benefits and downsides to the book. The benefit is that this is one of the first sweeping texts to explore Hawaiian history and pays close attention to the history of the islands from a Hawaiian perspective with their oral histories, which Fornander delves into and compares. One of the downsides is that this is one of the first comprehensive histories of the islands from the 1800s when there was less information available from previous histories and archeology. This becomes incredibly evident from things like the theory Fornander puts forward that Polynesians must have had contact with (if not descendant from) Cushites (Sudanese) based on very tentative connections in language. Also, virtually no dates are given with the only conclusive dating circling around the latter half of the 1700s with Captain Cook's explorative records. Over half the book is, roughly, detailing 1780-1800 which means there is not much on the millennia beforehand in Hawaii.

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, thoroughly researched, history book makes you want more. This one is such for me.
One interesting observation of mine. In one place the author described something akin to the Easter Island Moai. Except in this case made of wicker. Fornander mentioned them but didn't go further into what they were.
I do like how the author tried to go through the various family trees where he could. He also did a good job of covering the many wars that led to consolidation of territory under a single kingship.

[Veronica Verdecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly detailed and very enlightening. I learned so much about Hawaii's history, myths, customs, and first interactions with foreigners. Forander's use of language was sometimes above me, so I need to reread this at some point to catch additional information and history that I'm sure I missed.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up on one of my first trips to Hawaii and finally cracked it open. Scholarly, dated, thorough, but of real interest only to a historian of Hawaiian and Polynesian lore. DNF