When I transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i back in June of 2000, I was confronted everywhere by the extremely long word "Kamehameha". It was everywhere. There was a Kamehameha Highway, which circles the entire island of Oahu. There was a Kamehameha School District. There was a Kamehameha day as a state holiday. The Navy even had a nuclear submarine named the USS Kamehameha (SSN-642). Why was this word everywhere I looked? What did it mean? What, or who was it?
I started to check into the meaning of this word, and on the top of my list was learning how to pronounce it (pronounced kuh-may-ha-may-ha). This one word means "the one set apart" or "the lonely one" in Hawaiian's historical language. It turns out that Kamehameha was considered the greatest and most revered Chief in all the Hawaiian Islands history. He was the first in a dynasty (a series of rulers from the same family) that ruled the Hawaiian Islands for over a century.
First let me give a bit of background on Hawai'i. It is the only state in the Union that was at one time ruled by a King, and that King was also a native. There are hundreds of islands within the chain, but there are 8 major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands; Oahu, Maui, Hawaii (often called "The Big Island"), Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Niihau, and Kahoolawe. This link [map] shows a map of the major Hawaiian Islands. This is the reason that there are 8 stripes on the Hawaiian state flag. Traditionally, Hawai'i was governed by a very long-established system of Ali'i nui (or high chief), and many other ranks of alibi (chiefs). Ancient social and spiritual values prevailed. The islands of Hawai'i were not unified, each island was "connected" by intricate family ties, fashioned through generations of Hawaiian customs. Rulership and division of the land was determined by ancient laws, inherited, awarded by Alibi or acquired by conquest. Kamehameha I, also called King Kamehameha "The Great" is credited with the unification of all the Hawaiian Islands under one rule. This, in hindsight, is recognized as forever changing the economic, social, and spiritual destiny of Hawai'i and it's people.
It is fabled that Kamehameha was born somewhere between the years of 1748 and 1761 in North Kohala on the island of Hawai'i (the Big Island). It is not certain of the exact date, because Hawai'i had no written language at the time. All historical stories were preserved through dance ("the Hula"), chants, songs, or through appointed memory keepers.
Legend has it that he was born on a stormy night, during which a bright star, Kokoiki, appeared in the heavens. This tends to coincide with the appearance of Halley's comet in the Earth's skies in 1785. This star was a sign that this child would rise to greatness. A priest warned the infant's grandfather, King Alapai, of the birth of a "rebel infant" who would be a slayer of chiefs. Taking the priest's advice, the King ordered that his grandchild be killed immediately upon birth. Because of this, the newborn was taken away in secrecy to the Waipi'o Valley, where a childless couple raised him. He was given the name Paiea, after the hard-shelled crab found along the shorelines. His childhood was spent in isolation with his foster parents who trained him in the skills of warfare that he may one day need and prepared him for his eventual role as warrior-king of the island nation. He was safe, secure, and well cared for in the Waipi'o Valley.
After five years in seclusion, his grandfather allowed him to return to his parents in Kailua-Kona because the King no longer felt threatened by Paiea. He was then given the name Kamehameha, or "The Lonely One," and finally allowed the training and care befitting a young ali'i.
By the 1780s, Kamehameha was an important chief and fierce warrior. He served as an aide to his uncle, King Kalaniopuu. The King eventually died in 1782, and "The Big Island" was divided between Kamehameha and the King's son, Kiwalao. Kamehameha used his position to launch successful invasions of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai from the sea on Hawaiian war canoes. By the late 1780s, a battle for control of the island of Hawai'i broke out between supporters of Kamehameha and Kiwalao. Kiwalao was killed in battle, and Kamehameha was victorious. The young king had succeeded in unifying the entire island of Hawai'i under one rule.
The battle for Oahu was by far the fiercest and bloodiest of all the invasions of the other islands by Kamehameha, he and his warriors are said to have forced his enemies to jump from the Pali Ridge to their deaths (today called the Pali Lookout, in my opinion the most awe inspiring overlook in all of Oahu). By 1791, he completed his conquest by subduing the island of Oahu. This left only the islands of Kauai and Niihau outside his kingdom. In 1810, the ruling king of those two islands passed his rule on to Kamehameha, in return for being allowed to remain as a governor of these islands. Finally the Hawaiian Islands had all been unified under one rule. Because Kamehameha was originally from the island of Hawai'i, this is the reason that the islands have taken the name "the Hawaiian Islands" and are not called the Oahu or Maui Islands.
