College
Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences
Date of Last Revision
2025-05-08 11:40:52
Major
History
Honors Course
HIST 492
Number of Credits
6
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Date of Expected Graduation
Spring 2025
Abstract
This paper acts as a biography of Hawaiian land, using multidisciplinary sources to construct a timeline of how land has been conceptualized and used by the people who live there. It analyzes Hawai'i as a settler colony. I begin with the first Polynesian settlers in Hawai'i, focusing on the feudal-like division and redistribution of land by the king in the pre-colonial era. Then, I discuss the attitude of the American settlers in Hawai'i and how those ideas were manifested in the privatization of land and the age of sugarcane plantations. Next, I focus on how the United States military has used the land it occupies. Their approach to Hawaiian land as a place available for training is exemplified in the island of Kaho'olawe, the most bombed island in the Pacific. I then describe the beginnings of the tourism industry in Hawai'i before discussing the island of Ni'ihau as an alternative history. I conclude with a review of the 2023 Maui fires, whose consequences were directly tied to the conflicts over land identified and described in this paper.
Research Sponsor
Janet Klein
First Reader
Gina Martino
Second Reader
Martha Santos
Honors Faculty Advisor
Michael Graham
Proprietary and/or Confidential Information
No
Recommended Citation
Nicholas, Lacy, "Dividing Paradise: A History of Land in Hawai'i" (2025). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 2022.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/2022
Included in
Hawaiian Studies Commons, History of the Pacific Islands Commons, United States History Commons