Piʻikea (Hawaiian: ''piʻi'' = "to ascend", ''ke'' = "the", ''ea'' = "life"; "the life ascends") was a High Chiefess. She was a daughter of

Piʻilani Piʻilani ("ascent to heaven") (born ca. 1460) ruled as Mōʻī of the island of Maui in the later part of the 15th century. At the time Maui was an independent kingdom within the islands of Hawaii. He was the first ''Aliʻi'' to unite the is ...

and Queen La’ieloheloheikawai and sister of Lono-a-Piilani and Kiha-a-Piilani. Piʻilani built a great

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

; according to the

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

, Piʻilani was a son of Kū. Piʻikea went to Hawaiʻi and married ʻ

Umi-a-Liloa ʻUmi-a-Līloa (fifteenth century) was the supreme ruler Aliʻi-ʻAimoku (High chief of Hawaiʻi Island) who inherited religious authority of Hawaiʻi from his father, High Chief Līloa, whose line is traced, unbroken to Hawaiian "creation". Ali� ...

. Their son was

Kumalae Kumalae was a Hawaiian High Chief, ''Aliʻi Nui'' (ruler) of Hilo. He is also known as Kumalae-nui-a-ʻUmi ("Kumalae the Great, son of ʻUmi"). Family He was born about 1648. His father was ʻUmi-a-Liloa, ''Aliʻi Aimoku'' of Hawaiʻi. His mo ...

. They also had a daughter, Aihākōkō. When Kiha had to flee from Maui, he sought refuge with Piʻikea, at the court of ʻUmi. Here his sister advocated his cause so warmly, and insisted with ʻUmi so urgently, that the latter was induced to espouse the cause of the younger brother against the older, and prepared an expedition to invade Maui, depose Lono, and raise Kiha-a-Piʻilani to the throne of his father. ʻUmi summoned the chiefs of the various districts of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

to prepare for the invasion of Maui. When all the preparations were ready, ʻUmi headed the expedition in person, accompanied by his wife and her brother and by his bravest warriors. Crossing the waters of ʻAlenuihāhā Channel between Maui and Hawaiʻi, the fleet of ʻUmi effected a landing at Kapueokahi, the harbour of Hāna, Maui, where Lono had continued to reside after Piilani's death. Having failed to prevent the landing of ʻUmi's forces, Lono retired to the fortress on the top of the neighbouring hill called Kauwiki. ʻUmi laid siege to the fort of Kauwiki, and, after some delay and several unsuccessful attempts, finally captured the fort, and Lono having fallen in the battle, Kiha-a-Piʻilani was proclaimed and acknowledged as a king. Having accomplished this, ʻUmi and his forces returned to Hawaiʻi.

Abraham Fornander Abraham Fornander (November 4, 1812 – November 1, 1887) was a Swedish-born emigrant who became an important journalist, judge, and ethnologist in Hawaii. Early life and education Fornander was born in Öland, Sweden on November 4, 1812, to An ...

, ''An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations'', Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pi'ikea 17th-century women Hawaiian chiefesses