Explorers
Kawaihae was still a royal residence when the first explorers began to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Here Kamehameha's foreign advisors settled on the land, and met with explorers from France and Great Britain.

Missionaries
Though an early French Catholic baptism occured at Kawaihae, it was Protestant missionaries from New England who transformed the islands. They touched first at Kawaiahe, and learned that the kapu system had been overthrown.

Mahele (Colony)
The partitioning (mahele) of lands in the 1840s that changed the fabric of Hawaiian society and economy left most of the land in large holdings—one for the descendant of John Young, and one for the Crown. But the situation is more complex in the village and upland areas.

Society
Always a small village, Kawaihae was periodically devastated by drought, crop failures, and plagues of introduced diseases. Rev. Lyons, the local missionary, recorded his observations during this time. Populations in the upland remained, but dwindled by the end of the century.

Aftermath
Because of its importance as a port, Kawaihae experienced all the changes in the islands' economy. Sandalwood, whaling, provisioning ships, and finally cattle all fueled the steady growth of Kawaihae as a port, marking the shift of the islands to the cash economy.