Kamehameha was a powerful and intelligent warrior chief from Kohala. A brillient tactician, he was present at Kealakekua Bay when Cook anchored. Kamehameha interviewed many Westerners, ordering followers to acquire as much of the western objects as possible. He aggressively enlisted aid of newcomers with military expertise, rewarding them with wives and land. Within ten years after Cook's arrival, Kamehameha was in a fully-armed double-hulled canoe rigged western-style - and a swivel gun mounted securely on a platform across the hulls. This ability to recognize and apply new concepts showed great adaptive insight. In a short time, Kamehameha had firm rein on the islands. After conquest of the inhabited islands (except Kaua'i), he became a just, wise and mellow king.

The Chinese and other Asian peoples cherish Sandalwood. In China the Hawaiian Islands were known as Tan Heung Shan - 'The Sandalwood Islands.' When sizeable stands of sandalwood trees were found in Hawaiian mountains, commoners were enlisted to collect the wood in the high forests. Many Hawaiians died in the process. The harvest of timber continued until Hawaii's stands of Sandalwood were completely destroyed.

Kamehameha was living at Ahu'Ena in Kamakahonu (Kailua, Big Island) when he died in May of 1819 at about 63 years of age. Kamehameha's death and the peculiar political circumstances it created, catapulted Hawai'i into a Modern Era of mariners, merchants, migrants and missionaries.