Kekū‘iapoiwa I was a chiefess of the

island of Hawaii Hawaii is the List of islands of the United States by area, largest island in the United States, located in the Hawaii, state of Hawaii, the southernmost state in the union. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcani ...

and

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

. She was also known as Kekū‘iapoiwa Nui ("Kekū‘iapoiwa the Great"). Her full name was Kekū‘iapoiwa-nui Kalani-kauhihiwakama Wanakapu.

Biography

Kekū‘iapoiwa was born as a daughter of the High Chiefess Kalanikauleleiaiwi, who lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century. She was thus a niece of the king

Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku (c. 1660 – c. 1725) was the king of Hawaiʻi Island in the late 17th century. He was the great-grandfather of Kamehameha I, the first King of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was a progenitor of the House of Keawe. Bi ...

and granddaughter of the queen Keakealaniwahine. Her father was the king Kaulahea II of Maui. She remained on Maui and married her half-brother Kekaulike, founding the Kekaulike Dynasty of Maui which produced many chief politicians and nobles in the early days of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...

. She was also a sister of Alapainui and Haae and aunt of Kekuiapoiwa II, mother of the great king

Kamehameha I Kamehameha I (; Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea; to May 8 or 14, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the conqueror and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii ...

. She was a mother of Kamehamehanui Ailuau, and

Kahekili II Kahekili II, full name Kahekilinuiʻahumanu, (–1794) was an () of Maui. His name was short for Kāne-Hekili after the Hawaiian god of thunder. Because Kāne-Hekili was believed to be black on one side, Kahekili tattooed one side of his body fr ...

and grandmother of Kalanikūpule, the last of the longest line of ''Alii Aimoku'' in the Hawaiian Islands. There is a theory that Kahekili was a biological father of Kamehameha I. Her daughter by Kekaulike was Kalola who married

Kalaniʻōpuʻu Kalaniōpuu-a-Kaiamamao (c. 1729 – April 1782) was the aliʻi nui (supreme monarch) of the island of Hawaiʻi. He was called ''Terreeoboo, King of Owhyhee'' by James Cook and other Europeans. His name has also been written as Kaleiopuu. Bio ...

and his half-brother

Keōua Keōua Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui Ahilapalapa, sometimes called Keōua Nui ("Keōua the Great") (died c. 1750s–1760s) was an Ancient Hawaiian noble and the father of Kamehameha I, the first King of united Hawaiʻi. He was progenitor of the Ho ...

and had

Kīwalaʻō Kīwalaʻō (c. 1760 – July 1782) was the aliʻi nui of the island of Hawaii in 1782 when he was defeated at the Battle of Mokuohai and overthrown by Kamehameha I. Early life Kīwalaʻō was born in 1760 to Aliʻi Nui, Kalaniʻōpuʻu and ...

and Kekuiapoiwa Liliha respectively. Kekuiapoiwa had another daughter by the name of Kekelaokalani by Kauakahiakua, a distant cousin of her first husband, and Kekelaokalani was the mother of Kamehameha I's wife Peleuli.

References

{{Reflist House of Līloa Royalty of Maui