Greek Artillery
Migration from Greece in the last third of the 19th Century was primarily due to crop failures and a surplus population that caused wide-spread poverty. A Western technological revolution of cheap and fast steamship and rail travel, along with rapid industrialization, made feasible large scale emigration to America and, on a smaller scale, to Hawaiʻi.
The Greeks came into direct conflict with that small but powerful group of American businessmen who effectively weakened Kalākaua’s government by means of the ‘Bayonet Constitution’ of 1887. After the overthrow, there was a last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi; several of the Greek businessmen were involved. The goal of the rebellion failed.
Click link below for more images and information:
http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/greek-artillery/
I do not ever recall meeting someone w/ a Greek name, Russian, yes but not Greek (other than a recent transplant). Are there any notable descendants of the original Greek immigrants in Hawaii...a few names maybe I might recognize?
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