Kalākaua was born at 2:00 a.m. on November 16, 1836, to Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea and Analea Keohokālole in the grass hut compound belonging to his maternal grandfather ʻAikanaka, at the base of Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.

[7] Given the name Kalākaua, which translates into "The Day [of] Battle," the date of his birth coincided with the signing of the unequal treaty imposed by British Captain Lord Edward Russell of the Actaeon on Kamehameha III.

The next morning the Cookes allowed the guardian of the royal children John Papa ʻĪʻī to bring Kaliokalani and Kalākaua to see Kamanawa for the last time.

[23] They sailed from Honolulu aboard the yacht Emma Rooke, on August 29, arriving on September 18 in Victoria, British Columbia, where they were received by the local dignitaries of the city.

[20][12] American writer Mark Twain, working as a traveling reporter for the Sacramento Daily Union, visited Hawaiʻi in 1866 during the reign of Kamehameha V. He met the young Kalākaua and other members of the legislature and noted: Hon.

Unable to control the mob, Kalākaua and Lunalilo's former ministers had to request the aid of American and British military forces docked in the harbor to put down the uprising.

[47][40] Given the unfavorable political climate following the riot, Kalākaua was quickly sworn in the following day, in a ceremony witnessed by government officials, family members, foreign representatives and some spectators.

He led the Reciprocity Commission consisting of sugar planter Henry A. P. Carter of C. Brewer & Co., Hawaiʻi Chief Justice Elisha Hunt Allen, and Minister of Foreign Affairs William Lowthian Green.

[59] King Kalākaua and his boyhood friends William Nevins Armstrong and Charles Hastings Judd, along with personal cook Robert von Oelhoffen, circumnavigated the globe in 1881.

[65] Before embarking on a train ride across the United States, Kalākaua visited Thomas Edison for a demonstration of electric lighting, discussing its potential use in Honolulu.

[67] Thomas Thrum's Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1883 reported Kalākaua's tour expense appropriated by the government as $22,500,[68] although his personal correspondence indicates he exceeded that early on.

By this point, Gibson's role in the kingdom's finances and his influence on Kalākaua were beginning to come under scrutiny: "Our versatile Premier ... is pulling another string in this puppet farce."

Originally intended for the centennial of Captain James Cook's landing in Hawaiʻi, the statue, which was the brainchild of Gibson, had been cast by Thomas Ridgeway Gould but had been lost during shipment off the Falkland Islands.

A further $7,000 was allocated for the second statue with an additional $4,000 from the insurance money spent to add four bas relief panels depicting historic moments during Kamehamena's reign.

[104] Kalākaua's interest in forming a Polynesian coalition, with him at the head, was influenced by both Walter M. Gibson and Italian soldier of fortune Celso Caesar Moreno.

In 1879 Moreno urged the king to create such a realm with Hawaiʻi at the top of the empire by " ... uniting under your sceptre the whole Polynesian race and make Honolulu a monarchical Washington, where the representatives of all the islands would convene in Congress.

"[105] In response to the activities of Germany and the United Kingdom in Oceania, Gibson's Pacific Commercial Advertiser urged Hawaiʻi's involvement in protecting the island nations from international aggression.

He pushed for direct intervention into a political upheaval in Samoa, where the German Empire backed rebels under their leader Tamasese in an attempt to overthrow King Malietoa Laupepa.

United States special commissioner to Samoa, George H. Bates advised Kalākaua that Hawaiʻi should mind its own business and stay out of Samoan affairs.

"[115] Dole placed much of the blame on Gibson, and accused Kalākaua of taking a bribe of $71,000 from Tong Kee to grant an opium license, an action done via one of the king's political allies Junius Kaʻae.

The new constitution restricted suffrage only to Hawaiian, American or European men residing in Hawaii, if they were 21 years old, literate with no back unpaid taxes, and would take an oath to support the law of the land.

Local newspapers and British commissioner Wodehouse worried the king might go farther east to Washington, D.C., to negotiate a continued cession of Pearl Harbor to the United States after the expiration of the reciprocity treaty or possible annexation of the kingdom.

His sister Liliʻuokalani, after unsuccessfully dissuading him from departing, wrote he meant to discuss the McKinley Tariff with the Hawaiian ambassador to the United States Henry A. P. Carter in Washington.

[145][146] In a ceremony officiated by his sister Liliʻuokalani on June 24, 1910, his remains, and those of his family, were transferred to the underground Kalākaua Crypt after the main mausoleum building had been converted into a chapel.

[151] Kalākaua's cultural legacy lives on in the Merrie Monarch Festival, a large-scale annual hula competition in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, begun in 1964 and named in his honor.

Originally titled "Hymn to Kamehameha I", Henri Berger, leader of the Royal Hawaiian Band, wrote the instrumental melody in 1872, influenced by the Prussian anthem "Heil dir im Siegerkranz".

[167] The ukulele was introduced to the Hawaiian islands during the reign of Kalākaua, by Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and Cape Verde.

It renamed the highway known as Waikiki Road, "to commemorate the name of his late Majesty Kalākaua, during whose reign Hawaiʻi made great advancement in material prosperity".

[172] In 1985, a bronze statue of Kalākaua was donated to the City and County of Honolulu to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese laborers after the king's visit to Japan.

The statue was designed and created by musician Palani Vaughan, architect Leland Onekea and Native Hawaiian sculptor Sean Kekamakupaa Kaonohiokalani Lee Loy Browne.