526 Hawaiian Islands Horticulture: A Prehistoric Perspective

Abstract

The introduction of horticulture to the Hawaiian Islands by Polynesian voyagers in AD 300 represents the culmination of eastward voyages of discovery by navigators whose origins were in southeastern Asia and who dispersed an important assemblage of horticultural crops through the Pacific islands. Archaeological, botanical, and linguistic evidence has been used to establish that these voyagers, using double-hulled sailing canoes, transported 27 horticultural plants with them in their voyage of discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. This assemblage included banana, coconut palm, sweetpotato, yam, breadfruit, and taro. The introduction of these plants had a dramatic and damaging impact on the island ecosystem. Many native species of plants and birds became extinct as the settlers used fire as a tool in clearing land for the planting of the introduced plants. A complex civilization developed based on the production of horticultural crops. The staple of food for this society was taro or kalo. The corm or underground portion was mashed with water and eaten as a paste called poi. Large, irrigated, terrace systems were developed for taro production. The most enduring achievement of the Polynesian navigators who explored and colonized the Hawaiian Islands was the dispersal of an assemblage of horticultural plants that transformed the natural environment of both Hawaii and much of the world's tropical regions.