![]() ![]() Palena, or possibly an evolved term “palena ʻāina” are place boundaries. Māʻilikūkahi is noted for clearly marking and reorganizing land division palena (boundaries) on O‘ahu. It appears that the six districts on the islands of O‘ahu and Hawai‘i, and the system of developing smaller manageable units of land became formalized in the reigns of Māʻilikūkahi and ʻUmi-a-Līloa, respectively (about the time Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic.) ![]() There is a district called Kona on the lee side and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island. They were either relatives of the high chief of the island, trusted supporters or high ranking individuals who pledged their support to the high chief but were allowed to remain relatively independent.Įach island was divided into several moku or districts, of which there are six in the island of Hawaiʻi, and the same number in Oʻahu. The mokupuni were subdivided into land units of varying sizes, and the largest division was the moku (district – literally: interior island,) administered by high-ranking chiefs. The traditional land division of pre-contact Hawaiians was based on the sustainability and self-reliance within ahupuaʻa (community watershed areas) as well as within larger regions (moku) and lastly individual sovereign islands (mokupuni.) Prior to European contact, each of the major islands or independent chiefdoms in the Hawaiian chain comprised a mokupuni (island.) Over the centuries, as the ancient Hawaiian population grew, land use and resource management also evolved. ![]()
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