The ma’i ‘ōku’u epidemic: when foreign ships brought death to Hawaii’s ancient settlements

Kaunolu Village’s 400-Year Decline from Disease and Depopulation

Kaunolu Village once buzzed with life on Lanai’s coast for over 400 years.

Since the 1400s, this spot had been home to a busy fishing town with stone homes, temples, and room for both chiefs and common folk. Then came the ships.

Foreign diseases like smallpox and cholera hit hard after Captain Cook’s arrival, wiping out most of the native population. In fact, the ma’i ‘ōku’u epidemic alone killed 2,000 Lanai locals.

By the 1880s, the once-thriving village stood empty, with too few hands to keep it going.

Today, these ruins form the largest intact Hawaiian village site in the islands, where ancient petroglyphs and the Halulu Heiau temple still tell their silent story.

Fishermen Built a Thriving Community in the 1400s

Folks started living in Kaunolu Village around 1400 CE when fishermen set up camp on Lanai’s southern sea cliffs.

The settlement spread across two areas: eastern Kealiakapu and western Kaunolu, both sitting on ridges above Kaunolu Gulch.

Though the land was dry, the deep waters nearby had plenty of fish, making it perfect for Hawaiians who needed to feed their families. The bay below gave fishermen a safe spot to bring their canoes after fishing.

More people moved there to enjoy the good fishing.

Stone Structures Housed Both Chiefs and Commoners

The village grew to include 86 house platforms, 35 stone shelters, 9 burial sites, and over 30 animal pens. Chiefs lived in 11 special house areas with fancy terraces that showed their importance.

The village center featured Halulu Heiau temple and a pu’uhonua where people went for safety. Artists carved pictures into rocks showing people, animals, and important symbols.

The stone buildings proved how skilled and organized these villagers were.

King Kamehameha Loved Fishing at Kaunolu

Between 1778 and 1800, King Kamehameha I often came to Kaunolu to fish.

He built a special house platform across from Halulu Heiau on a cliff above the bay where he could watch the ocean.

The king held important ceremonies at the heiau, which experts think was used for war rituals and sacrifices. Before him, Maui chief Kahekili II also spent time at Kaunolu during the fights of the late 1700s.

Wars Wiped Out Many Lanai Residents

Kamehameha I or Kalaniʻōpuʻu led attacks on Lanai in the 1780s and 1790s that killed many islanders. By 1792, records show the population was “mostly wiped out” from these fights.

That same year, explorer George Vancouver sailed past Lanai without stopping because he saw so few signs of people living there. Other European ships in the 1790s also skipped Lanai, noting how empty it seemed.

Foreign Ships Brought Deadly Diseases

When Captain Cook arrived in 1778, he brought venereal diseases that spread fast among Hawaiians, often leaving survivors unable to have children.

Next came cholera and flu, sicknesses Hawaiians had never seen before.

The mai ʻōkuʻu outbreak, likely cholera, killed over 100,000 Hawaiians, including about 2,000 people on Lanai alone. More illnesses followed: smallpox, measles, leprosy, and typhoid fever hit the islands hard.

With no protection against these new sicknesses, Hawaiians died in huge numbers.

The Hawaiian Population Crashed by the 1890s

The once-big Hawaiian population dropped from over 1 million people to less than 40,000 by 1890. On Lanai, only about 200 people remained, a tiny fraction of what it once had.

When missionary William Ellis visited in 1823, he wrote about finding “empty villages and left-behind farms” across the islands.

He blamed the empty villages on wars during Kamehameha’s rule, diseases from foreign ships, killing of babies, and what he called the “sad increase of bad behavior.

Traditional Hawaiian Culture Fell Apart

When Kamehameha I died in 1819, Hawaiians got rid of the kapu system, the rules that had guided their lives for hundreds of years. This sudden change threw Hawaiian society into chaos as the old way of life broke down.

Many Hawaiians became Christians, further weakening their old practices and beliefs. Chiefs who once held total power saw their authority fade as Western influence grew stronger.

Without their traditional systems, Hawaiian communities struggled to keep their way of life going.

Too Few People Remained to Keep the Village Going

By the 1880s, Kaunolu faced a big problem: not enough people lived there to take care of the village.

The stone buildings needed regular care, and the limited freshwater sources needed management that became impossible with so few people.

Families slowly left their homes for better chances elsewhere on Lanai or on other islands. The elders who knew how to care for the religious sites grew old or moved away, taking their knowledge with them.

The Last Families Left Their Homes Behind

By the early 1900s, Kaunolu stood completely empty, its stone houses quiet.

The last people packed up their things and walked away from homes their ancestors had lived in for hundreds of years.

The faraway location made it hard for the few remaining Lanai folks to justify staying in or coming back to Kaunolu. No one took care of the sacred sites anymore, and the village turned into a ghost town.

The 400-year history of people living there came to a sad end.

Visitors Now Walk Where Chiefs Once Ruled

Kaunolu earned recognition as a U.S. National Historic Landmark because of its cultural importance.

Today, self-guided trails with information signs help visitors understand what they’re seeing among the stone ruins.

Tour guides sometimes lead groups through the site, explaining the history and significance of different structures. People treat the area with respect, knowing it remains sacred to Native Hawaiians.

The abandoned village stands as a powerful reminder of how foreign diseases and cultural disruption ended centuries of Hawaiian life on Lanai.

Visiting Kaunolu Village Site, Hawaii

You’ll find Kaunolu Village Site at Lanai’s southwestern tip by taking Highway 440 west toward Kaumalapau Harbor, then driving 3 miles on unpaved Kaupili Road (four-wheel drive required).

This free site has a 3.5-mile self-guided trail through ancient fishing village ruins where thousands of Native Hawaiians once lived before disease and cultural disruption forced abandonment in the 1880s.

Respect the sacred kapu by not walking on stone walls or removing stones. A shaded picnic area overlooks the ruins.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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