Similarities Between Kamehameha And Gandhi
King Kamehameha was the man who unified all of Hawaii and settled it under his rule. He was not in line to be the next chief of a kingdom, but by 1810, he conquered all of the Hawaiian islands. Using his intelligence, kindness, beliefs, power, and his resources he became a strong and effective leader. Mohandas Gandhi (Gandhi), the leader of a nationalist movement against the British rule of India (Encyclopedia Britannica), did what he thought was right. Just like the leader Hawaii has to thank today, Gandhi used his beliefs and intelligence to gain the independence of India. Both leaders worked hard for what they wanted and the two are seen as effective leaders today. Both men considered the wellness of their people. Kamehameha, for example,
was involved in an impressively constructed trade during his reign known as The Sandalwood Trade, a system where Hawaiians exchanged a natural resource known as sandalwood for American products from foreigners. The king later found out that his people were not caring for their crops and homes because they were cutting away at sandalwood up in the mountains. It became too much of a problem that Kamehameha then placed a kapu on the young trees not only to prevent an important resource from being endangered (27), but also because he didn’t want to see the family he built fall apart. Gandhi, being the leader of a nationalist movement, fought for his people’s free will. He was involved in many rebellions for all the people of India, most of which he created himself. In 1930, he set out a civil disobedience campaign against the government of Britain’s tax on salt that affected the poor of India in the greatest way possible (History.com). The two also had religious beliefs. Kamehameha himself was the keeper of the war god known as Ku in the Hawaiian language. This piled on top of the many reasons on why Kamehameha’s people respected him. Gandhi, a believer of ahimsa (non-violence), lived an astec lifestyle based on prayer (History.com). This earned his followers reverence and eventually became known to them as Mahatma Gandhi (Sanskrit for “the great-souled one”). The last similarity between the two was that they were both intelligent. Once Kamehameha conquered all of Hawaii, he put a governor on each island. He put the people he trusted most on the farthest islands
was involved in an impressively constructed trade during his reign known as The Sandalwood Trade, a system where Hawaiians exchanged a natural resource known as sandalwood for American products from foreigners. The king later found out that his people were not caring for their crops and homes because they were cutting away at sandalwood up in the mountains. It became too much of a problem that Kamehameha then placed a kapu on the young trees not only to prevent an important resource from being endangered (27), but also because he didn’t want to see the family he built fall apart. Gandhi, being the leader of a nationalist movement, fought for his people’s free will. He was involved in many rebellions for all the people of India, most of which he created himself. In 1930, he set out a civil disobedience campaign against the government of Britain’s tax on salt that affected the poor of India in the greatest way possible (History.com). The two also had religious beliefs. Kamehameha himself was the keeper of the war god known as Ku in the Hawaiian language. This piled on top of the many reasons on why Kamehameha’s people respected him. Gandhi, a believer of ahimsa (non-violence), lived an astec lifestyle based on prayer (History.com). This earned his followers reverence and eventually became known to them as Mahatma Gandhi (Sanskrit for “the great-souled one”). The last similarity between the two was that they were both intelligent. Once Kamehameha conquered all of Hawaii, he put a governor on each island. He put the people he trusted most on the farthest islands