The past several weeks saw two abdications that are of personal interest to us here at History, Rinse & Repeat. In her annual New Year’s Day address, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Europe’s longest-reigning monarch, announced that she would leave the throne on January 14, 2024, fifty-two years to the day after she had ascended to it, in favor of her son, Crown Prince Frederik. Margrethe’s abdication came as something of a shock. Not only was it unexpected, but it was reported in the press (all right, the
Captain Adams had actually sold his brig to the Kamehameha regime. He saw that Kaumuali’i only had a worn out Russian flag, and since he was not connected with John Company anymore, he gave the Ali’s Nui of Kauai his company flag…
The Russian American Fur Co. Was quite an extensive operation. It had trading forts in California and in Alaska as well as Ft. Elizabeth on Kauai, and the Fort on Oahu, now under Fort Street there.
Like the British Hudson Bay Co, the Russians wintered in Hawai’i and sailed back to mainland North America for fur trading in the summer months.
After Kamehameha’s death, Ka’ahumanu Kamehameha’s principal wife and consort, took Kaumuali’i as her husband, thus cementing the Kamehameha line as principal chiefs and later monarchs of Hawai’i. She kept a tight rein on him, holding him a virtual hostage at a large and sumptuous establishment on what is now Hotel St. In Honolulu with many of his retainers in residence.
Hudson Bay Company had a large and important trading presence in Honolulu close by, and maintained that presence until after the Paulet affair.
I believe that the first Union Jack flown in Hawai’i was actually by The High Chief Kaumu’ali’i in Kauai in 1817. It was given him by Captain Alexander Adams and was the standard of the British East India Company, or John Company for short.
The Hawaiian counselor quoted in the article is David Malo, whose memories of the days before the overturning of the kapu system in 1819 are a greater part if the basic underpinnings of our understanding of traditional Hawaiian Society.
Thank you for your comment. I love when people who clearly know more than I contribute to the conversation. Kaumu’ali’i was the local king, referenced in the article above, who allowed a Russian colony in Kauai. Interestingly, according to the book, Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America by Owen Matthews, Kaumu’ali’i permitted the Russian settlement in exchange for weapons in his war against Kamehameha in 1816. According to Matthews, the Russian flag was raised on Kauai a year before the Union Jack. The colony collapsed because of lack of financial support from home, and the Russians were expelled by Kamehameha with the assistance of American merchant ships. I would love to know how the Union Jack came to replace the Russian flag in just one year.
John
Captain Adams had actually sold his brig to the Kamehameha regime. He saw that Kaumuali’i only had a worn out Russian flag, and since he was not connected with John Company anymore, he gave the Ali’s Nui of Kauai his company flag…
The Russian American Fur Co. Was quite an extensive operation. It had trading forts in California and in Alaska as well as Ft. Elizabeth on Kauai, and the Fort on Oahu, now under Fort Street there.
Like the British Hudson Bay Co, the Russians wintered in Hawai’i and sailed back to mainland North America for fur trading in the summer months.
After Kamehameha’s death, Ka’ahumanu Kamehameha’s principal wife and consort, took Kaumuali’i as her husband, thus cementing the Kamehameha line as principal chiefs and later monarchs of Hawai’i. She kept a tight rein on him, holding him a virtual hostage at a large and sumptuous establishment on what is now Hotel St. In Honolulu with many of his retainers in residence.
Hudson Bay Company had a large and important trading presence in Honolulu close by, and maintained that presence until after the Paulet affair.
Thomas,
A belated thanks for your follow-up comment. We hope you are going to start writing on your own site. A.H. and I will be your first subscribers.
I believe that the first Union Jack flown in Hawai’i was actually by The High Chief Kaumu’ali’i in Kauai in 1817. It was given him by Captain Alexander Adams and was the standard of the British East India Company, or John Company for short.
The Hawaiian counselor quoted in the article is David Malo, whose memories of the days before the overturning of the kapu system in 1819 are a greater part if the basic underpinnings of our understanding of traditional Hawaiian Society.
Thomas,
Thank you for your comment. I love when people who clearly know more than I contribute to the conversation. Kaumu’ali’i was the local king, referenced in the article above, who allowed a Russian colony in Kauai. Interestingly, according to the book, Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America by Owen Matthews, Kaumu’ali’i permitted the Russian settlement in exchange for weapons in his war against Kamehameha in 1816. According to Matthews, the Russian flag was raised on Kauai a year before the Union Jack. The colony collapsed because of lack of financial support from home, and the Russians were expelled by Kamehameha with the assistance of American merchant ships. I would love to know how the Union Jack came to replace the Russian flag in just one year.