If we compare Cesaire's thinking to that of Hawaii's contact with the Western World, we shall see that there are many things similar. In the early 1800's, church congregations in the United States had a strong desire to send missionaries to minister to various ethnic groups of the world in hopes of spreading Christianity. When the first group of missionaries arrived in Hawaii, they were appalled at the lifestyle of the Hawaiian people. They did not quite understand the sanctity of the kapu system, nor did they agree with the social class divisions. At this time, the Hawaiian people were reduced in importance and were immediately labelled "heathens". They could not continue worship of Akua and the aumakua. Doing so constituted promoting pagan virtues and anything un-Christian was considered savagery (Cesaire 1972, 11). .
Upon the conversion of Ka`ahumanu, it was evident that the kanaka maoli were going to fall victim to Western ideals. Adaptation was a necessity in order to survive. Like the Spanish Conquistadors four hundred years before them, these American missionaries discovered that this newly "discovered" land would prove to be lucrative economically. The belief in the promise of capitalism was enough for these merchants and businessmen to overlook the fact that they were profiting off something that clearly was not theirs to begin with. To them, it was an effortless attempt to take advantage of this people and their culture.
What, exactly, is necessary to recognize a group as indigenous? I ask this question mainly because the United States still fails to recognize the kanaka maoli as the indigenous people of Hawaii. The facts state that Native Hawaiians are a distinct and indigenous people because they have historical ties to the original inhabitants of the Hawaiians Islands; they had a sophisticated self-sufficient society prior to Western contact in 1778; and, which perhaps, may be the most important of all, they had a unified constitutional monarchical government (Act 359, 1993).
