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“He Mau Hoakaka, A Me Na Niele E Pili Ana I Ka Poepoe Nui I Kahaia Ma Lahainaluna, 1844” Ka ʻelele Hawaiʻi, Volume IV, Number 21, June 29, 1849. 

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An excerpt from the Hawaiian Language newspaper Ka ʻElele Hawaiʻi, describing different types of land divisions. Mōkapu is described as an ʻAnemoku, or peninsula, its literal translation may be interpreted as "almost an island". A land division described as "ʻOia kekahi ʻāina aneane puni i ke kai i ka wai paha..." notes that it is a land division nearly surrounded by the ocean and possibly freshwater.

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"Aerial Survey of Mōkapu Peninsula for Kāne‘ohe Naval Air Station, 1939. Record group #71, Bureau of Yards and Docks. Photo #111821-e-20."

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Mōkapu was recognized as the sacred district, in Kamakauʻs Nā Moʻōlelo a ka poʻe kahikō, he describes this district being the place where the akua, Kāne, Kū, and Lono created the first man, Kumuhonua, and first woman Keakahulilani (130-131). As kūpuna and Kahu of the moku, Kumu Lehua Kawaikapuokalani Hewett describes it is from the white sands of Kahakahaea and the lepo Hāuliuli, lepo Hāʻeleʻele, and lepo ʻalaea, mixed with the hāʻae of the akua that the first man was shaped, and it is kāne who breathed life into the image. This occurs after several failed attempts according to Kumu Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. Given this moʻōlelo it is no surprise that this region would be held with such reverence.

In this image you can see a diverse ecosystem of open plains (likely from the ranching), farm lots, kaha lands, and then an estuary, which indicate a diversity of resources that would have been present, adding to the physical aspect of the moʻōlelo shared.

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Photo of Nuʻupia Fishponds by Cpl. Chandler Stacy October 7, 2023

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According to Dennis M. Devaney, Marion Kelly, et al. in Kāneʻohe A History of Change, throughout the early 1900s, the lands of mōkapu were still heavily cultivated for ranching, farming, and even raising fish like mullet in the fishponds. Lands were even set aside for gaming of birds like pheasants. However this land that nourished much life would be sought for an alternative value as war shook the world and the U.S. sought to further expand its imperial control on the Pacific.

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Via an executive order toward the end of World War 1 the President Woodrow Wilson established the Kūwaʻaʻohe Military Reservation, or Fort Hase. The Army would be the first to occupy Mōkapu. Throughout the territorial time there were dozens of executive orders conducted by both the Territorial Governor and the President of the United States. This saw the transfer of thousands of acres of Government, Crown, and Kuleana lands across the archipelago that were primarily "conveyed" to the United States military and in one other instance an Agricultural Experiment Station in Kewalo Uka. In this instance on Mōkapu further land grabs, can be seen as a corrective action, further encumbering land title as U.S. law seemingly supersedes former land laws and titles awarded in the Hawaiian Kingdom.

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Herman S Doi, and Robert H, Horwitz, "Public Land Policy In Hawaiʻi: Land Reserved For Public Use" Legislative Reference Bureau, December 1, 1966.

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List of portion of lands stolen via Presidential Executive Order

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List of portion of lands stolen via Presidential Executive Order

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The Legislative Reference Bureau provided a report and index of Public lands acquired through conservation legislation as well as via executive order. The report acknowledges that the federal land reserves primarily obtained from some 137 Presidential executive orders, are for military purposes as serves Hawaiʻi following the Spanish-American War.

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As noted in this survey conducted by C.J. Lyons in 1878 Kūwaʻaʻohe and Kaluapuhi Waho are determined to be ʻīli ʻāina of the Moʻī. Curtis J. Lyons would also find himself explaining the land divisions of Hawaiʻi to Congress following the overthrow. Concerningly so, he shared that the creation of a Crown Commission under Kamehameha V., which made them national property with the income belonging to the King himself. This find is puzzling as to whether such actions truly nationalized the Crown lands.

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C.J. Lyons and J.F. Brown, "The Mōkapu Peninsula". 

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In this survey by C.J. Lyons & J.F. Brown you can observe the abundance the ʻāina once had, with loko iʻa, and salt works similar to that of Hanapēpē, and serval watering holes that may have been springs. As noticed in the aerial survey in the previous section, there also seems to be another wetland toward the Heʻeʻia portion of Mōkapu. These maps are insight into a history of change, and the soon changing relationship of value for sustenance to a value for imperialism and war.

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The University of Hawaiʻi received land via Executive Order in 1961, two years after Statehood, that allowed UH to lease land formerly National Park lands for observatories. This lease established after Statehood, still exists today, and faces a proposal to develop several telescopes for the Air Force on Haleakalā. We are therefore reminded that the use of authority be executives continues to see lands with title encumbered utilized to further the U.S. imperial agenda, without having to answer the question "Who owns the land?"

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"Mōkapu: A Paradise on the Peninsula" Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi, 2014.

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It is always interesting to read how history is narrated. There is one fallacy in the timeline, which is that the Sumner family never acquired the crown lands, as documents that follow these events show that the Crown still retained said lands. The lands were only acquired by the lands via an executive Order. This narration by the U.S. military shows how theyʻre willing to convolute history and purport a false narrative, rather than face the legal ramifications.

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"Aerial view of Kaneohe Naval Air Station taken in 1941" Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation Aviation, 1941. 

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Ahead of World War 2, President Franklin D. Roosevelt via Executive Order allowed the Navy a "Declaration of Takings" to condemn the remaining lands on Mōkapu for the construction and establishment of the Kāneʻohe Naval Air Station. The United States therefore continues to assert and position itself, as the dominating power in the islands, without any interest in reconciliation at this time.

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Thomas Heaton. "The Days of the Army Leasing Land in Hawaiʻi for $1 Are Likely Over. But Whatʻs Next?" Honolulu Civil Beat. April 18, 2024. 

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Today there remains much speculation on how the Army and its sister branches intend to renegotiate their leases set to expire by the year 2030. With the gross negligence, cultural desecration, and environmental degradation that has occurred. The Army has proposed to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) the idea of a land exchange, where the Army returns Mākua and in turn receives fee simple lands surrounded Pōhakūloa. Much of these lands that were often obtained via executive order are on lands that were inalienable and never legally conveyed, therefore fee simple exchanges are a huge slap in the face and continue a long history of illegalities on land ownership in Hawaiʻi. And a reminder that as Dr. Keanu Sai reaffirms consistently this is an illegal military occupation and its time to start talking about legal solutions.

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The Organic Act which created the Territory of Hawaiʻi continued the harmful classifications of lands from the Republic of Hawaiʻi such as the Land Act of 1895. The former Crown and Government Lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom continued to be classified as "Public Lands," which were for "All funds arising from the sale or lease or other disposal of such lands shall be appropriated by the laws of the government of the Territory of Hawaiʻi and applied to such uses and purposes for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Territory of Hawaiʻi..." (155). This now shifted the distinction between Crown lands for the benefit of the King/Queen to now being used for the benefit of the Public good.

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Tamara Cohen, "Look Who Owns Britain: A Third of The Country STILL Belongs to The Aristocracy" The Daily Mail, November 10, 2010. 

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Royal Practices subject to American Interpretation

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Royal Practices subject to American Interpretation

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Whether you agree with Royals maintaining power and wealth through their landholdings is one thing, but when it comes to the legalities of interpreting the private lands of Royals across the world, it does not seem to translate in the same way applied to the crown lands in the Hawaiian Kingdom. A reminder that American law and its interpretation cannot be the judiciary of a land system more aligned to that of Europe.