Geography

The island of Oahu is comprised of 386,188 acres, of which there are 92,583 acres estimated to be in urban districts, 154,882 in conservation, and 138,723 for agricultural use. The island contains the City and County of Honolulu, the smallest of the four counties in size, but the one which has nearly 3/4 of the State’s population (836,207) and serves as the seat of the State government. Oahu is also home to the 40,000-student flagship University of Hawaii system and the state’s banking and financial headquarters.

History

Prior to the origin of Hawaii’s land system in the 1840’s, the kings were the sovereign owners of all the islands. The original unit of land, the “ahupuaa,” usually extended from the shore to the mountain top, with rights in the adjoining sea waters, providing occupants with the means of supplying all their wants. The sea for fish, the inland for coconuts, the valley for taro, the lower slopes for sweet potatoes, yams, etc. and the mountains for wood and hunting.

The next subdivision of land was called the “ili” and could be either subservient to the “ahupuaa” or independent. Within these were small areas called “kuleanas,” which were houselots occupied by the common people, who also had certain native rights of fishery, water, and mountain products. These lands were often redistributed by a conqueror or a successor king.

In 1845 a major step to reform this system occurred when a Land Commission was created by King Kamehameha III. The most important reform was the Great Mahele, or division of lands, which took place in 1848 and became the basis for modern land titles in the Islands. Old tenures were eventually changed to the allodial system of absolute ownership, and the interests of the government, crown, chiefs and common people were severed. As new claims were adjudicated by a board to determine ownership rights, Hawaii’s ancient landholding system was gradually replaced. For this reason, a chain of title to Hawaiian land need only be traced back to the 1840’s to the original grant or patent.