Kamehameha II

Kamehameha II

Kamehameha II, King of Hawaii (1797 - 1824) was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was born as Liholiho in Thread, Hawaii 'i, older son of Kamehameha I and his highest-ranking wife, the Queen Keopuolani, educated like the heir to the throne].

Liholiho rose to the throne upon the death of Kamehameha I in May of 1819, but among others conditions, they obliged him to play an only ceremonial role; leaving the administrative power in the hands of Ka 'ahumanu, the wife preferred of its father, to whom he was granted the title of kuhina nui, equivalent approximate of a prime minister.

It recalls above all to Kamehameha II by decreeing the abolition of the old system kapu (taboo) of laws of religious type, six months after beginning his reign. In his times he also produced the arrival of the first Christian missionaries to the Islands Hawaii.

In November of 1823 Kamehameha II traveled with his majesty, the queen, to London with the intention to culminate the negotiations of an alliance between Hawaii and Great Britain. Nevertheless, before being found with the king Jorge IV, he and their majesty, the queen, contracted the measles, to which they were not immunized. Kamehameha II passed away July 4, 1824. His younger brother followed him, Kauikeaouli, which became Kamehameha III.

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