Difference between revisions of "Template:Nhsc-v1-43"

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equivalent to the general population decline caused by death. Movement from the strictly rural settings of the traditional lifestyle, however, occurred as a response to early commercial activities around port areas. In particular, Lahaina on Maui and Honolulu on Oahu began to acquire urban dimensions (see Table 8 ).

The sandalwood trade contributed to this early drift to the port areas. As the first export item of the islands, individual chiefs redirected the activities of the people within their ahupua'a to the gathering of the fragrant wood. King Kamehameha I became aware that the country was in danger of severe famine because of the neglect of farming and fishing as a result of this redirection. As a consequence, he ordered chiefs and people to devote more time to other activities, proclaimed all sandalwood to be the property of the government, and prohibited the cutting of young and small trees to conserve this natural resource. 17/ Liloliho, who succeeded Kamehameha I as king, lifted these restrictions and commoners again were required to gather the fragrant wood in great quantities. 18/ This activity, according to many authors, resulted in the practical extinction of sandalwood trees, weakened the commoners, and contributed to the decline of the native population. 19/

1850 to 1900

The trend of population decline on all islands was reversed after the Reciprocity Treaty of 1876 between the kingdom of Hawaii and the United States. As a consequence of the expanding plantation economy, population on all of the Hawaiian Islands increased rapidly, particularly from 1880 to 1930. (See Table 9 for population figures for the period from 1850 to 1896, and Table 10 for the period from 1900 to 1930.)

1900 to 1960

With the passing of the peak of plantation domination, there was a decline in population on all islands except Oahu between 1930 and 1960 (see Table 10). The expansion of the tourist industry brought slight increases on Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. By 1960, more than 79 percent of Hawaii's residents were located on Oahu, which has less than 10 percent of the total land area. Over 4 5 percent of the residents of the State lived in the city of Honolulu and the adjacent urbanized area.

Population decline on islands other than Oahu was due not only to movement toward Honolulu, but also to migration from Hawaii to the mainland. The ethnic group with the highest rate of net migration (whether within Hawaii or from Hawaii to the mainland) was the part-Hawaiian group. 20/ There was also a large out-rrigration of the original contract laborers and their descendants. 21/

===Geographic Distribution of Native Hawaiians=== */

As one would expect, Hawaiian culture and population have persisted most effectively in areas where Western civilization has penetrated least. Thus census reports from 1853 to 1960 reveal that the islands and districts least suitable for plantation agriculture or other Western uses have remained the havens for native Hawaiians...22/ In 1853, large numbers of foreigners settled on Oahu and Kauai,

*/ This section is taken, with some paraphrasing, from Andrew w. Lind, Hawaii's People, 3rd ed. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1967), pages 45-49.