Ali'i
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The '''''' (, ; ) were the traditional nobility of the Hawaiian islands. They were part of a hereditary line of rulers, the . There were many classes of (or chief) and the position could be held by a man or a woman.
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Background
- Social designations of {{lang|haw|noho aliʻi}} (ruling line)
- List of Monarchs of Hawaiian Islands
- See also
- References
- Further reading
The '''''' (, ; ) were the traditional nobility of the Hawaiian islands. They were part of a hereditary line of rulers, the . There were many classes of (or chief) and the position could be held by a man or a woman.
Cognates of the word have a similar meaning in other Polynesian languages; in Māori it is and in Tahitian .
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ali'i” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.