On this day: Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy
- Tony Boccia
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Greetings PHG fans, today we mark a solemn occasion that seems prescient against the backdrop of this week's headlines. On this day 17 January 1893, the Hawaiian Monarchy was overthrown. A group of 13 men calling themselves the ‘Committee of Safety’ ended the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani and abolished the monarchy, which had ruled Hawai'i for 98 years. A Hawaiian Republic was declared, and the country was annexed by the United States five years later, in the midst of the Spanish American War. The overthrow of the monarchy, annexation of the land, and the subjugation of native Hawaiians has been on the forefront of politics across the islands ever since. Many groups, including the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement, continue to work toward undoing some of the damage incurred during this period.
There's a lot of great reading on the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and I won't attempt to summarize it all here. What should be said is that the coup, directed with the knowledge of the US government in favor of private business interests, unlawfully took control of a legitimate government. 100 years later, the United States passed public law 103-150, known as the Apology Resolution, acknowledging the same.
You can visit monuments across Hawai'i honoring the country's monarchs, including Washington Place, the Bishop Museum, and statues of King Kamehameha I and Queen Liliʻuokalani. All of these sites and more are listed on the Hawai'i page of Pacific History Guide, and I encourage anybody reading this to stop by and give us some feedback on it! I'll be visiting Hawai'i later this year and I intend to do some more digging into this topic; in the meantime I hope to learn all I can from the proud, fierce, despoiled Hawaiian people.
Be well,
Tony