Keaunui Explained

Keaunui (Hawaiian for "Keau the Great") was a High Chief of ʻEwa, Waiʻanae and Waialua in ancient Hawaii.^[1] He was a member of the Nanaulu line and is also known as Keaunui-a-Maweke.^[2]

His mother was High Chiefess Naiolaukea, also known as Naiolakea.^[3] (In ancient Hawaii, it was common for nobles to have many names.)

His father was a high chief and “wizard” called Maweke, an Aliʻi of "the blue blood".^[4]

He had brothers named Mulielealiʻi and Kalehenui.^[5]

Keaunui married a woman named Wehelani (Hawaiian: lani = "sky"), and their children were:

• High Chief Laakona of ʻEwa
• High Chiefess and "witch" Nuakea of Molokai^{[6] [7]}
• High Chief and "wizard" Moʻi

Keaunui had a granddaughter, Chiefess Kapau-a-Nuʻakea of Molokai.

Keaunui is traditionally credited with opening a navigable channel at Pearl Harbor.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Patrick Vinton Kirch. A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i; p. 118.
2. Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and Natural History (1920).
3. Kamakau, Samuel M., Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (Revised Edition), Appendix Genealogies (Kamehameha Schools Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1961).
4. Web site: Family of Maweke . 2016-01-08 . 2016-08-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160827093248/http://www.kekoolani.org/pages/kekoolani%20genealogy%20database%20%28paf%29/pafg83.htm#1253 . dead .
5. Patrick Vinton Kirch (2010). How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i.
6. [Kalākaua]
7. Native Planters in Old Hawaii: their life, lore, and environment; by Edward Smith Craighill Handy; Elizabeth Green Handy; Mary Kawena Pukui. Honolulu, 1972
8. Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society. Hawaiian Historical Society, 1932.