Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest, 1787–1898

by Jean Barman

Native Hawaiians arrived in the Pacific Northwest as early as 1787. Some went out of curiosity; many others were recruited as seamen or as workers in the fur trade. By the end of the nineteenth century more than a thousand men and women had journeyed across the Pacific, but the stories of these extraordinary individuals have gone largely unrecorded in Hawaiian or Western sources. Through painstaking archival work in British Columbia, Oregon, California, and Hawaii, Jean Barman and Bruce Watson pieced together what is known about these sailors, laborers, and settlers from 1787 to 1898, the year the Hawaiian Islands were annexed to the United States. In addition, the authors include descriptive biographical entries on some eight hundred Native Hawaiians, a remarkable and invaluable complement to their narrative history.

"Kanakas" (as indigenous Hawaiians were called) formed the backbone of the fur trade along with French Canadians and Scots. As the trade waned and most of their countrymen returned home, several hundred men with indigenous wives raised families and formed settlements throughout the Pacific Northwest. Today their descendants remain proud of their distinctive heritage. The resourcefulness of these pioneers in the face of harsh physical conditions and racism challenges the early Western perception that Native Hawaiians were indolent and easily exploited.

Scholars and others interested in a number of fields―Hawaiian history, Pacific Islander studies, Western U.S. and Western Canadian history, diaspora studies―will find Leaving Paradise an indispensable work.

528 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[Kevin Keating · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cool book! I was interested in the topic of what the Hawaiians were doing here in Southern Oregon and this book gave me lots of good info. They were mostly working the fur trade in the early 1800s and were treated pretty well by the British, who admired their cheery natures and hard working ethic. This was during the days of the Hawaiian kingdom, which I would also like to research. Apparently the kings of Hawaii were not all that great to the peasants, especially after the missionaries arrived. I was surprised, as were the early fur traders, that anyone would leave Hawaii for the rainy muddy Pacific Northwest of the 1800s, but they stayed. With the women shortage, they mostly married indigenous Indians on the coast. Many took British citizenship. After the Americans took over Oregon & Washington, they were worse off, not being allowed to become Americans and missing out on many rights, like the ability to file for land claims. Frequent name changes, misspellings and lack of records makes it pretty hard to research the subject, but I will try locally to see if any descendants are in Southern Oregon.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

About half the book is a sort of collection of short bios of known information about Hawaiians who came to the Pacific Northwest. The first half is an overview of the history. It's not very in-depth, but it's a hard subject to find a lot of information about.

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging history of the Sandwich Islanders who came to the Pacific Northwest 1787-1898 some of the topics covered are the Astor Adventure, Hudson's Bay Company, fur trade, plus much more. I loved this book. It reads like a novel and is great for research.