After establishing himself as king, he surrounded himself with strong and able men. He ruled the people wisely, and cared greatly for the inhabitants of all the Hawaiian Islands. Born before the islands were known to the outside world, Kamehameha saw the coming of the discovery ships under Captain Cook in 1778. During his dealings with foreigners, Kamehameha adopted the things he felt would benefit his people and outlawed those he believed would ultimately do them harm. He lived to see the monarchy that he created become known and respected - even coveted - by many nations in Europe and America.
For the rest of his life, Kamehameha I ruled in peace. He established trade with foreign countries. He introduced new animal and plant life, fostered industry and promoted agriculture. He established a government monopoly in the sandalwood trade, and collected tariffs and duties from visiting ships. He was a contemporary of George Washington and Tsar Alexander, yet Kamehameha I amazingly accomplished all of this without the aid of a written language. Considered a brilliant military mind, along the lines of his French counter-part, he was given the name "Napoleon of the Pacific". King Kamehameha died in Kailua~Kona on the island of Hawai'i in 1819. As was the ancient tradition, his bones were hidden to protect it's mana, or spiritual power. To this day, his final resting place remains a secret, thus he rests in peace with his mana intact.
The first commemoration Kamehameha day was held June 11, 1872. It was filled with horse races and other sporting events such as sack, wheelbarrow and foot races.
Kamehameha's world-famous statue, cast by Thomas Gould in 1880, was unveiled by King Kalakaua in 1883. The statue in Honolulu is actually a duplicate; the original cast in Paris and shipped from Germany to Honolulu was lost at sea after the ship carrying it caught fire and sank near the Falkland Islands. Luckily, the original mold used to cast the statue had not been destroyed, and a second statue was made and sent successfully to Hawai'i. Later, the original was eventually recovered and it was placed near Kamehameha's birthplace in Kohala. Another duplicate of this statue is also located in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. A fourth statue was commissioned by a resort and cast in Italy in 1993. After much controversy, during which it was kept in a crate, it was finally installed in the town of Hilo on the island of Hawaii.
In 1901 a group of "old Hawaiians" decorated the statue of Paiea Kamehameha located across from the 'Iolani Palace with leis. This practice still continues on the eve of King Kamehameha day and is an integral part of the statewide celebration. A King Kamehameha Day Celebration 
Commission was established in 1939 and charged with the responsibility of planning and managing all of the activities, which today include parades on every island, arts and crafts fairs, sports challenges, pageantry, and an international hula competition.
Kamehameha proved to be a strong and able king, but his successors were not as capable as he was. They ultimately were not able to resist efforts by other nations to control the islands. On Jan. 17, 1893, the Hawaiian monarchy ended in a day of bloodless revolution. There was armed insurrection (revolt) by a relatively small group of men, most of whom were American by birth. The revolt was lead by the United States Minister to Hawai'i. These men were able to seize control of the "Kingdom of Hawaii" with the backing of U.S. military troops sent ashore from warships anchored out in the Harbor of Honolulu. Queen Lili'uokalani yielded her throne, under protest to the United States. She did so only to avoid the bloodshed of countless native Hawaiians. She trusted that one day the U.S. government would correct the injustice being imposed on her and her people. The following is a copy of the actual statement issued by the Queen on that day.
"I, Lili'uokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom."
"That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed a Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government."
"Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands."
"Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January, A.D. 1893."
In July 1898, the government of the United States officially annexed all of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawai'i was admitted as a state on August 21, 1959 by proclamation of Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States. This proclamation subsequently made Hawai'i the 50th state in the Union, after a vote for statehood by the people of Hawai'i in June of 1959.
On November 23, 1993: the 103rd Congress issued a Joint Resolution, "To acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the January 17, 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, and to offer an apology to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United States for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai'i." This link [http://www.hawaii-nation.org/publawall.html] shows the entire official Resolution of the Congress of the United States. In reading the entire resolution, one can easily see the repeated injustices inflicted to the indigenous Hawaiian people and their monarchy.
The Hawaiian people are extremely proud of their long and storied heritage, and are equally as proud of the history of King Kamehameha I. They have every right to be proud of what (or who) has forever shaped the landscape of the small island chain. All children attending Hawaiian school districts are required to learn Hawaiian history and it's ancient customs and traditions of Hawai'i as part of the school curriculum. To this day, a small group of Native Hawaiians is still lobbying to reassert their sovereignty from the United States of America. They seek to declare their independence and to preserve the heritage afforded them by "The Great King". They liken their plight to that of Native American Indians in America's Old West.
Then I knew why I saw the word "Kamehameha" everywhere.
