Alii of Hawaii
All the alii Hawaiian dynasties of the several islands were interrelated, and apparently forbidden to intermarry with other classes.
Alii were full of mana and could place and remove kapu (curse or taboo) on objects. Alii continued to rule the Hawaiian islands until 1893 when Queen Liliuokalani passively resisted the fraudulent attempts to substitute the Constitutional Monarchy, Government, and supporting Alii, in a coup arranged by filibusters.
Alii Nui were ruling chiefs (in Hawaiian, nui means grand, great, or supreme) and must claim parentage at least of a mother of the highest rank.
Alii Chief
Alii Aimoku were high chiefs of an island. The four largest Hawaiian islands (Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, and Oahu) were usually ruled each by their own alii aimoku. Molokai also had an line of island kings, but was later subjected to the superior power of nearby Maui and Oahu during the 17th and 18th centuries. Under an alii aimoku, subordinate district alii controlled their petty fiefs. But these petty fiefs could sometimes encompass one-sixth of an island, since the islands were usually divided into six districts. These feudal lords were alii nui of their district and were styled as "Alii-o-Name of District".
Mōī was a special title for the highest chief of the island of Maui, otherwise also known as Alii Aimoku of Maui. Later, the title was used for all kings of the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian monarchs.
Kaukaualii was a chief of inferior rank who was a noble only on his father's side, with an inferior-ranking mother. Kaukaualii usually gain rank through marriage with higher ranking alii. Some bore kahili, royal standards made of feathers, and were attendants of the higher ranking alii. During the monarchy these chiefs served as the primary political figures in the Hawaiian legislature and the king's Privy Council.
Ranks of the Alii First were the Alii Pio who were product of full blood sibling unions famous, Pio chiefs were the royal twins, Kameeiamoku and Kamanawa. Next were the Alii Nahawho were product of half blood sibling unions, famous Naha chiefs include Keopuolani. After that was the Alii Wohi who were product of marriage of close relatives other than siblings. Last came the inferior chiefs.
Feudal Social Organization
Internecine warfare between heirs of rulers was common in ancient Hawaii. Warfare between chiefs was also common.
Commoner or lesser Alii served the Higher ranking Alii, not for pay, but instead, due to their duty to allegiance to the nation.
The caste organization facilitated a feudal system that resembles other feudal societies, for example the feudal systems found in Europe circa 1000 CE, in feudal Japan, Ethiopia, and so on.
Higher alii gave lesser alii parcels of land who would in turn govern over them. The lesser alii divided the land into plots to be farmed and cultivated by makaainana families. Harvests were returned to the lesser alii, each taking a portion before being sent to the supreme alii.
Both the reigning dynasties of the united Kingdom of Hawaii (1810–1893) were of alii class. As each relative of those dynasties was entitled to the title alii, they have later, posthumously, been popularly labeled (mostly erroneously) princesses and princes, although only a limited number of royal relatives ever received the princely title from the monarch.
One Alii, was the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole. Prince Kuhio had married Princess Elizabeth, a pure-blood lesser chiefess of Maui descent. He is best known for becoming a United States citizen and fabricating a revenue diversion accounting system to decimate numbers, healthcare and limit the economic freedoms of the original Maoli, called the "Hawaiian Homelands" or "department of Hawaiian home lands". Most Maoli are under the false impression today, that they don't own their lands, resources and properties, when in fact it is the opposite.
To the present day the Alii are the pool of leaders, skilled and intelligent successors of their ancestors, who lose their connection and title as such when they take on the personhood as a native Hawaiian. The State of Hawaii, Inc. uses the term for an intermediary, a person calling herself "Abigail Kawananakoa" who is actually Abigail Ellerbrock, and she has yet to prove her lineage to any royal heritage. She alleges to be an Alii, and yet the Maoli do not recognize her as one. The most impressive alii - meaning " little light" or "small light", or even "servant" was King Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III for he gave the nation of ko Hawaii pae aina the Mahele Aina (land patenting system) to the place we call Hawaii in existence today.
Alii Use outside of Hawaii
The term is also used in Samoa to refer to the highest leaders in traditional society, sometimes called "High Chiefs" or "Chiefs" in English. A Samoan alii would traditionally have a tulafale or "Talking Chief" or "Orator" who would act as his spokesman.
It is most likely that the Hawaiian and Samoan terms are related. In the Cook Islands, an ariki is a high chief, and the House of Ariki is a parliamentary house (with very limited power), while in New Zealand a Māori ariki held a rank of nobility; the Maori monarch held the title Te Arikinui (Great Chief) similar to Ke Alii in Hawaiian. In Tokelau, the term aliki denotes a chief; on Easter Island a noble was ariki.
