Koa Warriors

Elite professional soldiers, the Koa Warriors are disciplined infantry and pitiless opponents.

In the last third of the 18th century, warfare was, a permanent state of affairs that punctuated life in the four main kingdoms of the Hawaiian archipelago. In this highly segmented social order, fighting was primarily carried out by a corps of professional warriors (koa) recruited from the lower strata of the Hawaiian elite (ali‘i). Commoners people could also be called up to fill the ranks. For example, it is estimated that the armies deployed in 1795 by King Kamehameha to invade the kingdoms of Maui and O‘ahu numbered over 15,000 soldiers. Similarly, at its peak, his war fleet counted more than 1,200 ships of varying sizes, some patterned after European models. In this period of increased contact with the outside world, the use of firearms gradually became widespread among Hawaiian warriors. Although the latter mainly used flintlock rifles, they also sometimes operated canons, used both on land and at sea.