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An Account of the Polynesian Race, Volume I
Abraham Fornander (1812 – 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important Hawaiian journalist, judge, and ethnologist.
He joined the whaleship Ann Alexander in New Bedford in 1841, which set out for what would prove to be a five-year campaign in the Pacific Ocean. In 1844, Fornander deserted his ship in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fornander was to stay in the Hawaiian Islands for the rest of his life. On January 19, 1847, he became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii as he took an oath of allegiance to Kamehameha III, the Hawaiian king, and married a Hawaiian chiefess from Molokai named Pinao Alanakapu.
Fornander had long been developing theories of Hawaiian origins and collecting material for a work setting out his thoughts. In 1877, he finished the first volume of his monumental An Account of the Polynesian Race, its Origin and Migrations, and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I, which was published in London in the following year. This volume dealt with the hypothesis that the Polynesians were Aryans, both racially and linguistically, who had over the ages migrated through India and the Malay archipelago into the Pacific islands.
Basing his theory on the comparison of Polynesian languages, genealogies, and mythology, Fornander estimated that the Polynesians first entered the Pacific in Fiji in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD. When expelled by Melanesians, the inhabitants made their way to Samoa and Tonga, and by AD 400 or 500, to Hawaii, where they lived in isolation until the 11th century, when new groups began to arrive.
Fornander paid special attention to legends and genealogies that he thought preserved the history of the Hawaiian islands after their settlement.
The work brought Fornander attention from abroad. He was invited to become a corresponding member of the California Academy of Science in 1878, and in the following year the Hawaiian King made him a Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kalākaua. In 1880, he was invited to become a correspondent of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.
He joined the whaleship Ann Alexander in New Bedford in 1841, which set out for what would prove to be a five-year campaign in the Pacific Ocean. In 1844, Fornander deserted his ship in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fornander was to stay in the Hawaiian Islands for the rest of his life. On January 19, 1847, he became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii as he took an oath of allegiance to Kamehameha III, the Hawaiian king, and married a Hawaiian chiefess from Molokai named Pinao Alanakapu.
Fornander had long been developing theories of Hawaiian origins and collecting material for a work setting out his thoughts. In 1877, he finished the first volume of his monumental An Account of the Polynesian Race, its Origin and Migrations, and the Ancient History of the Hawaiian People to the Times of Kamehameha I, which was published in London in the following year. This volume dealt with the hypothesis that the Polynesians were Aryans, both racially and linguistically, who had over the ages migrated through India and the Malay archipelago into the Pacific islands.
Basing his theory on the comparison of Polynesian languages, genealogies, and mythology, Fornander estimated that the Polynesians first entered the Pacific in Fiji in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD. When expelled by Melanesians, the inhabitants made their way to Samoa and Tonga, and by AD 400 or 500, to Hawaii, where they lived in isolation until the 11th century, when new groups began to arrive.
Fornander paid special attention to legends and genealogies that he thought preserved the history of the Hawaiian islands after their settlement.
The work brought Fornander attention from abroad. He was invited to become a corresponding member of the California Academy of Science in 1878, and in the following year the Hawaiian King made him a Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kalākaua. In 1880, he was invited to become a correspondent of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.
262 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2015
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