Keōpūolani
Queen consort of Hawaiʻi and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I
Kalanikauikaʻalaneo Kai Keōpūolani-Ahu-i-Kekai-Makuahine-a-Kama-Kalani-Kau-i-Kealaneo (1778–1823) was a queen consort of Hawaiʻi and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I.
Early life
Keōpūolani was born around 1778 at an area known as Pahoehoe of Pāpōhaku, near present-day Wailuku, on the island of Maui. She was known as Kalanikauikaʻalaneo in her early childhood. Her name means "Gathering of the Clouds of Heaven".
Her father was Kīwalaʻō, King of Hawaiʻi island. He was the son of King Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawaiʻi island who met Captain James Cook at Kealakekua Bay.
Her mother was Queen Kekuʻiapoiwa Liliha, half-sister of Kamehameha I. Their father was Keōuakupuapāikalani.
Kiwalaʻō and Kekuʻiapoiwa Liliha were half-siblings through their shared mother, High Chiefess Kalola-Pupuka-Honokawahilani of Maui.
As a child, Keōpūolani lived for a while in Hāna (the eastern tip of Maui), then moved back to the Wailuku area.
Battle of Kepaniwai
In 1790, while Keōpūolani was 11, Kamehameha attacked the island of Maui at the Battle of Kepaniwai while her great-uncle King Kahekili II was away on the island Oʻahu. When Maui forces under Kalanikupule lost to Kamehameha, Kalola along with her two daughters, many Maui chiefesses and Keōpūolani tried to flee to Oʻahu.
“Keōpūolani” enters the record as queen consort of Hawaiʻi and the highest ranking wife of King Kamehameha I. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Keōpūolani, Queen and consort can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Keōpūolani” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Keōpūolani, Queen and consort provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3439080. VIAF identifies the subject as 28528289. The Library of Congress control number is n85316821. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1778, 1823 and 1790.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Keōpūolani” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.