''The Polynesian'' was a 4-8 page

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

published in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, that had two periods of publication: from June 6, 1840, to December 11, 1841, and then from May 18, 1844, to February 6, 1864. From 1845 to 1861, it was the official publication of the government of the

Hawaiian Kingdom The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the ...

. ''The Polynesian'' was the leading newspaper in

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

in the mid-1800s.

History

James Jackson Jarves James Jackson Jarves (1818–1888) was an American newspaper editor, and art critic who is remembered above all as the first American art collector to buy Italian primitives and Old Masters. Life and career Jarves was the editor of an early we ...

founded the newspaper in June 1840, running it with funds from the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

, advertisements, and subscriptions. However, it was not profitable, and was closed after two and half years of publication. Written for Honolulu's foreign residents, it was among the first Hawaiian newspapers to feature

puff piece In everyday language, puffery refers to exaggerated or false praise. Puffery serves to "puff up" what is being described. In law, puffery is usually invoked as a defense argument: it identifies futile speech, typically of a seller, which does n ...

s that were barely disguised advertising. Jarves restarted ''The Polynesian'' in May 1844, positioning it as impartial. However, in 1845, the Hawaiian Government bought a printing press and ''The Polynesian.'' King

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K� ...

commissioned the paper as the "Official Journal of the Hawaiian Government." As such, it published copies of enacted legislation, as well as policies of Kamehameha III and his successor,

Kamehameha IV Kamehameha IV (Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku; anglicized as Alexander Liholiho) (February 9, 1834 – November 30, 1863), reigned as the fourth monarch of Hawaii under the title ''Ke Aliʻi ...

. Meanwhile, it continued to feature "local and international news, business and shipping news, police reports, editorials, and fiction," with its length depending on how much news there was to print that week. Despite being the mouthpiece of the Hawaiian government, Jarves had a pro-American editorial bias, promoting

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and Western culture as superior, advocating for the

Great Māhele The Great Māhele ("to divide or portion") or just the Māhele was the Hawaiian land redistribution proposed by King Kamehameha III. The Māhele was one of the most important episodes of Hawaiian history, second only to the overthrow of the Hawa ...

, and endorsing

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

for instruction in schools. In 1848, Jarves left Hawaii, and his printer Charles Gordon Hopkins became editor.

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 ...

, who edited several other Honolulu newspapers through 1853 then served as editor of ''The Polynesian'', buying it in 1861. It proved not to be profitable, publishing its last edition on February 6, 1864.

References

Defunct newspapers published in Hawaii 1840 establishments in Hawaii 1864 disestablishments in Hawaii {{Hawaii-newspaper-stub