George Na'ea

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George Naʻea (born in the 18th century ; died October 4, 1854 in Wailuku , Maui ) was a chief of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the father of Queen Emma Naʻea Rooke . He was the first native of Hawaii to develop leprosy . The disease became known in the archipelago as the "chief disease" maʻi aliʻi .

Life

George Na'ea was born in the 18th century to Chief Kamaunu and the female chief Kukaeleiki. His father Kamaunu came from the chiefs of the northern districts of the Hawaiian archipelago . His mother, Kukaeleiki, was the daughter of Kalauawa, the chief of Kauaʻi , and a cousin of Queen Keōpūolani , the highest wife of King Kamehameha I. His ancestors include Kalanawaʻa , the chief of Oʻahu , and Kuaenaokalani , the female chief of Maui . She was of the rank of Tapu , a Kekapupoʻohoʻolewaikala (the Tapu of Poʻohoʻolewaikala, a rank so sacred that she could only be exposed to the sun at sunset.) His brother Bennett Nāmākēhā was a member of the legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii , and Nāmākēhā Enāmākēhā Stella Keomailani (1866–1927) was the last of the Poʻohoʻolewaikala .

George Na'ea's daughter,
Queen Emma Na'ea Rooke

Na'ea served under Kamehameha III. as a member of the Council of Chiefs. He married Fanny Kekelaokalani Young , the daughter of the noble family Kaʻōanaʻeha and of John Young , the British adviser to King Kamehameha I and governor of Hawaii.

They had three children: Kahalaiʻa and Kekuaokalani , who both died young, and Emma, ​​who later became Queen of Hawaii. Emma grew up with Fanny's younger sister Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young Rooke and her British husband, the doctor Thomas Charles Byde Rooke , in the Hawaiian tradition of informal adoption ( Hānai ). According to the historian and biographer of Queen Emma, George Kanahele , Na'ea played no role in the upbringing of his daughter, and after his illness he was no longer allowed to have contact with her. Emma did not know her biological father, and many thought that Dr. Rooke was her biological father.

Contagion with leprosy

Around 1838 Na'ea became infected with leprosy. It is often stated that this was the first leprosy infection on the Hawaiian archipelago, but the disease was diagnosed as early as the 1820s and 1830s.

There are different accounts of how the disease got to the archipelago. The missionary Dwight Baldwin suspected that Na'ea was infected by a lower-ranking nobleman who had returned from China after suffering from leprosy. In his memoirs, the head of the leper colony of Kalaupapa , Ambrose K. Hutchison , reports , based on the oral traditions of the lepers, that Na'ea was infected by his Chinese cook, who came when the first Chinese arrived at the end of the 18th century. The disease was diagnosed by the royal doctor and botanist Wilhelm Hillebrand , who came from Nieheim . He recommended to the king and the council of chiefs that those suffering from this incurable disease should be isolated. George Na'ea was exiled to Wailuku on Maui. He was not allowed to return or visit the capital, Lahaina .

In his book, George Kanahele states that Na'ea lived on and led a productive life under the care of his wife Fanny, who did not contract the disease. Secretary of State Robert Crichton Wyllie considered him a "highly respectable Hawaiian personality".

George Na'ea died on October 4, 1854. Hutchison claimed that after Na'ea's death, the domestic servants who had accompanied him during his isolation spread across the islands, spreading the disease to the Hawaiian archipelago. This led to the development of the name maʻi aliʻi , the chief's disease , for leprosy . The disease also became known under the name ma'i pake , the Chinese disease , after the place of its origin.

Under King Kamehameha V , the government introduced a systematic policy of segregation for those affected and established a leprosy station in Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i . Chief Peter Ka'eo , a nephew of Fanny and cousin of Emma, ​​who died there in 1880, was also exiled there in 1873.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers . University of Hawaii Press, 1983, ISBN 0-939154-28-5 , pp. 73 ff . ( books.google.de ).
  2. ↑ a b Polynesian. (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844–1864, image 3 . December 29, 1860 ( loc.gov ).
  3. ↑ Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen . University of Hawaii Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8248-2240-4 , pp. 4 ( books.google.de ).
  4. ↑ Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen . University of Hawaii Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8248-2240-4 , pp. 130 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ a b Pahukanilua: Homestead of John Young: Kawaihae, Kohala, Hawai'i Iceland of: Historical Data Section of the Historic Structure Report . January 1, 1978.
  6. ↑ a b c d Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen . University of Hawaii Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8248-2240-4 , pp. 49 ( books.google.de ).
  7. ^ "The Path of the Destroyer": A History of Leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands and Thirty Years Research Into the Means by which it Has Been Spread . A. Mouritz, January 1, 1916 ( books.google.de ).
  8. ↑ Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen . University of Hawaii Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8248-2240-4 , pp. 386 ( books.google.de ).
  9. ↑ Ma'i Lepera . University of Hawai'i Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8248-6579-5 , pp. 33-34 .
  10. ↑ Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen . University of Hawaii Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8248-2240-4 , pp. 386 ( books.google.de ).
  11. ↑ Peter Kaeo: Queen Emma of Hawaii , The University Press of Hawaii , accessed April 15, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Na'ea, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chief of Hawaii
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1854
Place of death Wailuku , Maui