maoli

Maoli, often rendered as Kanaka Maoli, refers to the indigenous people of Hawaiʻi and to the Hawaiian language sense of native or real. The term Kanaka Maoli is commonly used to express Native Hawaiian identity as a people and culture, distinct from other Pacific Island groups or the broader category of Hawaiians.

Origins and language

The Kanaka Maoli trace their ancestry to Polynesian navigators who settled the Hawaiian Islands in the first centuries CE. The Hawaiian language, or ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, was historically central to daily life, culture, and governance. Traditional social structure included aliʻi (chiefs), kahuna (priests and specialists), and makaʻāinana (commoners). Cultural practices such as hula, mele (chants and songs), navigation, and taro cultivation (loʻi) are defining elements of Maoli heritage. In contemporary usage, Maoli is sometimes distinguished from the neighboring Māori of Aotearoa New Zealand, though both terms reflect indigenous Pacific Island identities.

History and modern era

Pre-contact Hawaiʻi was a complex chiefly system that culminated in the unified Kingdom of Hawaiʻi under Kamehameha I in the late 18th century. Contact with Europeans brought profound change through disease, religion, and trade. In 1893, a group of planters and politicians overthrew the Hawaiian monarch; the subsequent Republic of Hawaiʻi was annexed by the United States in 1898 and became a U.S. territory until statehood in 1959. In 1993 the U.S. Congress issued the Apology Resolution acknowledging injustices to Native Hawaiians.

Culture and contemporary status

There has been a revival of language and cultural practices since the 1960s, including ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi education, traditional navigation, music, and sustenance practices. Today, Kanaka Maoli foster ongoing efforts around land rights, governance, and self-determination, with institutions such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs playing a role in cultural preservation and native rights within the broader U.S. framework. Maoli are a distinct indigenous people of Hawaiʻi, with a living culture and evolving political status.