Template:Nhsc-v1-42
Summary C. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION After the a r r i v a l of f o r e i g n e r s, t h e n a t i v e p o p u l a t i o n of the Hawaiian I s l a n d s began a d r a s t i c d e c l i n e . The major causes of t h i s depopulation were epidemics and d i s e a s e . The p o p u l a t i on of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a whole began to i n c r e a s e in the second half of the n i n e t e e n t h century, l a r g e ly through the i m p o r t a t i o n of immigrant l a b o r e r s to work in Hawaii's sugar f i e l d s . The r e s u l t of t h is immigration, along with the c o n t i n u i ng d e c l i n e of the n a t i v e Hawaiian p o p u l a t i o n , was a decrease in the p r o p o r t i o n of n a t i v e Hawaiians in the t o t a l p o p u l a t i o n . By the end of the c e n t u r y , native Hawaiians accounted for less than o n e - t h i r d of Hawaii's t o t a l p o p u l a t i o n. The part-Hawaiian p o p u l a t i o n began t o i n c r e a s e d r a m a t i c a l l y a f t e r the t u r n of the c e n t u r y . The primary r e a s o n s for t h i s were b e t t e r h e a l th and i n c r e a s e d i n t e r - m a r r i a g e with o t h e r r a c i a l groups. Today, the n a t i v e Hawaiian p o p u l a t i o n of Hawaii can be c h a r a c t e r i z e d as follows: • According to the S t a t e of Hawaii, there are 9,366 f u l l - Hawaiians and 166,087 p a r t - Hawaiians, c o n s t i t u t i n g about 19 p e r c e n t of the S t a t e 's p o p u l a t i o n ; • Native Hawaiians are a young p o p u l a t i o n — i n 1980, the median age for males was 22.0, and the median age for females was 2 3 . 2 ; and • The male/female r a t i o for n a t i v e Hawaiians is f a i r ly e q u a l — i n 1980 males accounted f o r 49.5 p e r c e n t of the n a t i ve Hawaiian p o p u l a t i o n , and females accounted for 50.5 p e r c e n t . P r i o r to the a r r i v a l of f o r e i g n e r s, t h e geographic d i s t r i b u t i o n of the n a t i v e p o p u l a t i o n among the eight major i s l a n d s of Hawaii was a d i r e ct consequence of the a b i l i t y of the land a r e a to s u s t a i n necessary crops and f i s h . Estimates at the time of c o n t a c t placed the g r e a t e s t native numbers on the i s l a n d of Hawaii, followed by Maui, and then Oahu. (Not c o i n c i d e n t a l l y , t h i s ordering is also i n d i c a t i v e of the p h y s i c a l area of each i s l a n d .) P r e - c o n t a c t s e t t l e m e n t was organized within the ahupua ' a: . . . t h e basic landholding unit was the ahupua'a, which ranged in s i ze from 100 to 100,000 a c r e s and u s u a l l y had n a t u r a l boundaries. The i d e a l ahupua'a was an economically s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t pieshaped unit which ran from mountain tops down ridges to the s e a . Most ahupua'a were in turn d i v i d e d i n t o i l i , some of which were v i r t u a l l y independent 'while o t h e r s were mere o p e r a t i n g subd i v i s i o n s of the a h u p u a ' a . A h i e r a r c h i c a l s o c i e t y p a r a l l e l ed t h i s p a t t e r n of land d i v i s i o n . At the top, a chief c o n t r o l l e d each a h u p u a ' a ; land agents (konohiki) and subchiefs subordinate to the c h i e f c o n t r o l l e d smaller amounts of land; and at the bottom of the h i e r a r c h y , common farmers worked t h e land for the benefit of the c h i e f . Commoners had other p l o ts f o r t h e i r own use and had c e r t a in g a t h e r i n g r i g h t s in the nonc u l t i v a t e d lands of the ahupua'a . . . . 1 6/ 1778 to 1850 During the period from 1778 to 1851, each of the islands experienced a decrease in population roughly
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