-Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest were given names such as Owyhees or Kanakas, which meant indigenous Sandwich Islanders. The Tonquin that I mentioned in a previous post actually brought 24 Islanders along to the Columbia.
Fort Vancouver was "home" to hundreds of Owyhees. The King of Hawaii at the time made a deal with the British to "hire" the Hawaiians as indentured servants. They worked in sawmills, agriculture, fishing ect. They even created their own small community right outside of Fort Vancouver called Kanaka Village.
Sketch: of Kanaka Village By George Gibbs
Sources: The Fur Traders and The Hawaiians 1825
Schwantes, Carlos. The Pacific Northwest: an Interpretive History
Impressive -- I had not realized that there were so many Hawaiians in Frontier Washington.
ReplyDeleteNice follow up here with more info on the Hawaiians. It is nuts how their King gave away his people as Indentured servants to the dang Brits!
ReplyDeleteIs the image a hand sketch image Fort Vancouver? What happened to the Kanakas? Did they return to Hawaii at the end of the fur trade? Or did they stick around? Curious.
ReplyDeleteCole - Indentured servants? I thought they were paid.