The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, was an independent state on the Hawaii Islands. The country originated in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island of Hawaiʻi, conquered the independent islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi and unified them under one government. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauaʻi and Niʻihau joined the Hawaiian Kingdom voluntarily. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.
The kingdom won recognition from major European powers. The United States became its chief trading partner and watched over it to prevent some other power (such as Britain or Japan) from threatening to seize control. Hawaiʻi was forced to adopt a new constitution in 1887 when King Kalākaua was threatened with violence by the Honolulu Rifles, an anti-monarchist militia, to sign it. Queen Liliʻuokalani, who succeeded Kalākaua in 1891, tried to abrogate the 1887 constitution and promulgate a new constitution but was overthrown in 1893, largely at the hands of the Committee of Safety, a group of residents consisting of Hawaiian subjects and foreign nationals of American, British, and German descent, many of whom had been educated in the US, had lived there for a time, and identified strongly as American.
Following the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, a Provisional Government was established.
Articles
- Big Blue 1840-1940: Classical Stamps of Hawaii
- Philatelic Database: Hawaii – A Classic Bogus Issue
- Untold Lives: Female royalty on Hawaiian definitive Postage Stamps, 1864-1893
Blogs
Dealers
- Hawaiian Philatelic Society – @HawaiianStamps
Websites
- Hawaii Philatelic Society
- Hawai’i Post
- Hawai’i Postcard Club
- United States Possessions Philatelic Society
YouTube
- Postal History Symposium 2020: Government Post in Hawaii: Creation and Reform (1849 – 1859)
- Stamp Chats: Collecting Hawaii – How to Get Started
