Despite some contact with Europeans, Kamehameha I, after creating a united Kingdom of Hawaii, followed the ancient Hawaiian Religion called the Kapu system.

[3] The traditionalists marched from Kaʻawaloa at Kealakekua Bay and met the royal army headed by Kalanimoku in an area also known as Lekeleke[4] in December 1819.

Both sides in the battle at this site had rifles, but Kalanimoku had a small cannon mounted on a double canoe, so over 300 warriors were killed, including Kekuaokalani and his wife Manono, who were buried under the lava rocks.

[5] Within a year, American Christian Protestant missionaries such as Asa Thurston and Hiram Bingham arrived, and the culture was forever changed.

He was of the priesthood, and, through the bestowal of some tabu or prerogative, claimed to be the second in authority to Hewahewa, who traced his lineage back to Pa'ao, the Tahitian High Priest of Pili.