The Hawaiian Missionaries
The first missionaries arrived to the Hawaiian Islands in 1820 and made a lot of changes to Hawaii when they arrived, both good and bad. When the missionaries arrived to the islands they thought of the natives as savages. They all needed to become converts to followers of Christ, drop their own beliefs and pick up new ones. They also sought out to “civilize” the natives, by teaching them how to read and write, sing and Christianize them. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston were the first of many missionaries to arrive in Hawaii. The Queen at the time, Kaahumanu accepted the arrival of the missionaries from New England to teach their religion. Although there were many positive affects of missionary that came to the Hawaiian Islands, there were many negative consequences that changed the native way of life. Missionaries and other immigrant groups brought foreign diseases, which made a huge cause decline in the local population. There are many different viewpoints about the coming of the missionaries; this paper will talk about the effects that the missionaries made in Hawaii.
Henery Opukahaia was one of the first Hawaiians that became a Christian. He wanted to find adventure, so he and a friend named Hopu boarded the whaler of Captain Brintnel, bound for New York in 1808. He made friends with Brintnel, and they followed him home to New Haven, Connecticut. Henry embraced Christianity and became converted in 1815. He was enrolled in the foreign missions school, established by the American Board from the congressional church. He became a big part of that and began planning to send missionaries back to his home the Hawaiian Islands. He planned to go back himself and teach about Christ and convert his people, but he came down with typhus fever and died in Connecticut in 1818 when he was only 26 years old. He is credited to starting Hawaii’s conversion to Christianity and why the missionaries were sent out to the Islands.
In 1820 the first company of missionaries
Henery Opukahaia was one of the first Hawaiians that became a Christian. He wanted to find adventure, so he and a friend named Hopu boarded the whaler of Captain Brintnel, bound for New York in 1808. He made friends with Brintnel, and they followed him home to New Haven, Connecticut. Henry embraced Christianity and became converted in 1815. He was enrolled in the foreign missions school, established by the American Board from the congressional church. He became a big part of that and began planning to send missionaries back to his home the Hawaiian Islands. He planned to go back himself and teach about Christ and convert his people, but he came down with typhus fever and died in Connecticut in 1818 when he was only 26 years old. He is credited to starting Hawaii’s conversion to Christianity and why the missionaries were sent out to the Islands.
In 1820 the first company of missionaries
Bibliography: Wagner, Sandra E. "Mission and Motivation: The Theology of the Early American Mission in Hawai 'i ." (1985): n. pag. Honolulu, Hawaiian Historical Society. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. "Hawaiian Historical Society." Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society (1920): 1-50. EVOLS. Web. 10 Oct. 2013 Daws, Gavan. Shoal of Time; a History of the Hawaiian Islands. New York: Macmillan, 1968. Print. Bingham, Hiram A.M. "Civil, Religious and Political History of Those Islands." Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Isles (1848): n. pag. Print.