The Homesteads at Ha‘ikū, Maui: A Territorial Attempt at an American Colony

Abstract

I have often wondered how Kānaka Maoli became minorities within our own homeland. I had no idea that the Haole Oligarchy had a structured process in place to build the American Anglo Saxon population base specifically. This thesis examines archival and other primary source documents of the Territorial Homesteading initiative that took place in the very early twentieth century. I demonstrate that more than two thousand acres in Haʻikū, Maui were settled exclusively by Americans, which was called an American colony by newspapers and publications at that time. This thesis argues that not only was this initiative discriminatory against Kānaka and other non-Haole living in Hawaiʻi at that time, but that the Territorial government run by the Haole Oligarchy was corrupt, nepotistic and racist, using the Haʻikū homesteads to benefit their friends and political allies financially.