The Kanaka Maoli Flag
The National Banner of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi — according to the Kingdom's custodial tradition and records, first raised in the 1600s and preserved by the lineage of the Aliʻi Nui
Two classes of record
Historical Hawaiian Kingdom Record
Material originating with the Hawaiian Kingdom as a historical state — its institutions, laws, treaties, decrees, and governmental activity.
Contemporary Atooi Record
Material of the modern Kingdom — its leadership, ceremonies, missions, agreements, correspondence, and Kingdom-issued instruments.
Historical Hawaiian Kingdom records document the institutions, laws, diplomacy, and governmental activity of the historical Kingdom. Their inclusion does not by itself establish the authority of any particular contemporary claimant. Contemporary claims of continuity, succession, genealogy, or authority are documented separately.
Media on this page is drawn from the Kingdom’s archive; full provenance records are maintained under Archive Methodology.
Archival Photograph
The Kanaka Maoli flag — the original national banner of the Native Hawaiian people, preserved within the custodial lineage of the Aliʻi Nui of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi. Nine horizontal stripes of green, red, and yellow surround a central green shield bearing the royal kāhili crossed by two paddles.
Video Documentation
Flag Video — Provenance Record
Media Record
Video of the Kanaka Maoli flag documentation, as described in the Kingdom’s records
Catalogue No. HF-V001 — Video Record
Video documentation of the Kanaka Maoli flag. The Kingdom’s own records describe the recording as connected to a Smithsonian Institution display of the banner; no Smithsonian catalogue record has been placed in the archive, and the description is held here as the Kingdom’s record rather than as a museum finding. This entry preserves the provenance chain of the video as it was received and retained by the Office of the Aliʻi Nui.
The video will be published here once its source record is placed in the archive.
Historical Record
Historical Significance
Kingdom records and Kanaka Maoli tradition describe the flag as first raised in the 1600s and as an emblem of representation for the Native Hawaiian people predating the eight-striped Hawaiian Kingdom flag with its Union Jack canton, which was adopted following exchanges with Great Britain in the early nineteenth century. The Kingdom, and many who hold this tradition, regard it as the national banner of the Kanaka Maoli; that characterisation is a position held within those traditions rather than a status established by any state.
At the center of the flag stands a green shield bearing the coat of arms of the kanaka maoli: the royal kāhili, the original Hawaiian royal standard, crossed by two paddles. The paddles represent both the voyaging traditions of the Polynesian people and Kamehameha's Kānāwai Māmalahoe — the Law of the Splintered Paddle — which guarantees the safety of every traveler on the land.
Unlike the later eight-striped flag, the Kanaka Maoli flag bears nine horizontal stripes, each representing one of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands. The colors carry distinct meanings within the traditional order of Polynesian society: green for the makaʻāinana (commoners), the land, and goodness; red for the landed konohiki, genealogy, and strength; and yellow for the aliʻi, spirituality, and alertness to danger — all bound together by love for the land and the people.
Provenance, stated in three parts
The age of the design
According to the Kingdom's custodial tradition and records, the design dates to the seventeenth century and predates the eight-striped Hawaiian Kingdom flag adopted in the early nineteenth century. This rests on Kingdom records and on Kanaka Maoli tradition. No dated seventeenth-century document is published here for it.
The age of the present textile
This page does not yet cite a date for the physical banner held by the Kingdom. No dating of the cloth, thread or dye is published here, and the age of the design should not be read as the age of the textile.
The history of custody
Custody is held within the lineage of the Aliʻi Nui. The account of how the banner passed down the line — the Kapuna Chest, set out below — is family oral tradition; no chest, key or contemporaneous document has been catalogued in support of it. This page cites no documentary custody record between the nineteenth century and the present.
Archival Note
The Kingdom reports that the provenance and material analysis of this flag are documented in its cultural archives. No conservation or examination record for the banner is catalogued in the public archive, and no examiner, date or report is cited here. Research inquiries may be addressed to the Office of the Aliʻi Nui.
Oral Family Account
The Kapuna Chest
Oral or traditional testimonyThe account below is preserved as family oral tradition. It is not offered as verified history, and the Kingdom does not claim documentary proof of the events described.
As told within the family, in the days following the overthrow of 1893 the original banner was taken from public view by a kapuna of the line and carried away rather than surrendered. The telling holds that the flag was folded and placed into a wooden chest, and that the chest was carved on its lid with the name Aipoalani.
The chest, the account continues, was locked, and the key was not kept with it. The key was buried beneath a banyan tree on the family land on Kauaʻi, so that the two could not be taken together by anyone who came looking. Knowledge of the tree and of the chest was entrusted only within the family, spoken and not written.
In the telling, the trust passed from one generation of the line to the next — each keeper charged with the same obligation and the same silence — until it came down to the Aliʻi Nui, who holds the account today as it was received.
Archival Note
This section records the account as it has been transmitted orally. No chest, key, or contemporaneous document has been catalogued in support of it. Should material evidence be placed in the archive, this entry will be re-labeled accordingly.
Reference Documents
Supporting Documentation
Historical Analysis
The Kanaka Maoli Flag: Origins of the National Banner
Examination of the original Kanaka Maoli flag, first raised as an emblem of the people of Hawaiʻi in the 1600s — predating the later eight-striped Hawaiian Kingdom flag with the Union Jack canton adopted in the nineteenth century.
Vexillological Registry Entry
Heraldic Reading — Kāhili, Paddles, and the Nine Stripes
Documentation of the central green shield bearing the royal kāhili crossed by two paddles — representing Polynesian voyaging tradition and Kamehameha's Kānāwai Māmalahoe (Law of the Splintered Paddle) — and the nine horizontal stripes representing each of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands.
Reference Document
Color Symbolism of the National Banner
Registry of the flag's tricolor symbolism: green for the makaʻāinana (commoners), the land, and goodness; red for the landed konohiki, genealogy, and strength; and yellow for the aliʻi, spirituality, and alertness to danger — bound together by love for the land and the people.
Archival Certificate
Preservation Record — Lineage of the Aliʻi Nui
Formal documentation of the flag's custodial chain within the lineage of the Aliʻi Nui, confirming its preservation as the national banner of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi.
Institutional Notice
The historic Hawaiian flag is a protected cultural artifact of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi. Reproduction, commercial use, or unauthorized display of images depicting this artifact is prohibited without written authorization from the Office of the Aliʻi Nui.