-By Velvet Kapuakela

In the early 1800's, the king met with 245 chiefs and divided the land. The lands that he kept for himself and his family were called crown lands. Parts of the division that he reserved for the government were known as government lands. The last part of the land that he gave to the chiefs to own forever were called the konohiki lands.

The king had made separate arrangements with each chief. All these arrangements that the king had made were recorded in a book called the Mahele (division) book. It took many months to complete this process, but the Mahele (division) book was usually known as the "Great Mahele".

This was a good start on reforming the land system. For one reason, it meant that the government now owned some land. This meant that the government could now sell or barter its land and make some money. Just maybe, the government could sell land and pay off the national debt, and put some money into the school system.

The Great Mahele did not solve all of the land problems. Most of the people of Hawaii were not chiefs. The people of Hawaii were still without any land of their own.

Under the Great Mahele, the land was divided approximately as follows:

* Crown Lands reserved for the king's use- 23.8%

* Konohiki Lands - lands granted to chiefs- 39.2%

*Government Lands- separate from Crown Lands- 36.2%

* Maka'ainana Lands- granted to the commoners - 0.8%

****************************************

Crown Lands 984,000 acres

Konohiki Lands 1,619,000 acres

Govt. Lands 1,495,000 acres

Maka'ainana Lands 28,000 acres

In conclusion, I think the Great Mahele was a good idea for start on reforming the land system.