Greeks in Hawaii
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Greeks in Hawaii or ''Helene'' were some of the earliest foreigners, '' haole''s, to immigrate to Hawaii and were known for being one of the few ethnicities to be opposed to the
overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety (Hawaii), Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign ...
.


Early contact

The earliest Greeks came to Hawaii after Captain
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
, including some with Captain
George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...
’s expedition. Subsequently, in the 1830s Greeks came as whalers and traders. The
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
was established in 1839 which Greek Orthodox Christians attended. Hiram Bingham I of the ABCFM held a certain degree of approval that the Greeks were at the minimum Christians, but the missionary community would learn to loathe the Greeks. In 1850 princes Alexander Liholiho and
Lot Kapuāiwa Kamehameha V (Lota Kapuāiwa Kalanimakua Aliʻiōlani Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui; December 11, 1830 – December 11, 1872), reigned as the fifth monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1863 to 1872. His motto was "Onipaʻa": immovable, firm, s ...
met Greek Minister Spyridon Trikoupis in Paris who encouraged them to join him in drinking and gambling, against Gerrit Judd’s objections.


Later establishment

In the 1870s Greeks began to emigrate because of famine and over-population in Greece for labor on Hawaii’s
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantations. A few entrepreneurial Greeks who came to Hawaii in the 1880s formed a tight community and gave jobs to fellow countrymen at their businesses. The ABCFM missionaries had since become a group of wealthy elite and the disdain for the Greeks had increased.
William Alexander William or Bill Alexander may refer to: Literature *William Alexander (poet) (1808–1875), American poet and author * William Alexander (journalist and author) (1826–1894), Scottish journalist and author *William Alexander (author) (born 1976), ...
described Greeks as “commercial, ingenious and eloquent, but deceitful, dirty and immoral.” Among the immigrants was Peter Camarinos, who joined as co-partner of Campbell, Marshall, and Company. Camarinos was sued by A. J. Campbell for $6,750. Paul Neumann defended Camarinos and had the suit dismissed. This was followed up by two countersuits. After the suit the new Greeks of the community avoided the missionaries and instead acquainted themselves with the monarchs. The Greeks came to compete against the missionaries in the export and pineapple industries. Further disapproval by the conservative missionaries was caused by the Greeks' tendency to attend and hold parties which included King
David Kalākaua David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
. An additional source of disapproval was the hospitality industry, which provided drinking, music, and partying.


Overthrow of the Kingdom

As the missionaries turned to aggression the political situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Greeks. On June 30, 1887 the a missionary group called the
Hawaiian League The Committee of Safety, formally the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, was a 13-member group of the Annexation Club. The group was composed of mostly Hawaiian subjects of American descent and American citizens who were members of the '' Mi ...
forced the bayonet constitution on King Kalākaua. In 1891 King Kalākaua died and his sister, Queen Liliʻuokalani, ascended the throne. On January 17, 1893 Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown by businessmen and the missionary elite. George Lycurgus was arrested and fined for
disturbing the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public ord ...
and distributing alcohol without a
liquor license A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...
. He believed the ulterior motive for his arrest was for his support of the monarchy. His brother, John, had difficulties obtaining licenses for various industries. Under the new government hula was banned and public concerts of Hawaiian music were outlawed. But private performances of Hawaiian music were legal and George Lycurgus hired the National Band to play at his hotel, ''Sans Souci'', to the annoyance of pro-government supporters. The Greeks took part in opposing the Provisional Government and Republic. A number joined the counter-revolutionaries plotting to restore the monarchy. Hawaii’s Schuetzen Club was taken over by German, Austrian, Greek, and British royalists and transformed into a
front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...
to train counter-revolutionaries. The uprising was put down swiftly and royalists were captured and arrested, including some Greeks, of which two were exiled.


Killing of Peter Camarinos

Significant to the small Greek community at the time was the death of Peter G. Camarinos. Camarinos had been considered the one most aggressively in favor of the counter-revolution, a major planner and sponsor of the insurgency. He stated “I will give half that I am worth to see the damned Missionary sons of bitches hung”. By 1896 Camarinos had allegedly become mentally ill; his friends and family supported him and had him admitted to Andrews Asylum for the Insane in California. One year later he was dead; the asylum physician concluded he had died of paresis. Camarinos’ family received his body in an advanced stage of decomposition two or three days after he had died. His family accused the asylum of purposefully using the decay to conceal bruises that implied that he had been kicked and beaten to death. John R. Griffith, who had been admitted to the asylum for dementia, witnessed Camarinos complain about his breakfast, then attack an attendant named John Lynn and then attack a nurse. Two other attendants intervened and threw Camarinos to the ground and held him down as Lynn jumped onto Camarinos’ stomach repeatedly until Camarinos fainted. A critic of the Republic suggested the killing was ordered by
Sanford B. Dole Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was a lawyer and jurist from the Hawaiian Islands. He lived through the periods when Hawaii was a Kingdom of Hawaii, kingdom, Provisional Government of Hawaii, protectorate, Republic of Hawa ...
and William O. Smith to eliminate an enemy and make an example of Camarinos for opposing the Republic.


See also

* Europeans in Oceania * Portuguese immigration to Hawaii * Spanish immigration to Hawaii


References

*Chapin, Helen G. ''The Queen's “Greek Artillery Fire”

*''Suspicious Marks on the Body of Camarinos'' February 11, 1898. The San Francisco Cal

*Gonser, James ''Greeks paved path of their own in Hawai'i'' Honolulu Advertiser. May 25, 200

*Papapostolou, Anastasios ''Greeks in Hawaii and Their Festival'' Greek Reporter. August 28, 200

{{Ethnic groups in Hawaii Greek-American culture in Hawaii Greek diaspora by country History of immigration to Hawaii European American culture in Hawaii